Opposite Upcycle Aesthetic – Industrialism, Consumerism

Since the granola, earthcore, recycling aesthetic is all about recycling materials and respecting nature the opposite aesthetic would be brutalism and consumerism. The earthcore aesthetic is all about incorporating nature into your design and brutalism incorporates concrete, little to no plants and is heavy on industrial engineering.

Above you can see some classic images of a brutalist buildings. These buildings are grey, rigid and incorporate a lot of concrete and sharp edges. They are large bold buildings featuring sharp edges and a stark contrast to the natural world. This architectural movement branched off of the modernist movement during the 1950s. It hit its peak in the 1960s and 70s. Brutalism was often used for housing projects and public buildings. Some influential figures of this movement are, Alison and Peter Smithson, James Stirling and Ernő Goldfinger.

Recycling is a huge part of the granola aesthetic and my upcycling project. Consumerism is the opposite of that lifestyle. Consumerism is all about buying new products throwing things away even if they are repairable and generally not considering the waste that you produce. Consumerism is one of those things that I don’t think people necessarily aim for but fall into. With the rise of social media especially TikTok its easy to fall into “micro-trends” which are quickly changing trends that follow the social media landscape resulting in having to constantly buy new things and items of clothing in order to keep up. Trending aesthetics are constantly changing and if you are unsure of which category you fall into and just want to keep up you will quickly find your closet overflowing with clothes. This lifestyle has had a devastating affect on climate change and waste production. With the rise of fast fashion cheap low quality clothing has entered the market. This clothing is often only worn once or twice before ending up in a landfill halfway across the world. Even though fast fashion clothing items are often donated to thrift stores they are not designed to be worn for years so they end up in landfills much faster than significantly older quality clothing that can be passed down multiple times before completely breaking down.

Above is a picture of one of the many landfills across the world filled with clothing. These landfills have gotten larger and larger with the rise of fast fashion.

In conclusion since the granola and earthcore aesthetic represent living in and respecting the earth and the environment the brutalist aesthetic and consumerism lifestyle are the polar opposite. Aesthetics comes down to personal taste so I have no issue with enjoying a classic brutalist building however I would encourage people to not buy from fast fashion brands such as Shien and Temu. The low prices may be enticing but buying higher quality items will be much better for the environment and even your wallet in the long run since you will be able to use the item much longer.

Sources:

1.https://www.invaluable.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/77/2019/05/2-brief-history-2.jpg

2.https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/6499bd6757eceeca17cb751f/16:9/w_2560%2Cc_limit/GettyImages-1170020493.jpg

3.https://www.uchscommander.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/consumerism-WEB-1200×1200.jpg

4.https://pirg.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Textile-Waste-Fashion-Swapan-Photography-Shutterstock.jpg

5.https://static.contractors-corp.com/media/_versions_jpg/imagecomponent/Brutalist_Buildings_Have_a_Striking_Aesthetic_fJRY__v1200x1200__.jpg