Mayari’s Blog

Yesterday, I had the chance to present upcycling and my re*creations to a large audience at pixmix, which is a good copy of pecha kucha. I had the feeling the audience liked my presentation a lot! It gave them a lot of valuable information and I hope inspiration.

Same as in my street survey (see previous blogpost) I first asked the question: “Who of you has ever heared of upcycling?” There were about 60 people in the room and none of them raised a hand! Turns out that they knew upcycled products but they didn’t know the term “upcycling”. They all know recycling but there is a difference between upcycling and recycling which I will explain in a future blogpost.

For now, have a look at the slides I made. Of course my comments are missing but anyhow you should get a picture.

I finally finished the redesign of my websites! After a very kind and honest e-mail from Tina Roth Eisenberg, author of one of my favourite blogs swiss-miss.com, saying that my website doesn’t come up with the beauty of my products, I had to take action and improve my websites.

No, I’m not a professional web designer. I just enjoy doing it, taking my time to explore, learn and improve myself. Yes, over the years I’ve learnt that my natural talents are in concept and product design rather than in graphic design - but as my ex-boss Carsten Joergensen once said to me: design is design. So check out my latest design, my online presence!

For those who are new to Tanja aka Mayari: I invented and designed the concept of re*creations because I’m a very concerned (yet optimistic) designer who aims to do everything right. I think it’s my fault if my designs hurt anyone or anything. I’m ready to take full responsibility for what I create - from the sourcing of the raw materials (i.e. waste), the energy that I use, to what happens in the end of a products life cycle. I hope and assume I’m not the only designer out there who is as ambitious and idealistic as I am.

So what’s the big idea? With the word and label re*creation I hope we can tag and collect all the practical, upcycled and handmade goods that are out there. Starting now. Any suggestions? Please get in touch if you create or know any!!!

I prefer actions over concepts and that’s why I invented and developed a few products that can be tagged as re*creations like my i.e Mayari’s Notebooks, Card Holders or RRR Ribbons.

Act now! I invite you to check out my websites and learn about re*creations, my signature products and how I walk the walk. I hope what you’ll see is going to make you think… and even more important: CHANGE! Because a change to more eco&socio friendly practices and businesses is what we all really need now, or what would you say?

One day before the market took place I learnt that there was still a space left at montagsmarkt.ch and so I took it. I enjoyed the experience a lot, met friends and got to show my re*creations to a lot of nice people that had no clue about mayari’s existance!

I had not much time to prepare. Considering the fact that my offering strategies (offers for free/for a fee/as art) and the philosophy behind mayari are quite rich I had to come up quickly with an effective, simplistic communication design for the stall. So that people who have never been confronted with Mayari.net before would easily understand what I stand for and offer.

This is how my stall looked like:

Not only I wanted to sell my products, most of all I wanted to communicate what mayari is about: Upcycling. That is offering new and practical products made from waste that has been collected, washed and used as a new raw material.

(This says: “Please save me from a way too early death in an incineration plant!”)

I wanted to show that upcycling is a fun and good (if not the right) thing to do. For mayari’s re*creations there are several ways how to get involved. Namely through:

• DIY offers
• STANDARD offers
• CUSTOMIZED offers
• LIMITED offers

DIY

This is the first offer: do-it-yourself RRR Ribbons. They are made from used beverage cartons and a pin and my visitors/prosumers were able to either make them by themselves, (I showed them how to do it), or buy them for 1CHF. They stand for “I’m in favour of reusing, therfore reducing, therfore recycling waste”. I was positively surprised how open the people were for this idea. A few ribbons were created - some very skillfully, some not so much so. (I’ll post a how to video soon that you can make one at home too if you want.) Here you can see only a few examples created at the market:

STANDARD

This is how one can find the re*creations I invented (Notebook, Card Holder and Recycled Magic Wallet) in the stores. And this is how most products are sold today: A few are made, put into retail and people can choose from one of them. It’s as simple as that. The graphic design is the one that’s made by the producer of the beverage to which the carton once was a packaging for. Now, thanks to Mayari, they got a second life and have become packaging for your scribbles, your cards or your bills.

CUSTOMIZED

This might be the way we will get/order our products in the future. These are the same re*creations I invented (Notebook, Card Holder and Recycled Magic Wallet) but covered with your own design or material. You would have to order these re*creations with me at mayari.net. As these products are made upon request it takes a little longer till you can make use of them but for that patience you get your very own and unique re*creation which you would hopefully cherish for a long, long time.

LIMITED

This is for the ones who like art and appreciate conceptual works. SAVE THE INK is a series of 22 yellow crafts made from left over ink. A special edition of card holders in a penrose pattern that are invented and will always be made by Tanja the artist herself. It’s a piece of art that makes you think and that one can use, keep, exhibit and maybe, eventually collect. Who knows, maybe one day they will be worth much more than what I am selling them for today - this depens upon my further career as an artist or entrepreneur i.e. my popularity or success I guess.

As I said, my business is quite complex and operating on different layers (design/art) using different strategies (diy/standard/customized) always using the same products called re*creations (as they are “practical, prosumer products”, do “reuse, reduce, recycle” waste and are “100% Handmade” i.e. totally climate neutral) invented by mayari that is - to this point - just me, Tanja Burgdorfer, a young Swiss designer and artist.

Markets to me are conversations and experiences. I love markets because I can see one to one how people perceive my products. I love the interaction, to be able to explain and to have a conversation. This is for sure not the last time to do this. And next time will be even better as I constantly learn from past experiences! So keep an eye on me!

Find more pictures on my flickr.

Oh for those who wonder about money: Yes I made a little profit. But what makes me even happier is to see how many people liked my products as well as my strategies. All the compliments I got motivate me to go on. Thanks so much (you know who you are).

I have now fully developed my three main products i.e. re*creations and tested them during the last six month. They work perfectly now, they and are finally ready to go public!

My first way to get them out of the online space is the traditional way: I just asked shops to sell them for me. A few were interested. I decided to work with Orell Füssli as they made me a very fair offer. Also they are very nice people, open for new things and I just love their stores - I always have - I love books!

Orell Füssli Krauthammer are selling design and art related books and now also gift items. It’s just perfect! Oh, and the shop is located just in the middle of Zurich! Check it out here. Go and test my products called re*creations there, I hope they have them on display by now! This is how they look like:

Designshops would also be a great environment for my products but since I produce re*creations upon order I have to choose wisely where to comission them - I admit - also for marketing reasons. I would like to keep my website as my main channel of sales. Let’s see - stay tuned!

Yesterday I mingled with fellow creatives at creativemornings by Tina Roth Eisenberg of Swissmiss.com, one of my favourite blogs. She invited us to a talk by FREITAG brother Daniel at their head quarter.

As a former hgkz student and being very interested in and inspired by FREITAG’s business it was my third time there. Their factory impresses me every time I enter this big and colourful hall. It’s amazing and great how they grew! Really inspiring.

I was happy that Daniel wasn’t talking about their story (well, not really) as I have heared it twice already. Instead he prepared something he has never shown before. He even let us choose one of 3 topics!

Turned out that people wanted to know more about cradle to cradle. This was not my choice since I have read the book twice by now and I thought: “Folks, you can google this whereas the WHY question told by Daniel himself cannot be googled!”. Nevertheless, it’s an important principle every designer should know of. When Daniel asked who already knew about cradle to cradle I was negatively surprised how few people raised their hands.

After that there was still time for the “WHY” presentation. To be honest, I hoped to see some images - something like my background presentation - but this time Daniel was using typeface only. Anyway. It was still interesting and being Swiss too I could empathize with what he said (changeing mentality of Swiss people at the time we grew up i.e. starting to compost and recycle, wholistic approach, mass-costumization, recontextualisation). They have a clear corporate language there as you can see. They avoid the term “recycling” and “sustainability” which I find makes sense. Me too, I’m a bit fed up with these buzz words. Maybe that’s why I invented re*creations.

Of course, it was not only meeting like-minded people and listening to Daniels talk that made me go there. I wanted to find out:

A: If Freitag could need another designer or would be interested in ideas from external designers. Daniel didn’t say no in particular but he said: “We are not taking ideas from outside as we have so many ideas ourselves… on the contrary, we have to focus on ours not being distracted from outside voices.” I can totally understand that - from experience with Mayari. Well, too bad. I really like their business. I told him that and thanked him for being a great inspiration to me. He wisehd me good luck - he’s a very nice entrepreneur.

B: If Tina has seen my website and re*creations. She had, yay! And anyway, I wanted to give her my products as a “thank you” for her great and inspiring blog and, I admit, also in the hope that she will like my re*creations and write about them in her blog. So let’s see…

Well, it was a great morning and showed once more: The internet is a bless but it can’t replace the face to face conversations. Too bad the next creativemorning will be in NY. I mean. Too bad I cannot afford to be in NY then:( But maybe… I can be another virtual guest?!

Thank you all very much for your comments on YouTube. You made me very happy!

You would like to know how to make Recycled Magic Wallets? Here is the answer I wrote on YouTube:

Hello all VNP’s (v. nice ppl)!

Thank you so much for your lovely comments! You made a young designer very happy!

I’m in favour of open source projects and I would like to see many, many Recycled Magic Wallets in use; I’d like to give out a tutorial. But I’m afraid I can’t afford this yet:( Sorry, I need to get sth out of it as I try not to go back doing meaningless jobs for money. I hope you understand.

My question: what or how much would you be willing to give in return?

Tanja alias Mayari

I hope you can understand what I mean. This copy might sound a little rude. I didn’t mean it that way. It is just a little frustrating. As a designer I put so much energy into this product. I made countless prototypes to make it perfect. Now it hurts a little just giving the “how to” out for free at this early stage where I could need every help (yes, also money).

However, did you see that there is a tutorial on YouTube already. I know it’s not the same as the Recycled Magic Wallets but it might give you an idea.

If you have any skill you could offer me, any connections or any other way to help making the wallets and Mayari’s re*creations more popular (maybe someone who would like to sponsor me) please get in touch! It doesn’t always have to be money (although money can buy/help a lot) - just something valuable that you can give in return. Sharing to me means equally giving and taking. Thank you so much for your understanding!

I hereby promise you, that once I have no worries about my own finances (yes, I have them finding no job - even in rich Switzerland) and once I have been able to work together with a woman’s project in a poor area of the world (this could be somewhere in the Philippines, my mom’s home) producing and inventing new re*creations, I will give out tutorials for earlier projects, like the Recycled Magic Wallet for you to make it yourself. But this is all still in my dreams, maybe it’s a crazy dream, a difficult dream and people come up with x reasons why I can’t make it and I know it’s very, very, very not easy - but it’s possible! Please bear with me, follow me (on facebook) and be the first to find out when this time has come.

T H I N K I N G   O U T   L O U D

The good thing about my passion: working on my designs like the Recycled Magic Wallets - is, that I can both do my work, listening to podcasts or - my favorite - watching TED talks at the same time. I love crafting, learning and dreaming of how the world could be better simultaneously - it gives me a flow: Time passes and I don’t even realise it.

D R E A M I N G

I start dreaming. Dreaming of how one day all my skills I am practicing, and my knowledge I am collecting now, will all come together, will make sense and will help many other people.

M Y   V I S I O N

I do have a dream. I have a vision. It involves design of course, but that’s a vague term. Everything can be - and in our world is - desigend. Mostly not as good - I mean ethical and ecological - as it should be, I think.

My vision involves making desirable products while saving on raw materials. Dematerializing the world by adding true - I mean honest/authentic - meaning to objects, producing real - I mean tangible/useful - value, which of course has its prize. Social entrepreneurism, travelling the world, education. Showing and explaining poor people the industrialized societies - including the bad sides of it. Empowerment, listening, observing, leading, connecting via new media, exchanges of experiences… all that circulates in my head.

Making money due to labour and materia - rather than due to a story that was made up. (I believe remarkable things inherently have a good i.e. authentic story behind - no need to invent a story to blow up the product or service, like Moleskine did I read in brand eins magazine’s issue about marketing.) If brand stories - than the true story told in a poetic way. The ones listening with their hearts - like le petit prince does - will understand. But no lies. Never lies. That’s my motto.

M Y   D R E A M

I have a dream that poor people will have a chance to produce adorable, trustworthy stuff for demanding wealthy people. I have a dream that the rich would be willing to pay a fair price for it. I have a dream that people stop taking and taking and taking from the earth - never giving anything back. I have a dream that there will be more equality on earth. More diversity. I’m a dreamer.

M Y   A C T I O N S

Now you know my dream - and probably it is one of the biggest dreams one can have. It’s good to dream big dreams. But dreaming is not enough to me. I keep trying to take baby steps in the right direction. Towards my dream. I watch TED, I make my wallets, I’m trying to find a meaningful job in London within a great team, meeting nice, influential and aspirational people to collaborate with. I keep trying to articulate my vision putting bits and pieces of me out to the public via all my online social media channels. One day, all these acts will sum up and draw a clear picture, I hope. I keep working and the direction I’m heading is forward and upwards knowing that drawbacks are important parts of this way. I do so because we cannot not change the world.

O N E   D A Y

One day, I would like to stand in front of a TED audience and share my experiences I will have made by then with the world. To inspire people just the same way as today’s speakers do inspire me now. In favour of our possible future. By telling the world my story - a stroy of a tinkerer and inventor, a social designer and entrepreneur, a nomadic crafts woman as agile and free (thinking) as a lunar moth.

M E

A creative who’s design principles are different and a bit crazy: who’s ideal workshop fits into a backback, who wants to go out and see the world - much more - to interact with disadvantaged people. To make friends with good people. To understand each other. To work together. For more equality. For more happiness. For more meaning. For more moments of flow. Optimistcly and productively.

I T ‘ S   B E E N   D O N E   B E F O R E

Some change lifes with music. Others do it with photography. Others again with new media. With banking. With a good piece of art. With science/knowledge. With money, power and belief. I am trying to do it with what I do best: making things out of no/things. Things from waste. From useless to valuable. So far by myself. Just because I haven’t found like-minded and equally crazy people yet. Or maybe my communication wasn’t too good i.e clear and convincing. Or having almost no money makes me feel weak, inferior and less social - I know it’s silly and shouldn’t be affecting me so much.

A N   A N A L O G Y

I sometimes like to see myself as a modern American Indian Woman. She used to make use of all things she could find that the environment offered her. For example she made use of all parts of a bison. She didn’t need electricity to produce wonderful and/or useful things. Just her hands. Likewise am I trying to design and create my little things - just in a very, very different environment. The “old Indian way” of doing things surely restricts me. It gives me negative feedback as modern people at times don’t like my old-fashioned way of manually fixing things together. Sometimes, I tend to give in and try out suggested ways using power tools - other times, I am proud of my principles and try to stick to it.

H I G H -   V E R S U S   L O W - T E C H

People wonder. Why not using our modern technology? Electricity? Why denying our progress? I am not. In fact, I love my iPhone and my MacBook. My life without these tools would rather be miserable, I think. However, I don’t need them - to be precise - I choose not to use them for producing most of my physical designs. Instead, I choose to use these modern tools to connect to people, to learn, to entertain myself, to communicate - not to make my characteristic crafts/products.

I often believe it would be easier to mix high-tech and low-tech to make new things. However, in a complex world, the easiest way is not always the best i. e. most ethical and ecological way to go. It’s a bigger challenge to only stick to low-tech principles. So far, I have always taken the more challenging way. I stay with low-tech for my little things. I can be very stubborn.

W O R K I N G   O N   B I G   T H I N G S

Am I happy? Yes. But not enough. I would love to team up with like-minded people. Because I sometimes feel lonely and I believe together we can make bigger changes. It’s good to start with the self. But Recycled Magic Wallet and other little prducts for Mayari, that’s how far I can go as a single person. I wish to do more. To enter the high-tech world maybe, still producing as ethically and ecologically as possible. Working with other specialists, exchanging ideas, creating big, yet good things. Impossible to do that all alone. Or maybe it is? But not to me. I love teamwork!

A N Y   I D E A S ?

Do you know a place I - a designer and inventor who is deeply thinking about our social system and environmental impacts - would fit in? If yes - please let me know! Thanks so much!