J A N N E K E - M A R I S

I know, they are making fun of the situation. But think twice, by using a tampon you’re not only spending a lot of money on it each month, you’re also contributes to make the waste dump bigger and bigger. Not really sustainable you might think. The menstruation cup is sustainable and reusable, and collects around three times more than a tampon or sanitary napkins absorbs.

It’s more familiar and normal to start your first period with a tampon or sanitary napkin, however this choice might not be the best choice at first site for down onder. In most of the products which absorbs your bleedings are microplastics, dyestuff and chemicals. The menstruation cub is nog only more hygienic, it also helps women in development countries. Unicef reported in 2008 that girls in third world countries are 20% absent of school owing to the fact of their period. Their mission to spread the cups around the countries, by a sustainable businessmodel ‘buy one, give one’. Through this principle, there are already 13.000 cups speak all over Kenia, Uganda, Tanzania and recently also Nepal. 80% of the Kenyan girls tried this cup and will using it in the future. Statistics show, that through this cup, school performances of girls are improved significant.

Sometime you wake up with the feeling you didn’t sleep very well, this feeling is history for the future. It will be possible to analyse your sleeping habits and your environment into detail, to comfort your night moments. 

I might think this is the bed of the futureL the it™  form the company SleepNumber. This technological bed measurements your heartbeat, breathing and movements through built-in sensors. This information will be send to an app on your smartphone, and tells you exactly how you slept last night. Besides that it will also gives you tips to optimise your sleeping habits. You’ll find out with which temperature you’ll fall asleep. 

In addition to the previous post, the future of meat. This project showcases five different ways our future could unfold with regard to meat consumption. The scenarios sketches different ways we could end op with if we take various decisions. Can you imagine to be in one of these scenarios; Lab meat, Less & Local, No Meat, Insect Meat or when we do nothing. 

Many experts give advices how we can reduce our water footprint. However the water-efficient toilets doesn’t help as much as we hoped for. Lovely all those inventions but hardly anyone knows that “the food we eat makes up more than 2/3 of our total water footprint,” as the Grace Communications Foundation has reported. Which is why we all have to change ouder eating habits. As simple as you might think - eat more plant-based food. And I hear you thinking already, the meat in the supermarket have already been grown, so we’ll spill more food if we don’t eat this as well. However, if we buy and eat water intensive foods now, the food industry will continue to grow or even increase growing them in the future. That’s why the best time to change our eating habits is today.

Plastic waste is one of the worlds biggest issues, nowadays there is completely island from plastic floating in the ocean. Construction company VolkerWessels got the solution. The PlasticRoad gives the surplus of plastic a new destination. This road is 100 percent recycled plastic and is in line with cradle-to-cradle movement; to use materials from one old product into another new product.  With roads made of plastic, more than one issue is solved. Plastic waste gets a new destination in stead of ending in the sea, besides that it helps to foresee the future shortage of oil. 

Audi, Google, Apple and Uber, all have something in common. They all producing a self driving car. It just a matter of time before we can expect a car like this. Smartbe, a company which is not involved with the car thing, thought what they can do with a car, we can do it with buggies. Which is why they designed one ‘the Smartbe Intelligent Stroller’.  It’s a self driving pram, which is connected to your smartwatch or smartphone. The pram have a built-in electrical motor to move by itself. 

Are you an artist, got always the dream to show you work in an exhibition? This is your change, or it was your change. ‘Het Stedelijkmuseum’ in Amsterdam starts in August an exhibition of Proposals for Municipal Art Acquisitions 2016. The Museum is looking for designers and artist who applied art practice involves exploring new approaches to relevant issues and developments within the broader spectrum of the design discipline. 

By Sanne Jansen started in 2012. After designing collections for half a year, she wanted something different and changed her plans. Fashion goes fast, it's everywhere and available in many numbers. Sanne Jansen decided to take it slow, to promote the quality of every piece. Why would you change your wardrobe each season if you haven't change your style? Instead of designing two large collections each year, Sanne Jansen designed just one outfit each month. With the main vision, outfits that will survive fashion seasons by style and quality.

I believe that this movement against the Fast Fashion industry is more than interesting, owing to the fact that you'll become more aware of the difference you make by choosing for a brand that takes care of mother nature in different ways. You don't always have to participate in Fast Fashion, it isn't always necessary, by Sanne Jansen is a great example to turn your back to the Fast Fashion industry.