Our target audience is ignorant about the topic of thrifting and second-hand clothing. If we observe our audience we can tell that they take into consideration the current standards of society as well as what is trendy and fashionable. What is important is that they need to be educated about the topic (thrifting and second-hand clothes) and its environmental impact on the planet. In Cyprus, most young people today believe that second-hand clothes are mostly old, out of date, not of decent quality and not wearable. Our aim is to change that way of thinking by proving that thrift shopping can be a unique, affordable experience and that these clothes are not bad. It is critical to note that those clothes can be from different eras and that is what makes them valuable. Also, thrift shops in the Cypriot society are not well known and there are not that many shop options available so far for recycling clothes.
George Nicolaou, Christia Darna, Christina Amyrotou, Panagiota Theodosiou, Christina Metaxa, Dimitra Mikelli, Katerina Lamprou & Marina Manoli

A 2001 population census recorded that Lofou had ten (10) permanent inhabitants. On Friday, 8 July 2016, we had a chat with some of them... That was a few years ago and since then some of them have passed away...

Many university students need specific books every year for many classes and in different disciplines. Those books have already been bought the previous years by other students and stay in perfect condition so they can be reused, but they don’t. The books are expensive and, as we have mentioned, students are not financially independent so they can’t afford to buy them. Also, some of those books either don’t come in bookstores in Cyprus or they are in limited availability and it is difficult to find them. More specifically, because of the limited availability students tend to make online orders to get them. That leads in even more problems such as more shipping expenses and more waiting time until the delivery. In addition, all those books already bought are useless for some of them and they even throw them away after they use them. This leads to excessive waste because the books are not recycled. On 13/11/2020, the group is organising an online event to foster the exchange of study books. More info: https://spark.adobe.com/

As part of the course "Introduction to Social Design, Innovation (MGA 495)" where students from the School of Management and the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts work collaboratively on small-scale social projects, organised a public awareness event at Cyprus University of Technology about the need to eliminate single-use plastics (November 2019). As a result of this action the students created the first green club on campus. More info: https://spark.adobe.com/

Quote: "It is important for university students to get informed and develop awareness in related issues concerning the LGBTQI+ Community, and to go beyond their prejudices. The aim of this project is to do exactly that. It is hoped that if they are better informed, they will realise the importance of this issue and with a free mind, they might leave behind any previous prejudices they used to have. " Supervised final year undergraduate project, entailing crowdfunding and management of process to deliver outcomes. More info: https://spark.adobe.com/

Quote: ""My Erasmus internship at Labora last summer inspired my thesis project. The creation of handmade paper with embedded seeds amazed me, so I decided to take it one step further. After conducting a short research on the usage of plastic bags, I saw that all member countries of the EU must limit their usage by 2018. Some of the countries had already taken measures to reach this goal. Nothing had however been done in Cyprus, yet. I came up with the idea to create a biodegradable and plantable bag. A lot of research on product design followed, and with the help of my supervisor Dr. Nicos Souleles, I succeeded in creating BRB – Biodegradable Reusable Bag." Nikolas Falas, Oct 30, 2017 - Biodegradable Reusable Bag by Nikolas Falas. More info: BRB Be Right Bag Eco-System, Climate Launchpad