Meet Niamh

Growing up in Cork I much preferred doing practical things. I loved art and music but I also really loved building and fixing things around the house. I was lucky when a friend of mine told me about the Product Design + Technology course in Limerick because I couldn’t have found a course better suited to me. Coming out of PDT I feel I haven’t just acquired the necessary technical design skills like sketching, model-making etc. but I’ve also learned so much about how to observe and learn from the world and how to work collaboratively with other people.

Moving forward I want to design for social and environmental sustainability. There is too much waste in the world and a huge mentality shift must come if we are going to change. I want to be part of that change by making it easier for people to engage with the world around them.

To get in touch with Niamh you can email her.

Econooc

Econooc is conservation beehive made from natural and repurposed materials. I wanted to make a product to help biodiversity but didn’t want to create more waste. The primary material used in it is mycelium which is what mushrooms grow from. Other materials used were remoulded waste plastic and bamboo composite. Econooc is modular which makes it easy to repair and can be completely broken down at end-of-life.

My aim with this hive was to get people engaged with biodiversity and make keeping a hive more accessible to a wider range of people while also helping protect the wild bee population. The Econooc calendar teaches the users about the internal activity of the hive, about what is happening in their garden and provides tips to help them develop a more biodiverse garden. The calendar is made from paper embedded with wildflower seeds which the user can plant to encourage bee pollination.