Societal impact as the main motivation
The main motivation of Panos and Foteini was and is to create awareness regarding consumption patterns.
Foteini Setaki and Panos Sakkas: "The creation of societal awareness was the primary motivation for us. We wanted to convey that existing raw materials can be used in a better way. When we started in 2015, the problem of plastic waste was already being discussed, but there were few solutions at the time. So we felt we needed to educate people about the problem by showing better ways to recycle the material."
To follow their primary motivation, their products are always part of a social project, for which they collaborate with cities, municipalities or other public institutions. Together with Coca-Cola, they opened the Zero Waste Lab in their home country in Thessaloniki. Here, citizens were invited to bring their own plastic waste and learn about the principles of the circular economy. Of course, they were also given the opportunity to actively help design the city's new furniture.
Foteini Setaki and Panos Sakkas: "We noticed that all visitors were excited about experiencing the production process transparently. Because everyone talks about recycling, but in public we often don't know what happens when we dispose of plastic waste in the garbage can. We could see that the same people kept coming and bringing their families and friends to show them what we do in the lab. It was heartwarming as some school children came back after a school excursion on the weekend to show what they experienced to their parents. It was so nice to see how inspired people were as they gave us so many great ideas for future projects." In keeping with the spirit of circularity, visitors of the Lab also inspired the two architects with their ideas for their future projects.
The main motivation of Panos and Foteini was and is to create awareness regarding consumption patterns.
Foteini Setaki and Panos Sakkas: "The creation of societal awareness was the primary motivation for us. We wanted to convey that existing raw materials can be used in a better way. When we started in 2015, the problem of plastic waste was already being discussed, but there were few solutions at the time. So we felt we needed to educate people about the problem by showing better ways to recycle the material."
To follow their primary motivation, their products are always part of a social project, for which they collaborate with cities, municipalities or other public institutions. Together with Coca-Cola, they opened the Zero Waste Lab in their home country in Thessaloniki. Here, citizens were invited to bring their own plastic waste and learn about the principles of the circular economy. Of course, they were also given the opportunity to actively help design the city's new furniture.
Foteini Setaki and Panos Sakkas: "We noticed that all visitors were excited about experiencing the production process transparently. Because everyone talks about recycling, but in public we often don't know what happens when we dispose of plastic waste in the garbage can. We could see that the same people kept coming and bringing their families and friends to show them what we do in the lab. It was heartwarming as some school children came back after a school excursion on the weekend to show what they experienced to their parents. It was so nice to see how inspired people were as they gave us so many great ideas for future projects." In keeping with the spirit of circularity, visitors of the Lab also inspired the two architects with their ideas for their future projects.