notjustuseless: katalin huszár makes fabrics of recycled plastic straws

hungarian textile and fashion designer katalin huszár draws the attention to the plastic waste issue through the beauty of her works. titled ‘notjustuseless’, her project is an experimental eco-design initiative collecting and re-using plastic straws and reusing them in a fabric design for curtains, dividers, or tablecloths.

the fabrics are made to be used as a divider, curtain or tablecloth in the tea shop

huszár’s design venture plays with the concept of recycling as we know it, bringing it back in a new, refreshing way. consumers have the largest impact on how the project progresses and form the final design with a simple act, by not throwing away their used drinking straws, but putting them in nearby containers designed for this purpose.

this way customers can engage with the result of their interaction with notjustuseless

a QR code – located on the collecting boxes — navigates to the page of the project, allowing you to follow the whole process. the concept shifts and adapts with the change of colors and shapes of the collected straws, resulting in one more level of depth and interactive with the public.

this collection was made as an experimental material design from the used straws of ‘bubu bubble tea’ in budapest 

experimental material samples — color mixes result from the layering of straws

the core of notjustuseless  — the collector box designed for this purpose

the inspiration of notjustuseless came from the adventure journey of the designer through europe

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom