Micro Unit Part Four
Brief: Design a way for textile waste to reveal its hidden value.
Team Members: Luis Winkelbrandt, Nicole Shu, Molly Wensley, Amen Maheen, Vanashree Chowdhury, Niki Marathia, Jaime Santos Guerrero, and Lynn Zhong
Midway checkpoint
As we are at the midpoint of our project, we felt that it would be important to revisit the brief, to make sure we were on track and were not missing any key details.
We chose to do the same format that we used at the beginning. This helped us take the themes in the brief and not just understand them, but connect them to our research specifically.
Doing this activity for the second time allowed us to look at our brief from the direction our research had pointed us. We were able to be more specific about the terms we were questioning in the beginning. Materal histories were large term during week one, but when we looked at it through the lens of hospitality, the history of who has used them is how we can find out stories can be told and extract the hidden value from those interactions.
Reflection of Activity
While this activity did not give us any data or research, it was a private part of our process; at times, we have forgotten about the root of what we are supposed to be doing. At the midpoint, we felt a little lost. We have so much information but no idea what to do with it, so this connection helps us move forward productively.
Re-planning activity inspired by Larissa Kunstel-Tabet Workshop
A few members of our group attended Larissa's workshop and were inspired by the organization and by the ability to use project management to become more creative.
This activity helps showcase what you have done, ongoing feedback, a next step based on all of that, and what we need to do in order to move forward. It also asks us to think about the feedback and what we should take and what we should leave for later, if necessary. I think we get lots of feedback, which we love, but can sometimes be overwlemcing to this helped us realize what feedback works and what does not.
The original replanning exercise was done under the workshop on May 15th 2026.
While we did not have much time for this in the workshop, we were ables it identify some points of feedback we received that did not fit our goals, therefore, were able to put them to the side
We took this same framework back to our group and figured it was an activity we should do all together.
Reflection of Activity
We have extensive research and feedback, and we were overwhelmed and didn't know which direction to take. This activity helps us see all the information in an organized fashion, not just all over a figjam.
Tabletop feedback/finding of hidden value
During our tabletop, we discovered our hidden value. These towels have life still in then they have stories and a presence of the past users through the stains and rips.
OUR HIDDEN VALUE
Hidden value in the imperfections.
Anonymity loss as personality. Stains, rips, and defects give the towel life
Mini workshop
We conducted a small test workshop to see how people would interact with the towels and what their ideas were about what towel waste could be.
These towels were provided to us by our partner Fibre lab. They are slightly stained and torn, yet on some, we couldn’t even notice a stain, but are considered textile waste by the hotels. While we thought about adding more stains, we wanted our participants to interact with real hospitality textile waste, not a fabricated version.
We first had our three participants interact with the towels, getting a sense for the textures, stains, and rips. They noted that the towels felt stiff and low quality. After they familiarized themselves with the towels, we asked them to use whatever materials they might want to create something new out of these towels.
While they did not create anything physical, they explained what could be done with them. They said they would really only use them for mopping and cleaning, but that was nothing out of the ordinary for a towel. They would not want to wear them, but said they could be turned into an upcycling project.
Reflection of activity
Although this activity was not as successful as we had hoped, it showed us that we need to be more thorough when giving instructions for activities. We did not prepare material for them to use ahead of time; a creative tool kit could have been a better option for this research. The difficulty in seeing value in something that had already been discarded reiterates Tanizaki’s (2001) observation in In Praise of Shadows that small qualities normally go unnoticed, especially if they are not given the right framing. This confirmed our finding that there must be a shift in perception in order for value to be uncovered.
Workshop planning using Claude/Workshop without a workshop
During our Friday workshop, Workshop without a workshop, Alaistair Steele (MA:UX Course Leader) and Ronnie Deelen (multidisciplinary artist focusing on sound) asked us to create our own 10-minute workshops. We conducted a small part of a workshop that we had created in collaboration with Claude AI.
Our first and second prompts used in Claude to help us create a bigger workshop (Santos Guerrero, 2026).
Claude’s version of the structure of a potential workshop, since we only had ten minutes, we decided to only do the first activity in the exchange sections: Object Interview (Santos Guerrero, 2026).
When planning the workshop, we wanted to make sure the instructions and our why were obvious for our participants. We divided roles between the three of us: Luis was the opener/closer, Niki was in charge of photos and documentation, and I was in charge of explaining the warm-up and major activities.
Warm Up Activity
We had our participants in a circle and tossed the towel around, and they would each say the first word that came to mind when whent hey catch the towel. This was supposed to help warm everyone’s minds up while also getting used to the texture of the towel.
Main Activity
We explored how participants embodied the “personality” of a hospitality towel. The towel was passed around the circle, each person acting as the towel and then questioning it. Many participants asked about their jobs, and their responses seemed to indicate that the towel seemed overworked. By the end, several people said they felt sorry for the towel and that empathizing with it might change how they would use it.
Reflection of the activity
This mini workshop actually helped us bring out the hidden value we had chosen to explore. At the end, people felt bad for the towel and almost looked at it as a human who had been overlooked.
References
Tanizaki, J. (2001). In Praise of Shadows. Translated by T. J. Harper and E. G. Seidensticker. London: Vintage Classics.
Kunstel‑Tabet, L. (2026). Project Management Workshop, workshop delivered as part of the MAUX programme, University of the Arts London, 15 May.
Steele, A. and Deelen, R. (2026) Workshop Without a Workshop, workshop delivered as part of the MAUX programme, University of the Arts London, 22 May.
