Waste can be beautiful; encouraging circularity within retail through demonstration and experience.

Throughout the year I have been designing for the multinational sportswear company Adidas. They have established recycling schemes and my projects aim to take this brand closer to the full ideals and potential of the circular economy. The Final Project achieves this with an undulating formation of modular units, that form a dramatic backdrop to the creative reprocessing of waste.

I began by developing a more circular approach to Adidas’ shoeboxes with the introduction of the ‘Bring Back Scheme’. A fold up handle enables the customer to carry the box rather than use a bag. Users are encouraged to return to the store with their box when buying their next set of shoes, reducing waste, and building an emotional connection with the brand and shoe storage. I took forward the idea of this scheme and shoebox with my Pop-Up design in Waterloo Station. Once the Pop-Up event is finished the materials then have a second life; with the shelving being reused in the next location or within Adidas’ London stores and the structure being relocated to the Shoreditch Power League site.

The Final Proposal brings all this together in the Adidas Pavilion at Bishopsgate Goodsyard, Shoreditch. It develops on all previous work and promotes the idea that waste can be beautiful, with a workshop and sales space created out of hexagonal boxes formed from recycled plastics from the community. The hexagonal shapes relate back to the Shoebox (that is sold in the sales area), and the workshop space provides a space for the community to see how the plastic and rubber they collect is reused. In keeping with the brand, a temporary running track surrounds the space to test the trainers and a rubber tiled floor will also be made of recycled shoe rubber. The Pavilion encourages circularity within retail through demonstration and experience.