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 Add Comment Wat-a-filter! 01/06/2010
 Every year millions of children die of water-borne diseases. A scientist from Australia has developed a filter, that's as easy to make as it is to use, with clay, coffee and, believe it or not, some good ol' cow dung. He created this technology in 2005, and it has never been patented, so that it is used freely wherever required in the world. Tony Flynn, an artist, potter and materials scientist at the Australian National University (ANU), realised that water-borne diseases such as diarrhea destroy numerous lives, especially in the developing world. Most water filters consist of a hollow ceramic vessel filled with charcoal. These filters are usually imported from foreign countries, and out of reach for the people who need it the most. This filter uses normal clay, found freely anywhere in the world, mixed with coffee. The clay on its own is too dense to allow water through. When the clay is mixed with coffee in equal parts, and fired, the coffee creates holes in it, making it porous. Firing of clay is an expensive affair requiring a kiln, and Tony knew this would not be practical. Wood too, is not always easily available. He realised that cow manure is the ideal material as a dung fire burns at 950˚C, perfect for baking clay. After around an hour of baking in the dung, the filter is ready to use. When tested the filter removes between 94.6 and 99.8% of e-coli in water. The tiny holes of the filter are too small for bacteria to go through. However, particles from the clay itself, and some viruses can pass through the filter. "It's not a golden bullet but it's a bullet nevertheless. It will help where there's nothing else available." Mr. Flynn elaborates. According to the ANU, 'the organic materials are burned away during the firing process and create small passages in the filter that allow water, but not pathogens, to pass. This filter effectively removes 96.4-99.8% of E. Coli in water.' This invention was born out of a World Vision and Potters for Peace project in East Timor, to rehabilitate a small potter community, Manatuto, that had been displaced by the constant violence of East Timor's civil war. The idea was empower the potters to make their own filters, and maybe even sell them for income. The simple materials, and the firing with cow-dung ensures this is a 'zero-technology' process, available whenever needed. Tony Flynn sums it up,"“Everyone has a right to clean water, these filters have the potential to enable anyone in the world to drink water safely." By Armeen Kapadia 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 Furniture once flew 08/03/2009
 Ejection chair  Partition  MotoArt searches boneyards for old plane parts to recycle into furniture. They use B-25 rudders for desks, and 747 jet engine cowlings for beds. MotoArt believes that it is preserving aviation history with functional art. The junk is looked at as marvelous engineering components from yesteryear that gives much joy, as well of a feeling of being a small part of aviation. Much of aviation scrap hits the smelter's furnace so that it can be recycled into metal that can be shipped to either India or China. Dave Hall and Donovan Fell started MotoArt in 2000 out of their garage to create high-end furniture out of old aircraft parts. They have designed a range of products from beds to chairs to desks to lamps, and to photo frames. They feel that they are giving these parts from historic planes a second life. What comes across through their work is sheer passion and belief. MotoArt is now a multi-million dollar business. It all began with an art exhibition where they showcased Fell's polished B-17 bomber propeller sculptures. By selling the whole show, they realized the potential in considering it a full-time job. As their grey cells began to work on this project full-time, they started experimenting with parts such as rudders, cowlings, seats, fuselage, nose and tail stabilizers. It takes 220 hours to turn a single 747 cowling into a chrome receptionist's desk. GE commissioned MotoArt to design and build a reception desk for their New Qatar facility. For this, they split the engine cowling into equal halves, doubling them up into an impressive 19 feet long reception desk. Boeing International commissioned MotoArt to design and fabricate a high-flying simulator as a marketing strategy to create interest in 787 Dreamliner. It debuted at Air France's 75th anniversary party in Paris and now tours globally. Inspiring stuff! Watch the YouTube video below. By Sanjay Basavaraju The curious case of Nissan designers 07/24/2009
 Nissan's aging suit Nissan motors is thinking for the future. After 25 years, there will be more elderly citizens driving cars. The problem is that most designers working directly on car design are young. To simulate what it is like to be a 70-year-old person, designers are donning an 'aging suit'. The suit gives designers the mobility and faculties of a driver twice their age. |   Every monthSeptember 2010 CategoriesAll |
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