Felix chosen as "One to Watch"

Felix Bell has been chosen as one of the Design Council's "Ones to Watch"

MANCHESTER School of Art graduate Felix Bell has been chosen as “One to Watch” by the Design Council for his “brick bottle”, an everyday drinks container with a potentially life-changing second use.

Once used, the brick bottle can be filled with sand or soil and transforms into a robust construction material which could create fire, flood and earthquake-resistant shelters for refugees in disaster and conflict zones across the developing world.

Felix, who graduated with a degree in Three Dimensional Design, says he was looking for an energy-neutral solution to the problem of the 15 million bottles produced in Great Britain every day. PET bottles take around 250,000 years to biodegrade.

He said: “We only use plastic bottles for a couple of minutes, but this gives them a useful life of about 300 years. Recycling bottles takes energy, which has to come from somewhere – this doesn’t use any additional energy.”

Environmentally conscious

He is now planning to release his designs onto the internet in open source forms to allow others to play with and improve them for the common good.

And he plans to keep creating environmentally-conscious designs in the future.

Felix said: “Any design job I do, I’ll always bring my environmental consciousness because that is what makes me stand out.

“A lot of designers don’t think about that. These designs can be futuristic – new technology means environmentally conscious designs don’t have to look like something from the past.”

Anniversary celebrations

The 70 “Ones to Watch” were chosen by the Design Council as part of their 70th anniversary celebrations.

They were selected from hundreds of applicants for their outstanding vision, ambition and potential to contribute to the UK’s reputation as a leading design nation.

Judges included Annie Warburton, Creative Programmes Director for the Crafts Council, and Chloe Macintosh, co-founder of Made.Com.

Find out more about Felix’s work at www.felixbell.com. Find out about all the Design Council’s Ones to Watch at www.designcouncil.org.uk/ones-watch-winners