Introduce yourself!
Hello! My name is Mikel Aguirre! I come from San Sebastian in the Basque Country, the most beautiful city in the world. I’m an Industrial Design Engineer, but I discovered that I really prefer the “Design” part of it better than the “Engineer” one, so I’m looking forward to develop that part of my skills in the future.
Working for a start up isn’t easy – what led you to joining Ananas Anam?
I started less than a month ago in Ananas Anam, so I’m still catching up with how things work here. I’m currently working supporting the Operations Department with all the shipments and trying to adapt as fast as possible to my new functions, chasing shipping companies and solving some issues.
I discovered Ananas Anam when I was applying to the scholarship (that I was granted with). One of the projects that they offered to join was this alternative materials company in the UK which made a textile with pineapple fibres. It sounded a bit weird to me, but it was also familiar, because I heard that Bentley was looking for alternatives to leather in their interiors (I love cars btw), so I thought it could be interesting to join them to see how that really worked.
What does Piñatex® mean to you?
I found out that Piñatex® covers almost all (if not all) the points that I was taught in the university of a “XXI Century material”. It is sustainable, with optimal mechanical properties and looks fantastic, it has so much potential in all kinds of applications that it feels fantastic to be part of this project.
What’s your personal everyday sustainability hack?
As for my everyday sustainability hack… I used to be obsessed with recycling back in Spain, but things work differently here in the UK. But next week I’ll start cycling to work!