Thomas Egoumenides’ laboratory of upcycled product design experiments

“A toolkit of different systems” is how Thomas Egoumenides describes the materials he works with in his design practice. The French designer, whose work sits at the cusp of sculpture design and social design, demonstrates an almost alchemical approach to transforming discarded objects such as plastic bottles and spools from textile factories. None of the sculptures or lamp designs he has created thus far hide the fact that they were at one point, something else. In fact, they celebrate the previous lives they have occupied.

As stated on his website, for the Tunis-based architect and visual artist, “the urban environment [presents itself] as a vast repository of materials and narratives, akin to a ‘matériotheque’.” Each project delves into different material layers and ways to revalue waste. The salvage-like aesthetic is particularly central to the designer’s vision of circular design. As he elaborates in an exclusive interview with STIR, “The question of use was not there. [It was about] creating a dialogue between me and the object, having fun. That’s why I call it a laboratory.”

Egoumenides’ exploration of the possibilities presented by what is considered junk began with the Rascal series (2020-21), developed during an art residency for the Tunis Dream City Art Festival in 2021. For the residency, the designer worked with a group of people to upcycle and repurpose various discarded objects through an experimental approach based on the “pedagogy of error”. Learning by trying and adjusting to what is available forms a tenet for the designer’s works. Even the name Rascal means to ‘reuse’ in Tunisian, with the play on its English meaning giving the project a cheeky twist.

The objects in the Rascal series are characterised by how much they retain their existing form and qualities—Egoumenides intervenes minimally to transform them into each piece. As the designer reiterates, the primary objective is never functionality, but being able to provide a new, valuable perspective on what might become of these objects once they have been discarded.

In the conversation, Egoumenides also broaches the idea of originality for such a design practice: What does designing a system rather than a product entail for him? The notion of open source drives his explorations, he shares. He hopes to create open-source technical guidelines for his sustainable designs, encouraging individuals to source their own materials and make something novel. He hopes this will promote a self-sufficient design culture.

His latest collection AŠ-ŠĀRQIA draws on this ongoing exploration of materialities, discarded while they may be. Threaded rods and thread spools are reimagined to create a series of furniture which betray their origins through minimal designs. Not entirely art objects, but not fully functional, the collection’s table designs reflect how the architect’s experimentation works at cross-breeding varieties of waste from everyday life, to create a new design language. The system employed for the furniture designs, an iteration of an art installation Egoumenides created for this year’s Sharjah Architecture Triennial, is modular, allowing for different configurations. As the product designer describes, all the individual pieces are re-assemblable, so they can adapt to different needs.

While AŠ-ŠĀRQIA employs a neat, grid-like system using threaded spools, the designer’s quirky approach to salvage and upcycling began with a wider range of products, as in Rascal. In his practice, each product design is unique and yet, individual designs seem to fit into a cohesive world: a future where resources are scarce and people have to make do with what they have. This philosophy is further highlighted in a series of bench designs Egoumenides did for a dance performance during the Dream City Festival 2023.

The Bench Block System (2023) employed empty bottles sealed within four cardboard boxes to create seating while being economical with resources. Makeshift in appearance but sturdy and extremely thrifty, each project by Egoumenides displays his desire to play and experiment, whether through form or context. “My goal is to act before the recycling stage, taking advantage of the material and its existing qualities and trying to modify it minimally,” Egoumenides concludes of his unique take on ‘reuse’. The hope is to change the way we perceive junk and (re)do waste differently.