BAMANA
Paper Trail
‘Bamana’ is designed to be an alternative to inflatable party balloons which is more environmentally adapted.
Balloons are one of the top ten single use plastics found in our oceans (by European bodies), whilst being one of the most deadly littered objects to birds and sea life. Their form makes them easily mistaken for consumable entities, whilst attached strings entangle and strangle. For an extremely short period of joy they can cause detrimental environmental impacts for years.
As an alternative Bamana is constructed entirely from recycled paper. The shell is paper pulp moulded, the fillings from recycled tissue paper and the colour is pigmented from natural food colouring.
Thus the materiality is not only completely from waste resources, but is fully recyclable again, completely biodegradable and is technically edible. The objects life-span is therefore inline with its extremely short use span.
The totem-like design is a sculptural structure formed of confetti cannons which are torn from the assembly through the course of a party, causing destruction of the overall assembly; a temporariness important in signifying a celebratory event. The blow powered confetti cannons produce a mix of colours and can be exploded multiple times with varying effects, this augmentation creates toy like aspects to be enjoyed by anybody.
The biomorphic form is intended to ultimately create intrigue and fascination to the object, whilst its nature is to be environmentally safer. Each confetti cannon is inspired by a different natural source which ejects matter such as seeds, spores or pollen. The confetti is shape-optimised from maple seeds, this keeps the confetti airborne for longer through a helicopter motion, further augmenting the effect.
Material
Paper, food dye
Dimensions
850 × 260 × 80mm
