Dipi

Abstract

The reduction of waste materials is an important step towards a more circular economy. Within the mattress industry, the focus on sustainability and recycling has increased substantially over the last few years. In the Netherlands and a few other European countries the recycling of mattresses is strongly encouraged or made mandatory by local and national government.
Matras Recycling Europe B.V. is a Dutch company that specialises in the collection and disassembly of used mattresses. In order for this business to be viable and to increase the circularity of the entire mattress industry, it is important to find a suitable application for each of the materials of a used mattress. This thesis focuses on researching the potential of the outer layer of the mattress: mattress ticking.

This report describes the methods, outcomes and decisions that were made to create the final product. At the start of the project, the research question was:
“How can recycled ticking materials be used to design pet products, in the most sustainable way?”

The Material Driven Design method (Karana et al., 2015) was applied as a framework to determine the properties of the material, determining the market opportunities for mattress ticking.
Focus groups with the target group resulted in insights, which in combination with interviews with experts and other research, resulted into a preliminary list of requirements where the product should abide by.
After exploring multiple search areas, the search area “Travelling with dogs” was chosen because of the high viability. This search area led to 17 ideas, which were scored using the Harris profile method.
After further elaboration of the three concepts (Fence, Sunshade and Hammock) that scored best, one concept was chosen because it had the highest viability and desirability. This concept (Fence) was developed into the final product: Dipi. Dipi is a simple dog tent that protects dogs from the sun and creates a secluded area for the dog to lay in. The product is lightweight and easy to use. The product is intended to bring along on holiday.
The launch of the product is supported by a marketing strategy and a list of potential production partners, that is proposed to the client company.
After materialising the final design of the product, a prototype was made. The final prototype was tested in an exploratory user test with the envisioned target group, after which final design recommendations were set up.
The thesis is concluded with further recommendation for developing the Dipi and an extensive evaluation of the used methods during the project.