olive pomace is the residue of the olive oil extraction process.

We tend to think of design as an act that has a start and endpoint. This perception is deeply in line with the misconception of a linear and one-way life span of design products. Whereas, the process in which the designer is engaged in its common sense is merely a small portion of the entire life cycle of a product. The material (and possibly even the immaterial) presence of the product does, in fact, exist before and after this process as well. When we do not recognize this what we end up with are obvious catastrophes such as masses of wastes or profound paradoxes on why we actually do produce.

We can rather comprehend design as an act of conscious interventions on things that continuously act and evolve within systems that overlap with each other. Such an understanding will help us to alter the misconception of the linear and one-way presence of things. By this means we can develop products that can sustain their values in a circular manner instead of being things to join the masses of wastes.

The circular design proposes certain approaches and methods to enable this ideal concept. It aims at a sustainable, efficient and more meaningful future that is human and nature-oriented by considering design with all its dimensions such as economic, ecological, social and philosophical. Our project titled “Pomace: Learning Circularity from Olive” focuses on the ancient olive cultivation practices in Karaburun, Izmir in order to put forward a genuine approach on circular design in a local context. It aims to do so first by exploring the unique life cycle of olive that evolves from “delice” to pomace and the social, economical and cultural relationships around this cycle. The reason for taking olive as a starting point for this circular design experiment is our hypothesis that this very own cultivation practice has intrinsic qualities which are already fairly circular and therefore is promising to lead a way to encourage the designers and the local community to produce in a more circular manner.

The circular design proposes certain approaches and methods to enable this ideal concept. It aims at a sustainable, efficient and more meaningful future that is human and nature-oriented by considering design with all its dimensions such as economic, ecological, social and philosophical. Our project titled “Pomace: Learning Circularity from Olive” focuses on the ancient olive cultivation practices in Karaburun, Izmir in order to put forward a genuine approach to circular design in a local context. It aims to do so first by exploring the unique life cycle of olive that evolves from “delice” to pomace and the social, economical and cultural relationships around this cycle. The reason for taking olive as a starting point for this circular design experiment is our hypothesis that this very own cultivation practice has intrinsic qualities which are already fairly circular and therefore is promising to lead a way to encourage the designers and the local community to produce in a more circular manner.

The circular design proposes certain approaches and methods to enable this ideal concept. It aims at a sustainable, efficient and more meaningful future that is human and nature-oriented by considering design with all its dimensions such as economic, ecological, social and philosophical. Our project titled “Pomace: Learning Circularity from Olive” focuses on the ancient olive cultivation practices in Karaburun, Izmir in order to put forward a genuine approach to circular design in a local context. It aims to do so first by exploring the unique life cycle of olive that evolves from “delice” to pomace and the social, economical and cultural relationships around this cycle. The reason for taking olive as a starting point for this circular design experiment is our hypothesis that this very own cultivation practice has intrinsic qualities which are already fairly circular and therefore is promising to lead a way to encourage the designers and the local community to produce in a more circular manner.