An Entrepreneurial Opportunity: The Water Hyacinth Chair
In
1995, Projektwerkstatt (literally "workshop for projects" - in
today's parlance, an incubator) hit the market with a new
entrepreneurial idea: designer armchairs made from water hyacinths, a
tropical weed. The water hyacinth is an invasive species that proliferates in rivers and lakes in tropical countries, and stops up bodies of water. It provides a tough and durable plant material that does not need to be cultivated or protected - just harvested. Theoretically, it could be used for feeding pigs and as compost, but with its content of over 98% water and a remnant of tough fibers, it proved to be uneconomical, even for most other uses.
A Thai designer, Khun Tuek, impressed by the silken luster that appeared when the strands were put through a roller press, began working with the material. Artistically woven into a wicker structure, the dried strands can become attractive and durable chairs.
The individual pieces alone, the water hyacinth or the chair, do not promise much success. Both pieces together are provocative: troublesome weeds become raw material with limitless potential. Or, to put it another way:
Turn a
problem into an entrepreneurial opportunity.
(Translated and paraphrased from: Guenter Faltin, "Das Netz weiter werfen" ["Cast the Net Wider"]. In: Entrepreneurship. Wie aus Ideen Unternehmen werden [From Ideas to Enterprises]. Ed. Guenter Faltin, Sven Ripsas, Juergen Zimmer. Muenchen: C.H. Beck Verlag, 1998.)
(Translated and paraphrased from: Guenter Faltin, "Das Netz weiter werfen" ["Cast the Net Wider"]. In: Entrepreneurship. Wie aus Ideen Unternehmen werden [From Ideas to Enterprises]. Ed. Guenter Faltin, Sven Ripsas, Juergen Zimmer. Muenchen: C.H. Beck Verlag, 1998.)