Jaime Gutierrez
Let’s face it. A lot of students roll out of bed at the last minute and grab whatever clothing looks and smells the cleanest.We don’t have the time, money or energy to wash our clothes as much as we should, but one KU student has created a solution.
Lisa Bengtsson, a KU product and furniture design student, has designed ecological hangers to keep clothes fresh and clean. Her creation, called ‘Bye Bye Laundry’, is a set of clothes hangers that harnesses activated charcoal to freshen clothes.
“Activated charcoal is already widely used for purifying the water in fish tanks or animals’ feeding bowls and it can absorb the odours from a piece of clothing even if it’s held a meter away from it,” she said.
Simple but effective
Bye Bye Laundry’s design is clean and simple. It includes a flocked ring that holds the clothes, a glass chamber that can easily be re-filled with charcoal and a filter that lets charcoal breath through the glass.
Granules of activated charcoal in the chamber “suck” in odours in their vicinity, a process that can take a few days.
“Today we wash our clothes much more than we need to and it harms both the garments and the planet,” Miss Bengtsson said.
The design is eco-friendly
Washing and drying an item of clothing accounts for more than half of its ecological burden.
“I want to give awareness to this issue with an alternative solution for washing that prevents clothes being thrown in the washing machine automatically,” she said.
The KU student wanted her hangers to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. They can be hung anywhere, from door handles to wardrobes, chairs, and windows.And she hopes they have a sense of luxury in their design.
With Lisa’s washing solution you not only are saving water and energy, reducing laundry and minimising wear and tear on clothing fibres, you also do something good for the planet, your wardrobe, and your wallet.