Ebbin Martin

Trash to Treasure

While I would like to say that I learned alchemy, or acquired the midas touch for this thesis: "Trash to Treasure", the truth is more pragmatic. I foraged in trash bins, dumpsters, Goodwill and the street for raw materials with which to design 'new' products. Research, interviews and experimentation informed my design process, leading me to the composition of 'useful' objects made up of cast-off waste. You, the listener/viewer/reader, have indirectly taken part in this thesis as a 'disposer of objects', the very fuel of my exploration. Thank you for that!

Biography

I grew up in a liberal college town in the Midwest. The son of one Artist/gardener/beekeeper and one Biochemist/smoker/workaholic, I was exposed to enormous ideas - both fictional and seemingly fictional. I spent (too) many years as a student, bicycle mechanic, cook and welder before realizing 'Industrial Designer' was a job title, and that it described exactly what I really enjoyed doing most: making things. As a student of Fine Art, I had to make things have a function; as a student of Engineering, I had to make things look good; as a student of Anthropology, I wanted people in 10,000 years dig up something I made. To me, Industrial Design is the natural intersection of these three disciplines: Art, Engineering and Anthropology. The studies of beauty, function and need mixed in a blender to produce shampoo bottles, pint glasses, and tennis shoes. I cant wait to get started.