Labour Mall, Labour More
TEAM: Carmen Kwok Kam Man, Hong Kong – Lillian Chung Kwan Yu, Hong Kong – Heather Wong Yin Wah, Hong Kong – Sylvia Yeung, Hong Kong
SELECTED BY: Seetal Solanki – Director and Founder of materials research design studio Ma-tt-er and Visiting Tutor on the Interior Design programme at the Royal College of Art
A new currency for future consumerism
#resourcedepletion #rationing #alternativecurrency #earntoshop #doineedthis?
The project anticipates a dystopian future where rationing would be introduced by authorities as a result of the near depletion of exhaustible resources and raw materials. In this scenario, the project envisions the future of shopping using an alternative currency other than money but the amount of carbon footprint an individual can offset to earn luxuries they wish to “buy”. Controlled portions of daily necessities are distributed and if one wishes to earn goods and other luxuries beyond your controlled portion, one must earn points by generating energy, restricting their carbon footprint to a certain level, or contribute to recycling or other environmental causes to offset the carbon used to produce a certain luxury item. Hence this entry seeks to reflect on the consequences our current consumerist shopping habits, and question what people are willing to “pay” in order to gain something materialistic. This “alternative currency” or point system would fundamentally change the shop space, in which earning and buying is infused in the shop environment, so that every time we wish to purchase something extra, we are somewhat forced to consider the amount of resources used for its production and whether it is essential.