Sustainability in Action
An Interview with Opo’Lab’s Irena Übler
One of the greatest advantages of the 15-minute city is how the concept of reusing every piece of land contributes to improving the environmental impact of urban space and neighbourhood. Many people share a vision for a better world, but when it comes to making a difference in the name of sustainability, where do we start?
As we always endeavour to on our events, our Porto bike tour back in November (during Coworking Europe) provided us with a fun way of exploring the city’s coworking scene, while showing us that community is the key. It was great to meet so many different people, including those who joined us for the cycling, and the community managers and coworkers who met us along the way in each workspace.
One of those workspaces is Portugal’s first “Fab-Lab” (fabricating laboratory) – Opo’Lab. Our group of enthusiastic coworking operators and service operators were impressed about how the workspace pushes innovation in sustainability, when the founder of Opo’Lab, João Feyo, showed us around the workspace.
A “manufacturer of ideas,” Opo’Lab contributes “to the development and realisation of projects proposed by countless creative minds that challenge the limits.” Opo’Lab is “dedicated to thinking and exploring the creative use of new technologies in architecture, engineering, design, and other artistic fields, by promoting research, education, and cultural activities.”
The group loved the laboratory concept, and how the workspace supports designers, including Irena Übler. A long-standing community member of Opo’Lab, an industrial designer, and a specialist in the development of ecological solutions in product and furniture design, Irena implements emerging artistic perspectives while establishing connections between human identity, design, and environmental responsibility.
Irena is currently leading a Biopress project, which is what our bike tour group chose to donate to spread our energy wider and deliver a real purpose for the future of Porto, and the planet. The project saves and reuses natural resources, driving sustainability forward.
We recently set up a chat with Irena to ask her more about the project, her vision with regard to sustainability, and why community is the key not only in her workspace but between designers and sustainability experts across the world too.
Tell us about your design background and the story behind the Biopress project
Irena: In my last year of studying Industrial Design at the University of Applied Science FH Joanneum in Graz, Austria, I went to Porto on an Erasmus exchange. I got a job offer in the European city of culture – Guimaraes – a small city close to Porto and the birthplace of Portugal’s first king. I was doing a creative signage project linked to creative tourism and found a link between culture, heritage, and design that encouraged visitors to discover the city differently.
After a couple of years, I found my next opportunity working at ESAD (Escola Superior de Artes e Design) in Matosinhos, teaching postgraduate students in the Faculty of Art and Design about design thinking methods. I also developed modular cork furniture (founding the brand COMO in 2016), with support from Amorim Cork – the world’s largest cork company based in Portugal. What makes cork so sustainable and eco-friendly is that it’s from the exterior, so the cork tree doesn’t need to be cut down.
This experience connected me to natural materials in product design, and I found my next opportunity when I had two art installations commissioned. I started working with recycled plastic and had heard about Precious Plastic Portugal – a worldwide community and open-source project of machines that reuse plastic. Time goes by and, instead of doing half a year in Porto, it’s fourteen years later.
Why is the topic of sustainability so important to you, and what should we be telling others regarding the sustainability and future of our planet?
Irena: That’s a huge question, but if you believe that you can be part of it, we can work together to change the world. Of course, changing the future of the planet is a big thing, that requires a lot of new rules and changes.
As a product designer, on the one hand, we want to design new objects, but then we have to ask ourselves: do we need so much? We need to ask ourselves how we can create products that last long, don’t need to be thrown, or are reparable.
You can’t keep telling people what to do, it won’t work. Instead, you have to make it more experiential.
We facilitate a lot of educational training and workshops at Precious Plastic Portugal. When people understand what they can do with materials instead of throwing them away, it opens their eyes.
The Porto bike tour group praised Opo’Lab’s innovative approach to sustainability. What drew you to partner with Opo’Lab?
Irena: We first got to know one another a decade ago, when Opo’Lab brought a new Fab Lab to Guimaraes whilst I was working there. Opo’Lab is the first “Fab-Lab” (fabrication laboratory) in Portugal. Designers can come to test out prototypes, a key part for any development.
The Opo’Lab team supported me with my first recycled plastic projects. Testing and using the machines is key for any improvement and finding solutions to make it easier to work with. We started this symbiotic relationship where they were constructing the machine, and I was using it. In 2018, I was invited to join the Precious Plastic team as a designer. We make new objects and think about how we can use materials in a new way and integrate them into objects that people use daily.
The Precious Plastic machines can be booked for educational training, and to think about how new products can be used in different cities. We sell the Precious Plastic machine worldwide, and I fly them for training sessions. Recently, we’ve visited Egypt and Mozambique. It’s a lovely job, I’ve met so many people across many countries, and we all contribute to making an impact.
What’s the community like at Opo’Lab?
Irena: Half of the space at Opo’Lab is a coworking space used by architects and designers. I’m here alone, but I work with an intern who approached me because of their interest in sustainability. If you work with sustainable materials, you seem to meet lots of people all over.
Lots of people come into the workspace to find solutions. For instance, a fashion brand recently came in to work out how to reduce wastage when packing clothes. They’re curious about improving their sustainability. If people want to find these kinds of solutions, they can come to Opo’Lab.
The workspace started building the machines after João Feyo met the founder of Precious Plastic Project who also built the machines and created the open-source project. Precious Plastic Project is a community platform where people can exchange their ideas around recyclable plastic. There’s a lot of knowledge exchange and, at Opo’Lab, we’ve put a pin on the workshop map.
You’ve worked together for many years. What has been so special about your collaboration?
Irena: Before I joined Opo’Lab, I’d come in for fabricating, developing or testing. It was always an open workshop, and I felt very welcome. Since joining the Precious Plastic Portugal team, I’ve become part of the Opo’Lab family, and come into the space and machines whenever I want.
I’ve started an experimental research project – PRIMA – a material library to work with not only plastic as a waste source, but also working with recycled plastic, cork, and ceramics. Whenever you test things out, you need a place to do that in, to work out how to test out and apply the materials. Somewhere like Opo’Lab.
I love discussing design ideas with the people here at Opo’Lab, who similarly work with recycled materials and have a lot of knowledge. I call it a creative exchange. If you’re all alone in your little studio, you cannot access that knowledge or be part of those discussions.
Opo’Lab is like a big playground for designers…we can use different materials, and test things out, with all the machines, the tools, and the knowledge in the same place, it’s the perfect combination. Different people come in with their projects or are on programmes, there’s a lot of creativity and we’re all thinking about how we can do things better, keeping our environmental impact in mind.
What does this support from SALTO bike group mean to you and what will it help you achieve?
Irena: When you start working with new materials, you need new machines or new ways to transform them. We have all the equipment for recycled plastic, but when I started working on the Prima Matters project (a material research and experimental design project aiming to open space for the creation of new objects), it was challenging to work out how to combine new materials without the proper machines for it.
So, we started making a Biopress – a machine that heats and compresses at the same time, helping us take a big step towards working with biodegradable materials, such as coffee grounds, orange peels, or natural materials we can transform with heat and pressure. We have to do the investigation, material testing, and making this machine ready first ourselves before we start properly working with them.
Our ambition for 2024 is to start an investigation into natural materials, with the ultimate aim of crafting innovative solutions through the fusion of cutting-edge technology and eco-friendly materials. For that reason, it’s crucial to fabricate the biopress and moulds.
The support from SALTO and the bike tour group is a push forward for me. We can buy the last materials we need to make a mould. I’m super enthusiastic about it.
We’ll be keeping in touch with Irena whilst she develops the Biopress machine. Stay tuned!
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