Circular by Design: Engineering Products for Reuse & Disassembly

As the circular economy matures, more businesses are recognising that designing for end-of-life is no longer optional — it's a competitive advantage. This session will explore how startups and established innovators are engineering products for longevity, repair, modularity, and material recovery.

We’ll dive into practical frameworks, product design principles, and emerging technologies enabling disassembly and reuse, and showcase case studies where circular design has unlocked both environmental and commercial value.

Speakers
Carl Broesen from Tait
Carl Broesen is a designer-maker specialising in furniture, lighting and objects, based in Melbourne. Currently part of the design and production development team at Tait, Carl works across every stage of the product lifecycle – from initial concept through to delivery and ongoing refinement. His design philosophy blends sustainability with functional elegance, guided by the belief that design has a responsibility to solve problems that benefit both people and the planet.
A graduate of product design, Carl began his career working with notable Australian designers including Adam Goodrum and Patryk Koca. He has contributed to architectural model making, furniture prototyping, and curated exhibitions such as Pop ‘round during NGV’s Melbourne Design Week. Carl was recently named a finalist in Australian Design Review’s inaugural 30 Under 30 program and shortlisted for the Interior Design Excellence Award in the Furniture/Object - Rising category.

Nathan Smith from The Bower
Nathan Smith is the General Manager at The Bower Reuse and Repair Centre, an organisation committed to extending the life of consumer goods and reducing waste through repair and reuse. By tracking outcomes and pinpointing which brands or products are unrepairable — and why — The Bower helps to illuminate critical trends in product design and durability. Through this work, Nathan champions a data-informed approach to circularity, equipping industry and policymakers with the insights needed to promote responsible design and manufacturing.

About Boomerang Labs
Boomerang Labs is Australia's first Circular Economy Accelerator. In addition to our hands-on programs for circular startups, Boomerang Labs is an Innovation Exchange; a hub connecting companies, government bodies and other organisations with founders and innovators to tackle challenges of design, resource use and resource recovery in their organisations and supply chains.

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