“Waste not, want not.” 16th century proverb or Creator Studio mantra? You decide. There’s no shortage of original creations and tangible works of innovation in a variety of materials at USC Iovine and Young Academy, but there’s also no shortage of the excess these constructions leave in their wake. Thankfully, “scraps” aren’t taken for granted around these parts. The superfluous wood, fabric, metal, and even boxes used in the Creator Studio aren't discarded and tossed aside –  they’re up for grabs to turn into the next project. To keep the cliched idiom party going, we want to remind everyone… one student’s scraps could be the another student’s treasured prototype. 

According to the EPA, landfills received 12.2 million tons of wood a year and 11.3 million tons of textiles in 2018. Ethically handling artistic waste means giving it a second chance. Call them found objects or call them trash – scraps are plentiful at IYA, and they’re a sustainable conduit to low-cost, low-waste, and low-pressure ideas coming to life. What would you make with these “free materials?”

IYA doesn’t have a hard reuse policy, according to the studio’s Digital Fabrication Specialist Dash Krehel, but professors and students find reasons to frequently re-use the scraps. He estimates that Grant Delgatty’s class eats up 40-80 junked boxes. Wood gives way to a high abundance of scraps, and while sheet metal projects aren’t the most “glamorous,” they can be with some “bending and patience.” For example, this object was born out of practice using the slip roller to make an asymmetrical cone. Top it off with some welding… et, voila! 

“Throwing stuff away is not ideal. You’re not going to make exactly what you want out of scraps but if you can learn from it, that’s its own benefit. You can learn how to reduce this waste for the future,” Krehel says. 

While sustainability is a priority, cost is an often overlooked one too. A massive scale project might sound like a great idea to a student until they see the financial reality of the idea… then, it’s off to the scrap pile where ingenuity is on the house. 

Digital Fabrication Lab Technician Maddie Wishart goes the low-waste route in her own life and in the studio, opting to turn a recently-ripped pair of jeans into something else. It’s a liberating way to approach design. 

“Scrap frees you up to be able to experiment and not contribute to the waste stream if it doesn’t work out. I enjoy that. Environmental sustainability is really important to me and whenever I think about making things out of new materials or things like epoxy that aren’t great for the environment it really halts me, but working with scrap helps to let me do what I want without having to worry about my impact,” she shares. 

At IYA, instead of out with the old, the old has the capacity to transform into the new. Krehel is recognizing that in his own artistic attitude. Scraps allow creation without pressure or restraint. Sometimes limitations are the challenge that generates new designs. 

“You realize you need to be conscious about what you’re making, which is something I’m going through for sure. I’m not making things because I need a purpose. That’s the nice thing about scraps, you feel less inclined to have that purpose,” he muses. “It’s not like you’re necessarily creating new waste. I think that’s the nice thing about scraps, personally. It lets you feel less inhibited about, well, this has to be worth making.”

Scraps aren’t taken for granted around these parts. The superfluous wood, fabric, metal, and even boxes used in the Creator Studio aren't discarded and tossed aside –  they’re up for grabs to turn into the next project. To keep the cliched idiom party going, we want to remind everyone… one student’s scraps could be the another student’s treasured prototype. 

IYA “Scrap” Book: Free Materials, Freer Mind