New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Project category

Identify the award category for which this project is being submitted
Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking

Email user
info@kokorolines.com

Basic information
Project title
Kokoro Lines

Full Project Title
Recycled Skylines by Kokoro Lines

Please provide a short, catchy description of your project to be used in communication towards the public.
Kokoro means heart, mind and soul. Three fundamental pillars that we follow to give life to our Skylines.
A Kokoro goes from being a waste to an elegant decorative skyline with recycled material that brings a value beyond the material, transporting you to any place in the world from your home to relive feelings and emotions such as that unforgettable trip, your home, your family...
Kokoro Lines takes action and plants a tree for each Skyline manufactured so that the life cycle continues.

What was the geographical scope of your project?
Cross-border/international

Where was your project implemented?
Location 1
Spain

Location 2
France

Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
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If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
Kokoro Lines has the capacity to expand anywhere in the world.

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your project benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your project won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Is your project fully completed
Yes

Please indicate a date (mm/yy)
2021-11-15

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project).
- First name: Denisse
  Last name: García Fernández
  Gender: Female
  Nationality: Spain
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: C/ Molino 12
  Town: Zaratán
  Postal code: 47610
  Country: Spain
  Direct Tel: +34 600 34 83 55
  E-mail: info@kokorolines.com
  Website: https://kokorolines.com/
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/kokorolines
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @kokorolines #kokorolines
In case my project is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my project in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Google

Description of the project
Please provide a summary of your project.
In the pursuit of sustainable business and helping to reduce our environmental impact, we do our bit by turning waste and 100% recycled plastics into a beautiful skyline of different cities around the world thanks to 3D printing.
Isn't it fascinating to decorate a wall at home or in your business with a silhouette of your favourite city while also contributing to recycling?

We make this possible through 3D printing, a constantly developing technology that allows us to convert digital designs into physical objects with 3D printers.
Thanks to these printers we can use recycled materials to create our product, contributing to a decoration with recycled materials and reducing the environmental impact, turning any city into a unique decorative item.

In Kokoro we have started a movement of awareness to help the environment, taking actions that help the planet such as planting a tree for each skyline manufactured respecting natural ecosystems and repopulate destroyed areas.

We reduce, reuse, recycle and repopulate.
We are Home, we are Kokoro.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words.
Raise awareness

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Recycle

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Repopulate

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Decorate

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Excite

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
One of our main objectives is the recycling of plastics and environmental waste and the replanting of trees in destroyed areas.
We make this possible by manufacturing 3D Skylines with recycled materials and planting a tree for each skyline manufactured.

We have carried out the first plantation with more than 200 Aleppo pines, an autochthonous tree in Spain, being the most efficient and the one that absorbs more tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Planting pine trees could become one of Spain's greatest allies in the fight against climate change.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Our product has a minimalist look, being able to hold emotions, messages and memories in a single line. Depending on the recycled material used, such as coffee or beer, the final experience and finish will be different.
We have five different shades in colour, smell and material with a matte appearance.

How do we do it?

We currently have two types of product.
On the one hand, we create Skylines whose motive is to transport the client to the most representative places and historical monuments that are special to them, such as a honeymoon, their hometown, their family's town or a life line, among others.
The design work makes this possible by extracting the actual silhouette of the buildings and monuments and then joining them into a decorative line, our Kokoro.

On the other hand, we created Soundlines, a line in the shape of a sound wave obtained through a real personalised sound to send the client any voice message, a heartbeat, a song... from anywhere in the world, conveying the feeling or message that the client wants to send or give to that special person.

All this with a clear message and present in our philosophy to help in the work of raising awareness of people.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
One of the most important aspects for us is to raise awareness of recycling, care for the environment and the exchange of emotions. That is why we have worked to make our product as affordable as possible in a sustainable environment, with 3D printing playing a key role in this task.
Thanks to the versatility of 3D printing technology, specifically FDM (fused deposition modelling) to combine materials including recycled materials such as coffee grounds, beer waste, rubber from discarded tyres... transforming "rubbish" into an elegant decorative piece means a before and after in the fight against the environment.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project
Our product manages to give the customer a value that goes beyond the material. When a citizen buys a kokoro they are buying emotions in the form of memories, illusion and the peace of mind of knowing that thanks to this purchase they are helping to clean a little piece of the world.
Moreover, thanks to this purchase, it has been possible to create a tree planting movement in which they can voluntarily participate in planting their own tree.
With the recent birth of this movement, 200 pine trees were planted in an environment destroyed by fire.
We hope that there will be many more.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the project. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was.
Denisse, CEO of Kokoro Lines, has always had a tireless entrepreneurial mind. Her experience and education gained along the way has helped her to surround herself with the right people to launch this ambitious proposal to help improve the environment.
An experience in China, where she was forced to live away from her family and friends, had a lot to do with it.
She discovered the importance of feeling close to her roots and the huge pollution problem that exists on the planet.
All this triggered the brilliant idea of creating a decorative piece that would bring all her origins to her home and at the same time reduce pollution.
It was at this point that Denisse passed on her idea to a team of professionals to make it a reality.
Design team, 3d manufacturing team and marketing team came together to create Kokoro Lines.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your project. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was.
The process to create a Kokoro Lines requires technical knowledge in graphic design and advanced knowledge in 3D printing.

First, a professional design team designs the silhouettes of the products in 2D.
Then this image is vectorised and converted into a 3D model.
Once we have the 3D model, it is transferred to the manufacturing team, where it is introduced into the 3D printers with the appropriate printing parameters as required by the different materials used to manufacture the parts and thus physically create the design.

Please give information on the results, outcomes and impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for. This includes also benefits from the project for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Although Kokoro Lines is a very young company, it has managed to transmit hundreds of emotions and reduce waste that would still be polluting the world if it weren't for this initiative.
Moreover, after implementing the recent tree planting movement and witnessing the success and satisfaction generated from our first planting of 200 trees, our ambition has grown and we want to involve as many people and as much of the world as possible by expanding to all those affected areas.

Please provide documents showing the results, outcomes and impacts of your project
Both
PDF
- pdf-1-25160.pdf
Web link
- https://kokorolines.com/
Please highlight the innovative character of the project, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the project
3D printing technology is a booming technology that has a number of advantages that can be used to help create increasingly sustainable items and to recycle certain materials that pose a problem to remove us from the environment in a more sustainable way.
The innovative nature of our project lies in taking advantage of this technology to create an exclusive product full of personal stories.
This project has the ability to transform a waste into a unique piece whose waste evolves into a Kokoro.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your project.
Digital design in combination with 3d printing has the ability to make a used idea come true. That is why at Kokoro, taking advantage of the advantages of this form of manufacturing, we bet hard to create articles with recycled materials to give them a useful life instead of forming part of the great pollution problem that exists.

Please describe which elements of your project could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and context. This may involve for example aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings etc.
Kokoro Lines has the ability to reach any city or town in the world

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addresses by providing local solutions
Kokoro faces the environmental problem with sustainable and creative technological solutions that add value beyond the material. Unfortunately, today the massive creation and exploitation of products has been normalized without taking into account the damage that occurs to the planet.
Kokoro wants to make everyone aware and share that it is possible to create and buy in a less invasive and more sustainable way whose values represent a better humanity.
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images (or other types of visual representations, if images are not possible) to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below
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By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the project and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their projects, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted project, is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes