Smart Design

Much is said about the components of sustainable design: the materials themselves, the nature of the process and how friendly it will be to the future. But we often forget about sustaining the traditions that make the most of longstanding handicraft techniques. Promoting these skills can help develop trade that is crucial to certain economies. Barcelona’s nanimarquina has been playing an important role in sustaining the human touch, manufacturing rugs in northern India since 1993.

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At a time when the expectation is that all new products and projects place an emphasis on sustainability, a little humour mixed with mystery does not go astray. Such is the case of L’ham, a dynamo lamp based on a fishing rod and designed by an unseen character who is ostensibly the principal of a Spanish design studio with a focus on sustainable design.

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I’m going to fess up, I like cars, motorcycles and powerboats. I grew up with them, first as toys in my childhood then as vehicles that I actually drove in adulthood. And in part because they had internal combustion engines these vehicles looked a certain way, kind of bulky and powerful. This week two of the worlds largest car companies, BMW (via MINI) and Mercedes (via Smart), announced two new electric powered scooters loaded with features coupled with a design that’s kind of um, bulky and powerful.

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Not only do FairTrade Designers succeed in using sustainable materials for the production of their series of cushions made in China’s Yunnan province, but work towards their goal of helping create economic sustainability for the craftspeople who collaborate on this project.

Danish designers Pil Bredahl, Liselotte Risell and Henriette Melchiorsen formed FairTrade Designers in 2007 with the goal of creating aid for the third world by using design. The women work with craftspeople in other countries by blending Danish design with indigenous craft, and saw an opportunity to get involved in the Threads of Yunnan project established by fellow Dane, Bitten Høgh. New products and markets were needed in order for the project to move forward.
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As consumers, we are in a state of constant craving, guided by our radar for all that is new. Sadly, this insatiable desire is not in keeping with a sustainable lifestyle, so a product that allows us to show the world our latest face without disposing of an item and replacing it with something new is a real treasure. Meins Taschen is just the ticket.

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As sustainability becomes an increasingly inevitable design element, designers are approaching this unwritten brief from various directions. In our last post, we looked at lighting design from an almost purely granola perspective (or edible, at any rate) – this time the point of view and execution are solidly industrial. Both will appeal, but perhaps to different users.

There may be an element of playfulness to the Allsteel Link light designed by Peter Stathis of San Francisco’s Virtual Studio, but the energy-saving aspect manages to outshine the task light’s good looks and fun factor. The combination of sustainability, performance and style led to the ICFF Editors Award for Best Lighting at New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in 2008, when Link was first unveiled. read more

For The Birds, a series of food-based lamps by Florian Kräutli, came about when the young designer was left to make decisions about a previous tenant’s belongings following a move. The pieces that Kräutli liked became his; the others ended up as garbage. This arbitrary approach led him to the realization that products that are no longer owned by anyone are, in fact, anyone’s. He says, “But it is our concept of value, which makes them garbage or (precious) objects. Often there are chairs standing on the street as bulky waste which only shortly before were inside a house and were valuable objects.” read more

While students at the Rhode Island School of Design, Grain designers Chelsea Green, James Minola, and Brit Kleinman participated in a career shifting course led by designer Mimi Robinson entitled Bridging Cultures Through Design. This six week program connected the design students with groups of artisan communities and exporters in Guatemala. The goal was to create unique textile products to bring to US and international markets that celebrate Guatemalan artisan techniques and traditions while building sustainable incomes for the artisans. read more

Mexico may not be the first place one thinks of for sustainable design. Designer Emiliano Godoy’s Pirwi is one of several design firms that are part of a design boom in Mexico City, and his firm is squarely focused on sustainable furniture. Among the many intriguing designs in the Pirwi portfolio is the Knit Chair. “The construction of the Knit chair speaks about smaller pieces coming together to form a bigger structure.” Namely small pieces of Aircraft plywood held together with cotton rope. That structure flexes and responds to the user’s body. We’ve seen bent ply, now we have cellular ply. For that innovation alone it’s not surprising that this chair won a Bronze Leaf at the International Furniture Design Award in Asahikawa, Japan. Pirwi is actually a manufacturing collective founded by two industrial designers, Emiliano Godoy and Alejandro Castro in 2007. Today, the full Pirwi line includes more than 70 objects by 12 designers, and features several award-winning pieces and products, all sustainably made, now considered classics of contemporary Mexican design. Happily, Pirwi products are now available in the U.S. via the Kirk Gallery.

Have kids? If you have small ones you’ll likely need a high chair for meals. And if you want something with a little more modern design than those available at your neighborhood big box home store, it will cost quite a bit more. Enter the .minui HandySitt, a Danish-designed high chair now available in North America (it’s been available in Europe for a decade). It transforms any adult chair with a back into a high chair so your child can then eat at the same table as you. read more