By Thomas Smith
Source : Design Boom

Dutch designer Wieke Somers examines the current state of affairs in design and the notion of objects having a second-life as we, as consumers, try to decide what is necessary in the 21st century. Her project “Consume or Conserve” demonstrates how human ashes can be recycled into new items through 3D printing and rapid prototyping technology, giving that person a second life as a piece of art or some other object. Somers wants designers to re-evaluate the idea of progress while we, in an attempt to move away from a consumer culture and disposable society, ponder if we would become more attached to objects if they held a deeper meaning to us. Somers’ statement for the project “notes our seemingly unending need to consume objects and our detachment from their meaning and impact. So what is something that most people are unswervingly attached to? The ashes of their loved ones. Perhaps if we made those ashes into useful products like a chair, a toaster or a vacuum cleaner, it would make us all realize the importance of holding onto things”.