Project pomace is a collaborative design research project involving designers, makers and academics from Turkey and the Netherlands. It surveys intrinsically circular qualities of the ancient olive cultivation practices in Karaburun, Izmir, Turkey with the goal of exploring the olive cultivation in depth and potential uses of olive pomace as design material.

 

The project consists of three parts, a series of material and product design experiments from olive pomace to create circular production models, documentary film chronicling traditional and modern practices of olive farming in Karaburun, and an edited volume documenting the different stages of the project. As a product designer I was involved in the material experiments and product design part of the project. 

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Ancestral culture of olive cultivation in Karaburun and around, displays many of the characteristics of the circular thinking and design perspective. nothing is wasted during the process, operates as a closed loop, and fosters regenerative production cycles. The project aims to take inspiration from the intrinsic qualities of olive cultivation and merge them with design in order to handle today’s global waste crisis and climate and ecological emergency. 

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