Catch the beast! 09/19/2010
 © neozoon.org  © neozoon.org  © neozoon.org "There! A human! For heaven's sake! Catch the beast! — Planet of the Apes, 1968. An line that appropriately sums up Neozoon's philosophy. Neozoon is a street art collective based in Paris and Berlin. They seek to heighten our awareness of the way we treat animals, and the relationship we have with animals and birds. Initially the art was flat on the wall, but a recent collection consists of 3-dimensional animals as well. There is something intriguing and chilling about the imagery created. The Bah Bah Blacksheep slaughterhouse area in Dresden has a line of sheep, each one numbered along the wall. It's an artistic expression that also makes you stop in your tracks and think about what we do to animals. It reflects on our heartlessness towards them as well. Though just silhouettes, each sheep is life-like, lively and original, right from their numbers to their yellow ear tags. A street in Paris has shown fur-coat recycling, a streak of life like creatures racing and leaping around the corner. It makes a strong statement, without destroying the character of the area. Lynxes, from the Urban Art Festival Madrid 2010 is also freakishly real. On the tamer side there is Cats (Urban Art Festival Madrid 2010), which is playful, domestic and harmless. There are lambs gazing at you in Berlin. Manteltier in Berlin is one of their 3-dimensional exhibits, and combines and fun and macabre in a surreal way. A kangaroo in Paris might just make you stop while walking by. There is also a bunch of pedigree dogs in Berlin, that you can see on their site, along with magnificent bulls, standing bears, pigs, wolves, foxes and more. A pretty unusual take on street art. All these are created from actual discarded fur coats, which adds to the realism and is truly confrontational for us humans. The location of some of the displays, such as the sheep on one of the oldest slaughterhouses of Paris adds to the meaning. A piece of street art that makes us think about the way we treat animals. The realism of actual fur shaped into life like forms makes the horror of killing animals real. Do visit their site, for more on the furry friends, and check out their videos. You can read more about them here too. How do they make it? Check out the video here. By Armeen Kapadia 2 Comments Re-nourish 01/13/2010
 Re-nourish.com is all about doing just that, re-nourishing the environment, using the power of design. (special attention graphic designers!) Many designers want to know the environmental impacts of their projects, but don't have the right resource to turn to. Re-nourish is such a resource, that tells us all about making better design decisions for a better environment, and calculating the environmental cost each project has. Some of the useful tools on their site are the project calculator and the paper finder which help you get an idea of how much you are wasting or saving. There is also the Sustainable Graphic Design Standards page, where you can fill out their online application and they will assess how sustainable the project is. As explained, "There is currently no universal, reliable set of sustainability standards available to graphic designers, their clients, or consumers—no way to know, quickly, whether or not a project, or a studio, is legitimately sustainable. As a result, studios struggle to educate clients about their environmental efforts, clients don't know where to begin the decision-making process, and everyone ends up either confused, mislead, or just disgusted with the whole business." Yes, how true. Designers are often too flummoxed by the whole process to advise clients correctly. Dispel confusion by a good read-through of Re-nourish.com. Do read their Introduction to Sustainable Design, which dispels the myth that sustainable design is difficult, or clients won't want it. A must read is the Sustainability Design Roadmap. This tells us how we can actually be more responsible and take better design decisions, right from the start of a project. And its pretty simple to do. There is also a good amount of information on greener paper, greener printing, greener ink and greener materials, for all of us designers who were foggy about these issues. As said on their site, under resources: print design, "Without most us even realizing it, print design has been traveling an unsustainable path for years, relying heavily on virgin wood fiber and toxic manufacturing processes. This path seemed to make good business sense because it cost less, and it was easily accessible. But the pulp and paper industry is now the fourth largest industrial polluter in the United States; paper takes up 26% of our country's landfills, and uses 40% of the world's wood harvest. (source: Green Press Initiative) It's pretty clear by now that the real costs of remaining on this path are just too high.More and more, though, print designers are taking small steps along a new, more sustainable path. We're discovering that small changes become large when multiplied by thousands of other designers making similar decisions. Need an example? Given a typically tight budget to produce a catalog, two University of Illinois design students assumed that recycled paper would be cost prohibitive. But using the Re-nourish Project Calculator, they discovered that if they trimmed just 1/4" off the book height they would save around 1,000 press sheets. This saved them $3,000, allowing them to specify a high quality, 100% recycled, FSC-certified paper. With a little design thinking, they saved 9,717 gallons of water, 13 million BTUs of energy, 942 pounds of solid waste and avoided 2,255 pounds of greenhouse gases. Now imagine what you could do with the right tools." Modern packaging is another thing that is eating into the environment at an alarming rate. As they say, the greenest packaging is no packaging at all. This can be extremely feasible for some products, such as T-shirts, which can just be rolled up and secured with a product tag. Of course the 'no-packaging' approach cannot work for many products, and in those cases one needs to be more aware of materials, re-usability, and mode of transport. While we may not have a network of greener printers here in India, there are other simple steps to ensure that a project is at least somewhat sustainable. Do have a look at their Case Studies page as well. Definitely read their Glossary, also explaining Eco logos (those little things you may see on sheets of paper, products, packages, and you don't know what they really mean). Re-nourish is a great site to visit, and read through thoroughly because it makes sustainable design accessible to us all. It tells us how simple design decisions can go a long way in creating positive impact, and its really just a question of designers changing their way of thinking, of being aware and alert, and willing to change, during the design process. Sooner or later (hopefully sooner) sustainable design will form a core part of design curriculum worldwide. Till then, we can take the help of such exhaustive resources such as Re-nourish. As said on their site, "Now imagine what you could do with the right tools." By Armeen Kapadia A bridge lights the way 10/12/2009
 © Cox Architects One of the world's largest pedestrian footbridges opened very recently in Brisbane, Australia. The Kurilpa Bridge is the world's first solar powered bridge. Its solar panels power its own LED lighting, and also pump surplus power into the main grid. The bridge connects South Brisbane with the city center, and spans the Brisbane River. It has 84 solar panels. The bridge is aesthetically unique, as it is inspired from sailboats. The design has been described as 'beautiful, bold' and even 'fantastic' and 'unreal'. It is unlike most bridges we have seen. It has a sculpted structure, with a series of masts, cables and flying struts, similar to those on boats. It looks like a series of poles pointing spontaneously to the sky. At night the structure is dramatically lit. The LED lights allow for different lighting settings, changing according to the environment and for various events or festivals. The 84 solar panels are mounted on the bridge and can generate a daily output of 100KiloWatthour. This is enough to light the bridge in most lighting conditions. When the bridge is completely lit the solar panels can supply upto 75% of the needed power. The bridge is connected to the city electric grid, so that it can draw power, and put supply excess power back into the grid as and when possible. Such beauty and functionality however, did not come cheap. The Kurilpa Bridge cost 63 million Australian dollars. It is also regarded as the first bridge to use tensegrity, or tensional integrity design principles. These are structures that stand on a synergy between balanced tension and compression components. It creates exceptionally rigid structures, that can stand with minimum supports. Tensigrity was proposed and experimented with by Buckminster Fuller. The first significant structure to use tensigrity was the Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena for the 1988 Summer Olympics. Tensigrity structures respond to gravity but are not dependent on it for their structural peformance. The construction of this bridge started in 2007, and it was designed by the Australian firm, Cox Architects. During construction the bridge was dogged with controversy regarding safe construction and cost issues. But after opening it has been drawing attention across the world for its unique design and solar friendliness. Do have a look at the video below to see the bridge on its opening day. By Armeen Kapadia Eating off leaves 09/11/2009
 VerTerra dishes Michael Dwork, founder and CEO of VerTerra, was inspired by the Indian leaf plate when he visited India. Since then he has been constantly refining that simple organic plate. On similar lines, VerTerra focuses on producing more durable and versatile single-use products. The products can be used to bake in the oven, store in the fridge and reheat in the microwave. VerTerra is rooted in the Latin phrase 'Veritas terra' or 'true to the earth'. The VerTerra dinnerware is made from fallen leaves that they borrow and then returned to the earth. The methods that Verterra uses to produce its quality dinnerware is sustainable. Most of VerTerra's dinnerware are made in South Asia by creating hundreds of fair-wage jobs. The company claims that their craftspeople are well-supported financially, provided healthcare and safe working conditions. Their top priority is to be true to the earth. Although water is used to clean gathered leaves, no trees are cut, and over 80% of the water is recaptured and reused. The dinnerware is 100% free of chemicals, lacquers, glues, bonding agents or anything toxic. VerTerra has won many awards for its innovation. The products are stylish, versatile and compostable. The dinnerware is light and looks like a beautifully grained piece of wood. It is rugged and feels almost like thin bamboo. But it is the strangeness that is so attractive. The thickness of the plates gives no hint them being disposable products. They replace paper or plastic plates in over 500 parties and events across the globe. It takes about 62 days for a plate to fully decompose. A set of eight 6-inch plates retails for $4.99. Via its website, customers can directly buy VerTerra products. Critics haven't been able to report anything negative even after abusing the plates and bowls. VerTerra's products are so good that they are now the official serviceware of the Statue of Liberty. Price is a crucial factor that stops people from buying such products. In recent years, the cost of their products have been cut by 50%, making them as affordable as disposable products. Their factories use 10% of the energy that most recycled paper plate factories use. The leaf-scrap that is left while making the plates is crushed into powder and provided as fertilizer to the farmers who send leaves to VerTerra. A manufacturing plant only produces around 2-3 regular trash bins worth of waste in an entire month. Michael Dwork regrets the fact that all items are put in recycled plastic shrink wrap for hygenic reasons. He wishes there was a way around that use of plastic, but it is necessary. There are no other heat and water stable materials that will ensure that customers get the product in a sanitary condition, but he will happily entertain suggestions. The only complaint that he has got in 9 months of selling is that people feel bad throwing them away since they feel so sturdy and look so attractive. These products are the biodegradable, aesthetically pleasing dinnerware and they are as green as it gets. Do see the interview with Michael Dwork. By Sanjay Basavaraju Paper made from poop 08/10/2009
 Promotional products © poopoopaper.com We have heard of eco-friendly paper, recycled paper, paper made from waste fibres and the rest of it. Here is a paper, that’s literally made from waste material. The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company Limited is making paper, and some really nice gift items, all from elephant dung. Asian elephants are found in India, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, and Borneo. Elephants are mostly domesticated, and very few remain in the wild now. In Sri Lanka, the elephant has been under threat in recent times, though it was revered in Buddhist tradition. Elephants are often killed and wounded when they come in contact with human habitation and destroy crops. An eco-friendly solution to this problem is the manufacture of paper and paper products from elephant dung. Farmers can now co-exist with the elephant, and have a mutually beneficial relationship with them. Elephant dung is in constant supply, and can easily be collected by the villagers. An elephant produces about 100 kgs of dung per day. An elephant eats coconut leaves, jackfruit leaves, palmyra leaves and other vegetation rich in fibre. Around 60% of this fibre leaves its body undigested. The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company collects naturally dried dung from national parks, and brings it to the paper-making factory. The dung is then rinsed with water, leaving only the fibrous material behind. The fibres are then boiled thoroughly to ensure that they are perfectly clean and smell-free. Colour can also be added at this stage. Natural fibres from banana trees and pineapples are added to strengthen the paper. The fibre is spread over a mesh, and left to dry in the sun for a few hours. And then your poo-poo paper is ready. Visit the Poo-tique to see the range of products the company makes. These make attractive and useful gift items. The company was started in 2002, and now has distributes products in many countries worldwide. Initially their products were expensive, but they worked to modify the production process, and today they have a great product line, with a positive ecologically responsible message. As the site says, they are products with a purpose. Such paper is also made in Thailand. An end product becomes a base of manufacturing for another product. The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company is ‘Number one at number two’. Do see the video below. By Armeen Kapadia Waste is beautiful 08/07/2009
 Millennium  Barnacle (Black), Harpon 321, Barnacle (White)  Tail Light Stuart Haygarth, is an obsessive and imaginative, one-time illustrator, 'designer-maker' who had to be featured here. Previously we have featured design here, but today we are taking one small leap to uncover the brain behind design. Hopefully we will be able to understand for ourselves what makes one create functional yet beautiful designs. For your information, I had doubts featuring his work here, until I saw one of the photographic pieces — Tide Mark — from an ongoing project Dungeness. He has been collecting man-made debris from the Dungeness coastline in Kent over many years. He sorts and categorizes these objects to create pieces of work. Tide Mark is a collection of primarily plastic objects categorized by color. His other one-off pieces include Harpon 321, Barnacle (White) and Barnacle (Black). The Harpon 321 is based on a particular make of fisherman's glove he found over years. The Barnacle pieces are based on collections of white and black plastic objects he found. The Barnacle pieces are inspired by WWII sea mines. Personally, I liked Tail Light. He was fascinated by the complexity and beauty of lenses covering vehicle lights. For sometime he has been creating lampshades out of spectacles, wine glasses and empty plastic containers. Tail Light is special because the level of opacity in the vehicle lenses reminds us of stained glass. Some of his famous pieces have been chandeliers. During the millennium celebrations (Jan 01, 2000) in London, he collected 1000 exploded party poppers. He create a one-off piece Millennium. Stuart can re-imagine waste into a striking design. Many argue that reusing is a short term solution to sustainability. Stuart's designs celebrate reusing forgotten ordinary objects. By Sanjay Basavaraju  Stuart's project Dungeness: Tide Mark The Footprint Chronicles 08/06/2009
 Mini-site: The Footprint Chronicles Patagonia is a California based clothing company that mostly makes outdoor clothing. It was founded in 1972 by Yvon Chouinard. Since its inception it has been considered a socially responsible company. Since 1985, Patagonia has donated $25 million to over 1000 organizations. It commits 1% of the total sales to the environment. Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. – Patagonia's Mission Statement Patagonia adheres to minimalist style. Its approach to product design is always simplicity and utility. Apart from focus on the design principles, it is also deeply concerned about the steep decline in the overall health of our planet. It is one of the few companies that is aware that it creates pollution as a by-product. It is working steadily to reduce those harmful impacts. As an employer it promotes Fair Labor and Environmental protection where its products are made. Its employees are paid fairly and enjoy good benefits. Patagonia only designs, tests, markets, and sells its products. It pays other factories to produce the fabrics and do the actual cutting and sewing. Factories to which it gives contracts for production are reviewed for both product quality and working conditions. It works with factories that get a positive review on the basis of product quality and working conditions. It has an active factory assessment program, since 1990, that keeps scorecards based on performance in different areas. It has an active third-party audit program, since 1994, that initiates discussions about change. There was a time when it lost track of who it was doing business with, and what working conditions were like in many of its factories. To resolve this problem, it has an active employee education program that focuses on factory workplace issues and work efficiency. It also trains its staff in social responsibility issues. In order to understand the social and environmental impacts of its supply chain, Patagonia has launched The Footprint Chronicles. Since Patagonia designs, develops and markets clothing, it has attained an environmental conscience. The Footprint Chronicles is an interactive mini-site that allows you to track the impact of its products from design through to delivery. The sheer transparent approach which they have adopted is heart-warming. They are aware that there is still no such thing as sustainable business and they are working towards it. If you select any of the products in the site, you can actually see the location trail on the globe. When you hover over every location, you can get information (photos and/or video clips) on what happens in every step of the process. For every product, you can see four mouse-overs — energy consumption, distance travelled, carbon dioxide emissions and waste generated. For example, if I select the Puckerware Shirt (Available in spring 2010), I can see that the fiber was acquired from Turkey, that is spun, woven and sewn in Thailand before it is shipped to Nevada in the US. If I want to know how far the Puckerware Shirt has traveled, it shows that, "Every Puckerware Shirt travels a total distance of 13,550 miles from origin as polymer raw material through garment delivery." The best part is it is equated to relative concepts such as this, "Every Puckerware Shirt travels the entire length of Nile river (4,132 miles) three times." Patagonia also is a co-founder of 1% for the planet. This is an alliance of businesses that, like Patagonia, commit at least 1% of their total sales to the environment. Patagonia bears the ultimate responsibility for the social and environmental cost of every product. Hoping many companies will emulate its efforts. If you have time then read these essays and the blog. Great day! By Sanjay Basavaraju Glowing in the wind 07/31/2009
 Tom Lawton, and the Firewinder We hear a lot about solar powered lights, but now there is a unique wind-powered light. Firewinder is a revolutionary decorative outdoor light, which lights up as the wind blows. In a soft breeze it gently glows, and in strong winds it lights up brightly. Firewinder is shaped like pasta spiraling upwards, the edges of which have LED lights. The turbine moves depending on how fast the wind blows, making the light respond to subtle changes in the environment, and enabling you to ‘see the wind’. It requires no batteries, mains power, or wiring, it has two brackets that make it easy to install and remove anywhere outdoors, and it is made to face the elements. As the website says, “While the aesthetics have been primarily influenced by the aerodynamic performance of the product, it was important to create a universally appealing form, which would fit in well with any outdoor environment; for this, inspiration was drawn from the naturally spiraling geometry of plants & shells, as well as a few seeds, insects and a 'living fossil' called the Nautilus.” Tom Lawton, a product designer, is the inventor of the Firewinder, and created it out of his desire to ‘see the wind’. He hopes his invention will inspire people to think about the awesome power and beauty of alternative energies that surround us. He says in an interview, “The obvious place to start is with imagination, without that you're never going to think in an original way. You have to dare to dream and be prepared to reject most of your ideas, but that's the fun - Imagineering is what I heard someone once call it. It definitely helps if you're optimistic. People so often seem to create their own barriers through negativity and pessimism and not allow themselves to dream. Then, if you think hard enough and ask the right questions, you start to invite inventive ideas. But that doesn't make the inventor, it's the 'doing' that counts, as so many people have ideas but nothing comes of them because they don't believe they can make them happen and they don't do anything about it. Inventors are not born with a special skill set; it's nurtured by learning from everything around.” He explains how the Firewinder came about, “Design to me is very much a form of self expression and Firewinder started out as a kind of art project, I wanted to experiment with creating lighting effects from the wind - it was November time in 2001 and the nights were creeping in - I wanted to create something that lifted people's moods in bad weather. I had also been searching for a project that would allow me to utilise all I had learned about minimising the environmental impact of my designs in a movement towards sustainable product design. As the days flowed and thoughts transpired I began to visualise a spiralling light that breathed with the wind, reacting to variations in wind speeds with delicate glows and mesmerising forms. Most importantly, the effect had to be an upward spiral. Slowly and surely Firewinder came to life.” You can see more videos of the Firewinder here, though apparently it is more impressive in reality. The Firewinder website sums it up perfectly, “Let there be light, from the wind in the night.” By Armeen Kapadia Lovely as a tree 07/29/2009
 Paper pulp mill, New Zealand © Greenpeace Although we know we need to use paper economically, and avoid waste, it’s hard to get information on which papers, and printing processes are eco-friendly. Lovely as a Tree is a site that gives some insights on the environmental impact of different printing processes, papers, and other issues that can help graphic designers make better decisions regarding production. The site, though UK centric, gives information on things that we may hardly think about while designing, but now probably need to be taught as part of design studies. Such as the impacts of paper making, recycled paper, how exactly its made, and sustainably sourced paper. As the site says, “With so many questionable ‘green’ claims out there, it’s important to stick to a certification system that’s trusted and watertight.” The site gives information on the different paper certifications too. Within recycled papers too, there are various grades, with a big difference between post and pre-consumer recycled waste paper. (news to me) The site explains how ‘sustainable forestry’ as a broad term is pretty meaningless, unless we have a deeper understanding of the issues involved. The print issues section has information on the issues of energy, emissions, water, waste, solvents, and inks on each of the printing processes. It tells you the plusses and minuses of using each process. For example in a year, a large offset printer could chuck out around 65,000 litres of waste solvent and 85,000 litres of waste developer. That’s quite a bit of waste, and printers need to be made aware of their responsibility. In digital printing there are more energy efficient printers entering the market such as Konica Minolta’s Bizhub C550 and C6500; and Océ’s VarioPrint 6000, which reduce the amount of energy used during its production. Another section worth a look is the glossary, which covers terms to do with print, paper and environmental certification schemes. There are also tips for choosing a printer, a paper, and deciding on your paper specs, for more efficient printing. In a time where even small design decisions can go a long way in making a difference, these are basic aspects that any designer, client, and printer, need to consider. By Armeen Kapadia Juicy bags 07/22/2009
 Eco-friendly bags made of juice cartons Someone is finally putting those millions of juice cartons, which we all happily chuck in the bin, to good use. These juice cartons are being recycled to make an attractive, lively set of bags. Juice cartons are quite non-biodegradable, and end up in landfills, or littering the streets, or are burnt creating more pollution. |   Every monthSeptember 2010 CategoriesAll |
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