Manmade paraphernalia find their way into every cupboard, display case, shop, home, gallery, museum, magazine, computer monitor and land fill site.

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The collection and exchange of things play a vital role in our understanding of cultural value and are a powerful reflection of the kinds of societies and individuals we have become.

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But can the design industry, broadly defined, critically de-codify and help to re-shape need, desire, value and sustainability?

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The challenge is that ultimately all consumption fills some sort of void in our lives, at least temporarily. And by feeding the void in our lives, designers are providing the stimulus that keeps the modern economy moving. However, sometimes individuals reshape and adulterate the way something is used in ad hoc ways according to specific necessities. Nevertheless resources, food, materials, goods and people frequently fail to fit in this global machine and are discarded.

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This series of talks and workshops intends to investigate a range of aspects that inform how we consume, use and discard today.These events aim to make available to students and staff potential perspectives to consider, when involved in making new things exist, through a variety of interpretations of the three themes.