A more profound realization came during an ordinary afternoon walk around a fishing village, away from the usual tourist beach. The shoreline frequently accumulated debris carried in by the sea. Floating waste would arrive with the waves and coastal currents, leaving discarded materials scattered along the shore. I remember looking at the garbage and suddenly seeing it differently. 

"Those floating pieces of trash were once products. Someone had designed them. Someone had manufactured them. And eventually, they had become waste."

That thought stayed with me.

I went home and began reading about product life cycles, trying to understand what happened to materials after their intended use ended. My curiosity led me to life-cycle assessment (LCA), which offered a broader framework for understanding environmental impacts across a product’s life, from raw material extraction and manufacturing to use and end-of-life management.

I began to recognize that environmental problems could not always be solved by treating waste after it appeared. Some of their causes were embedded much earlier—in the materials selected, the products designed, and the systems established to manufacture, use, and dispose of them.

This realization gradually shifted my ambition. I no longer wanted to focus only on designing better products. I wanted to understand the environmental systems in which those products existed.

That motivation led me to pursue environmental engineering. I wanted to learn how my design background could contribute more directly to environmental protection. During this transition, I developed a sampling device for microplastics, bringing together practical design skills and an emerging interest in environmental monitoring. The project was meaningful, but it also revealed another question I wanted to explore: could I go beyond detecting or removing pollutants and learn to design the materials themselves?

I became increasingly interested in what happens at the molecular level—how material composition, structure, and surface properties determine performance, and how those properties could be engineered to meet functional requirements without overlooking environmental considerations. I wanted to move from understanding the environmental consequences of products to developing material solutions that could help address them.

That ambition led me to pursue my PhD.

In the laboratory, I began synthesizing adsorbent materials from alternative resources, including by-products of cementitious materials and biowaste converted into activated carbon. My research focused on using these materials to remove contaminants from aquatic environments.

The work introduced me to a different dimension of design. Material performance depended not only on the choice of raw materials but also on synthesis conditions, surface characteristics, chemical stability, and the surrounding environment. Modifications could improve adsorption performance while helping materials withstand degradation under different pH conditions.

Through this research, I also developed a deeper understanding of polymerization and material modification, expanding my perspective on how chemical processes can be used to tailor material properties.

What began as a question about the environmental impact of products had evolved into an exploration of how materials could be deliberately engineered for specific functions and environmental applications.

Each stage of my journey gave me a different perspective: product design taught me to solve practical problems; life-cycle thinking encouraged me to consider impacts beyond the immediate product; environmental engineering helped me understand pollution and its management; and materials research allowed me to investigate solutions at a more fundamental level.

Together, these experiences continue to shape how I approach innovation.

I know that the journey toward more sustainable design is a long one. There is still much to learn about developing materials and products that balance technical performance, environmental responsibility, economic feasibility, and human needs. I am particularly interested in the potential of circular economy principles to change how we approach product development—not only by managing waste more effectively, but also by rethinking material choices, extending product value, recovering resources, and designing with the next stage of a product’s life in mind.

For me, sustainability is not a single technical solution or a final destination. It is a continuous process of questioning assumptions, learning across disciplines, testing ideas, and improving what we create. My journey has not followed a straight line, and I have come to appreciate that some of its most important developments began with uncertainty or failure. What matters is the willingness to reflect, adapt, and keep moving toward a clearer purpose.

Am I an eco-designer? I believe that eco-design is more than a job title. It is a way of thinking that connects design decisions with their wider consequences.

I am still learning, still exploring, and still looking for ways to bring together my experience in product design, environmental engineering, and materials science. My goal is to contribute to innovations that are not only technically effective and economically viable, but also more responsible toward people and the planet.

Every transition has brought me closer to that goal: designing with purpose, developing with responsibility, and creating value that extends beyond the product functionality itself.