Space and product designer Taiho Shin presents Material Driven Design (MDD) that designs products and spaces based on the potentials of materials themselves. Not-Alternative connects MDD to everyday lives. As the title signals, this project introduces materials and products that will no longer be presented as alternatives, but will become foundational elements of our daily lives.
The project intervenes into the flimsy and precarious purchase-consumption cycle of our society that occludes the process of production and discard. Recognizing the imminent danger that the cycle presents, Shin asserts that we are at a crossroads where we must find ways to switch to a cycle that is sturdy and stable instead. As an example of the new normal, he presents a plant-based material from mycelium, a type of biomass. Offering a first-hand experience of future materials, Not-Alternative brings the future a step closer to contemporary viewers and seeks to reduce the emotional resistance that may arise from the material’s foreignness.

Ecological Approach
2020. 11. 24. – 11. 29. 11am – 6pm
M.0 Laboratory
1st floor, 47-24, Achasan-ro 15-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul