As a fellow of the 2024 Material Lab Fellowship Programme, Nour Kays has embarked on a project to explore the potential of discarded toys as a source for sustainable materials. This initiative aims to reduce waste by repurposing outgrown or broken toys into innovative products, pushing the boundaries of creative reuse.
Nour Kays
May 2024:
Nour’s project began with community outreach to collect unwanted toys, leading to partnerships with local organisations like the Submarine Coworking Space and Rooted Cafe, who offered to act as collection points. These efforts brought in a diverse array of toy materials, including plastics, wood, and fabrics, offering a wide scope for experimentation.
July 2024:
A key milestone was a site visit to Ziad Abi Chaker’s recycling facility in Lebanon, where the designer gained insights into large-scale plastic recycling. Inspired by Ziad’s work, she decided to focus her first experiments on the potential of the plastic toys, so she took to dismantling and sorting the collected toys by material and colour.
This phase involved shredding the plastics and testing various methods to repurpose them. Using a wood oven, she conducted melting trials, carefully controlling temperatures to avoid burning the materials.
Through this project, Nour is demonstrating a commitment to sustainability by transforming waste into new resources. The ongoing work with these materials reflects the designer’s innovative approach, aiming to create eco-friendly products from items that would otherwise be discarded. This project not only addresses waste reduction but also redefines the possibilities of sustainable design within the fellowship’s framework.
Nour Kays, Design Director at the Farm Branding and founder of NK by Nour Kays, holds a BS in Graphic Design from the Lebanese American University and a Masters in Communication Design from Kingston University. Passionate about sustainability, she actively promotes conscious consumption and low-impact living through her work and lectures. She is working with repurposed toys and plastic for the duration of the 2024 Material Lab Fellowship Programme.
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