The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness

When we first started out with StoneCycling, before we knew the importance of research and development with playfulness, we focused on developing a few WasteBasedBricks® that we could make when clients would order them. TheSalami” is an example of this.

Often we would get the following feedback: ‘We really like your story and the fact that you are making sustainable products. We also like that you’re reinventing this ancient material. But if you’re using waste instead of raw materials… then why not show it?’

Observations like these caused a total shift in our design thinking.

The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness

No longer did we try our utmost best to create for example a “red coloured brick”, because all of a sudden small ‘mistakes’ in the production process of getting to that red colour became opportunities for possible new products.

This led to the aesthetic range of WasteBasedBricks®  we offer at the moment.

The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness

Material First

We’re still learning from the hundreds of conversations we have with architects, real estate developers and designers from across the world on a daily basis.

We understand more and more that in many cases, our current products are just the starting point of a design process. And we love design that is fueled by exchanging ideas and experiments and product research and development is an important part of this. 

If you’re wondering how we do our Research and Development, we would love to share a bit more of the work that’s being done by our colleagues in the kitchen. Perhaps it inspires you to develop a unique product together that really becomes the eye-catcher of your project. 

We love design that is fueled by exchanging ideas and experiments.

Mixing Things Up

Besides the technique itself, the ingredients that we use play a very important role in the end result of our products.

Together with our production partner at the factory, we set up the process in such a way that we’re flexible in changing up the waste materials that we use. This gives us a lot of space for experimentation, which is essential for the type of projects we like to work on.

The importance of research and development in organisations, and the experimental elements of this process is often underestimated in our opinion!

The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness
Custom shapes and sizes

Finishing Touches

The finish of a WasteBasedBrick® has a big effect on the look and feel of a facade, flooring or interior wall of the final design project.

We work with different materials to create those unique surfaces of our products. Sometimes a simple brush stroke can do the trick. In other cases, compleet moulds need to be custom made to create the sizes and shapes that fit perfectly in a specific corner of a building.

The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness
The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness

Playfulness as an R & D Strategy

A lot of our work involves focused research and development of new products. Most of this is related to projects we’ve worked on in the past.

At least once a year we make sure that we have time to play around with our production process. Almost intuitively, we start experimenting with materials, techniques and ideas that don’t need to result in something specific at first.

While in many cases these experiments don’t result in a product we’re looking to sell, every now and then we get surprised by these sessions. That is when you realise that one of these playful ideas could actually lead to a one-of-a-kind facade somewhere in the world in the coming years.

Isn’t that exciting?!

The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness
Examples of research and development activities resulting in new brick textures
The Importance of Research and Development with Playfulness

We hope that we have answered your question on why research and development is important for creative companies and would love to hear from you: are you currently making time in your business to try new things and innovate?