Salomon teams collaborate using workshop waste materials to design prototype products
In 2022, a small group of designers, product developers and R&D experts from across Salomon looked at the production waste around them and wondered what they might be able to create using only these materials that were about to go out in the trash. The goal of their Trash is Gold design exploration was to change the way people look at trash. They got their hands dirty, picking through ABS, Polypropylene, Polyurethane, and PA materials in the trash bins of the Salomon prototyping center. Then, with a shredder and a heat press machine, they experimented with the materials they collected.
"The value of a product might be seen through the lens of what it was in its previous life", explains Sylvain Merlin, designer for Salomon Snowboard
The properties of each material and the settings on the heat press machine—temperature, pressure, and mold setting—determined the visual aesthetics. Color patterns flowed freely, merging into random, authentic designs. Each piece was unique and imperfect. It was art. All of the items have been made from waste production materials. Today, the team’s exploratory work lives in the recycled ABS sidewalls of the new Salomon Addikt ski range.
Sylvain Merlin, a designer in the Salomon snowboard team, was instrumental in the efforts of the group. He says that this is only the beginning of this type of exploration. “In the future, the value of a product might be seen through the lens of what it was in its previous life,” Sylvain says. "Indeed, the Trash is Gold project is the story of materials that never die and proof that, in the hands of the right people, what was once considered ugly waste can live a beautiful second life."
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