Chair made from re-used barrels (Photo credit: https://sites.google.com/site/googlingburkina/week-2/poor-newson)

Comparative insight is one of the techniques employed at MEX to help people think differently about a subject. It is particularly important in areas where the mobile industry itself has made relatively little progress, such as the work we’re doing on Pathway #7, entitled ‘Express sustainable values in user experience‘.

Franco Papeschi, facilitator for Pathway #7, at the May 2011 MEX, shared this story about a chair made from old barrels, created by a local craftsman in co-operation with an Italian designer, Giovanni Innella, working in Burkina Faso.

Alassane’s business transforms the barrels into watering cans, but the visiting designer works with him to create a chair using the same techniques.

It picks up on several themes which may help the mobile industry develop ideas for sustainable values, such as the re-use of existing materials, tapping into local craft knowledge and using communications networks to source global inspiration.