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Industrial Design Student Work: "How Long Should Objects Last?"

This incredibly ambitious and thoroughly-executed project is by Charlie Humble-Thomas, done while pursuing his Masters in the Design Products program at the RCA. Called Conditional Longevity, it asks the question: "How long should objects last?" Seeking the answer, Humble-Thomas tackles an oft-discarded object, the umbrella, and designs three variants: Recyclable,

However, the assumption of 'less but better' being a superior approach to product design is rarely practically evaluated.The third umbrella in the series takes durability to an almost cartoon-like level, by using ultra high performance materials such as carbon fibre and stainless steel. The character of the object is intended to emulate military grade construction but for use by a civilian, a trend that appears to be growing in our material culture.With parts CNC milled and fixed or bonded together, and extra reinforcement given to weak areas identified through testing, the Umbrella in theory should last a lifetime. Their impact can be expressed as a ratio expressed below: Resources & energy consumed to produce, use and recycle an object in its lifetime[benchmarked against an average of competitor products on the market]---------------------------- Projected number of uses & likelihood of loss, reuse & recycling [benchmarked against an average of competitor products on the market] I was very kindly supported in my final project by the Robin & Lucienne Day Foundation, to whom I am extremely grateful.

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