LENKA PETZOLD: HANKY VOGUE

This project is all about «cloth tissues». Yet, it is not about the well-known handkerchiefs, that are carefully stored in cupboards or drawers at home. No, it is about a totally new definition of terms and an ecologically friendly alternative to (paper) tissues. Observations from divers perspectives are embraced, with which it is cognizable that this field of research does not only incorporate themes on product and packaging design but also questions the type of distribution.

In this case it is a service, which releases the consumer from the burden of having to wash and it is reinventing the term hygiene, in which the environment and networks play an important role. From a sociological point of view is Bourdieu’s term «habitus» closely attached to the term «space». Both are relational term creations that suggest an alternative understanding for action (habitus) and structure (space). (cp. Martina Löw 2010) Simply and transferential, at the time a product is being introduced to the market the whole product and service offering is being influenced; but in a way it is rather influencing behaviour and opinions (habitus) of individuals, who then in a sum change urban daily structures (space). How this happens, and what it needs to make «cloth tissues» marketable is subject of this thorough research undertaken in Cologne’s quarter «Ehrenfeld».

This analysis is concentrating on retailers and consumers, looking at ecological necessity and possible changes of daily habits in the urban space. It is aiming at concrete approaches for product development and strategies of implementation that reveal clear correlations between social and urban structures. At the same time, design and the product «leinfein» (the new «cloth tissue») are questioned on the above mentioned issues. Conceptional, it can end into a vision or into a more realistic nature.

LINKS

www.hankyvogue.com
www.leinfein.de