Iceland University of the Arts graduate Soley Thrainsdottir has turned leftover materials like pine needles and horse fat into a series of cleaning tools and products.
Presented at the Design March festival, the Cleaning Strategies project aims to explore the potential of alternative local raw materials as sustainable cleaning tools.

Thrainsdottir focused on waste material from Iceland's forestry and slaughter industries to create a brush, soap, cleaning spray and polish.
"On an industrial scale, various local raw materials are eliminated and 'cleaned away' without a critical assessment of their possible use," she said.

Thrainsdottir wanted to conduct both practical research into industrial waste and philosophical research into cleanliness. She therefore began by defining phrases and words connected to the concept of cleanliness to look at the difference in perceptions of what is perceived as clean in humans and animals. She also examined different cleaning rituals across the world, and the history of human cleanliness and cleaning products.

While researching waste materials, Thrainsdottir found that raw materials from felled pine trees and butchered Icelandic horses are commonly wasted or exported.
This led the designer to examine the various properties of these two resources, and how they could be used to create cleaning products and tools.

The disinfecting qualities of pine oil made it suitable for a cleaning spray, while pine ash was turned into a past...