Off-Grid

Laundry Machine

This think-small washer needs no electricity or running water.

BY MICHAEL PERDRIEL

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Here’s one of my designs: a manual clothes washer They’re now using the washer in Hyanja, Nepal, that does a load of laundry in about 20 minutes using where I collaborated on designing a localized version no power other than muscle. It’s portable, so you can (see page 67). It’s also a neat design if you’re living carry or wheel it to a water source, and if you wash off the grid by choice in an industrialized area, or just with biodegradable soap, the wash water can easily conserving water and power. go to a garden afterward.

Illustration by Alison Kendall; photography by Michael Perdriel

Acouple of years ago, I decided to concentrate my design research on devices that would be useful to poor families in developing countries — easy-to-make tools that address a specific need without disrupting the local economy, culture, or environment.

60 Make: Volume 18