Collaborations: Sustainable Prototyping

MShop operations manager Lee Schuette and Director of Sustainability Rosi Kerr '97 are developing a course titled "Sustainable Methods of Design Prototyping." It's one of five interdisciplinary projects funded by the Design Initiative at Dartmouth (DIAD) for the coming year.

The course will teach students fabrication skills that integrate hand tool use, material properties, and sustainable practices.

"All lessons are focused on food-oriented objects," says Schuette. "We'll be carving chopsticks with a knife from a piece of firewood split with a froe; hand hammering a silver spoon from old silver flatware that was melted, cast, and hand-shaped; and forging a kitchen spatula from an old railroad spike."

At the end of the nine-week course at Thayer, students will sit down to a meal using the vessels and utensils they created.