Mupimup is a design studio focused on recycling and reusing materials. They are based in a small village (300 habitants) in the East cost of Iceland, which makes also their lives more sustainable.
Often designers think that they must be in big cities in the middle of the creative people. Well, not just designers. That’s why we assist everyday to the desertification of small villages (at least in Portugal). Young people don’t want to be there anymore. I believe that they don’t see future there. And, in a way, I agree with that. But if we look at Mupimup’s work that don’t have to be necessarily true.
The lecture made me reflect on that. I believe that if we would like to live in a smaller place we just have to be creative enough to do it. It could really improve the quality of our everyday life. Creative people could be really important for the development small villages.
Mupimup is now working in a project of reusing the building of a disabled fish factory in the village. This factory is part of the identity of the village. So they wanted to “keep the spirit of the house” and turn it to something valuable both for locals, tourists and artists looking for getting out of the city for a while. Their proposal is a creative centre based on sustainable principles in order to improve the local economy. The place would comprise fish market and restaurant, market of local products, café and creative spaces/workshops, joining in the same space arts, crafts and design.
To conclude, they believe that this project could save the village from collapse and they stressed how a creative person can have real power to be used in benefit of the community. We just have to be responsible and put our skills and energy in the right place.
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