RineU Spa

November - December 2018 | Design Academy Eindhoven

What is the root of people's aversion towards their own byproducts when studies show they're safe, even beneficial to consume?

How differently would people see undesirable byproducts if they were presented in a different way?

If guilt isn't sustainable, might pleasure be?

This project started with questioning circularity and human beings' constant subversion of other organisms for their own use. Despite having intentions to be sustainable or even circular, there remains a separation between "them" and "us". The intention of this project is to flip the production cycle unto ourselves -- what waste streams are socially or even biologically acceptable for humans to consume again for a human production system to be circular? What would it feel like?

Since the human body is 55-65% water, this project focuses on a circular dehydration-hydration process -- I focused on urine since it was easy to collect. I attempted to extract urea, which is anti-microbial, anti inflammatory and hydrating, therefore good for the skin. Urea is currently present in commercial skincare but is synthetically produced, so here I made different skincare products like face creams and lipbalms, but I tried to get the urea naturally from my own urine.

I read an article online that mentioned that Western Guilt, or rather the fact that only an elite group of countries have been responsible for the ecological decisions that have brought us to this predicament were in today, manifests in western scientists' cultivating their own saliva, bacteria, etc for science. But in the long run, despite personal, societal or environmental benefit, people will generally choose what's convenient. In this sense, guilt isn't sustainable, but here I explore how pleasure might be.

So, I prototyped a circular urine spa where you first refresh yourself with a cool drink, then detoxify your body, or rather, deposit your liquid human byproduct. Then, you enter rehydration through different hydrating skin spa therapies infused with what your deposited. I found out that urine therapy becomes more effective when it's combined with homeopathic remedies. Below are photos of a new age spa concept prototype, where urine & urea are infused in Ayurveda-inspired skin and wellness therapies.