Throwing away years of beautiful excess - the "green" alternative

As I contemplate upgrading my computer, my office is still bulging at the seams, years after so much information has been placed online. How can that be? I have a collection of catalogs that are exquisitely designed with gorgeous images on top quality paper stock, and I just couldn't bear to part with them. As I spend more time with my avocation - photography, I need to make room and out these magazines and catalogs must go.

I think that part of the reason I hate to part with this bounty is that I know that the era of excess is "so" over. We will never see this quantity or quality of marketing materials again. It may even be valuable some day, but who has the room to store it all? I will miss it, but as with clothing - if I haven't looked at it in two years, it has to go. With my clothes - dropped off at Goodwill, I "imagine" they have an afterlife. With this printed material, the best afterlife I can hope for is newspaper stock.

In my cleaning frenzy, I found a green statement for ARPA USA that I wrote long before the exaggerations of the scientific community plying us with propaganda was discovered. It turned out not to be the propaganda that changed the world, but the economy. So here is the statment, more valid today than ever:

"The word “green” is on the tip of every tongue these days, the entire world wants to be eco-sensitive, but what they mean by “green” is complex and not at all clear - there are no common meanings or uniform standards within or across industries. “Global warming” has already been replaced by the phrase “climate change” because there is so much conflicting information. Yet, we know with certainty that our overburdened land fills, air quality, water scarcity, and energy costs must be addressed now. We can agree to the fact that we must preserve natural resources, avoid toxic emissions, and use materials that are durable and low maintenance. The entire construction industry has a major impact on environmental issues and ARPA considers the environmental impact in every new product development and manufacturing decision.

No one wants to “harm” the planet or leave a polluted and unlivable environment for future generations, so North America, seen as both the land of plenty and at the same time wasteful by the rest of the world, is finally doing some serious thinking about the real effects of their choices on the future of the planet. Environmental issues have always been different in Europe, with a higher population density throughout the continent - land, water and energy were always scarce and a heightened concern for air quality has been critical to the health of the entire population. ARPA was founded in this environment, so from its beginnings had a discipline and strong commitment to sustainability and resource efficiency. ARPA continually eliminates waste and makes improvements in raw material selection, manufacturing processes, packaging, and transportation. At the same time, equal consideration is given to the safety and sustainability of the product for the end-user.

In creating a green building the specifier and end-user also bear some responsibility. They must select appropriate materials and methods to minimize the overall environmental impact. How durable should the product be? How long will it be in use? What are the budget considerations? Does it affect the indoor air quality? How will it be maintained? What happens after its useful life? The wrong material choices can have considerable environmental impact. Tearing down a 10,000 square foot building instead of refurbishing it will cancel out the environmental saving of recycling millions of liquid containers. It is important to compare comprehensive life-cycle data in assessing a material for use in a particular setting.

The green building movement is just beginning to build a database of the life-cycle environmental impact of different materials and ARPA is one of the few manufacturers that have created an environmental profile for their products. Some natural materials appear to be green, while man-made materials are often overlooked - yet when comparing their life cycle costs, the resource-extraction and processing may make a natural material much less earth-friendly than a man-made material that can be used in its place.

The responsibility of building a more sustainable future falls equally on us all, and ARPA will continue to do their part in the future as they have in the past."

Interesting pespective on Materials

Vegans aside, who knew that the designer Christien Meindertsma has created such an interesting take on materials. Her perspective on the "pig" in PIG 0 5049 takes us to material use both in and beyond the built environment. I was hesitant to even look at this video until I realized that her crocheted rug was a part of my recent trend report. This thoughtful, creative and charming designer speaks to us with an interesting voice and her vision is one to watch in the future.

Sincerely "Green"

I remember how disappointed I was at the 2008 Greenbuild that so few booths displayed the spirit of sustainability - I got a serious "greenwashing" vibe after attending the show. (The Antron booth was the exception.)

Designer Joey Roth really gets it though . . . he arrived at a recent New York International Gift Fair with a sketch pad, saw and hammer and made his booth from the scraps of the other attendees. Now that is what I call the proper spirit of the movement.

What is Sustainable?

The site: Treehugger features the eclectic Dutch design firm droog's offering at Salone del Mobile. Their presentations have often seemed simply "odd" to me, but this I get - with the thought that "there is enough stuff in the world already" they collected left-overs and created something new with what they discovered to offer for sale at the fair. droog blogs from Milan during the fair.

I totally concur with droog, there is enough stuff in the world. I was often asked when I left the corporate world why I didn't go into business "selling stuff." My response was always "there is enough stuff," I would rather help those already in business further develop and sell what is rather than create more stuff or yet another store front. Of course, that didn't stop others from opening more and more store fronts thinking the boom would never end - many of these spaces now empty shells.

On a related topic, Art Basel in Miami showed photography in one of these empty, dark and cavernous spaces, the show was depressing after having shown in tents with great natural lighting in previous years - but, I guess that is a form of adaptive reuse. Another show used an old factory, again with great natural clerestory lighting - to me a much more appealing venue for art than empty mall space. Natural lighting - much better for showing product and green as well.

Consumer perception vs environmental realities

New Scientist has a fascinating interactive chart on consumer perception vs. the environmental realities of companies in various sectors of the economy. Some companies seem to be good at marketing what is not reality, and others are missing an opportunity.

Revisiting with Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi

It is the new year, and after being reminded of Massimo Vignelli, I am taking the time to revisit with all the people that have had an impact on my own thinking in the past.

One of those people is Kevin Roberts, the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi. I heard him speak about his company's "Lovemarks" at a branding conference a few year's ago. He had his finger on the pulse of the consumer then, as he does now in an interview about his current thinking. He especially understands our "relationships" and the ever expanding one that we have with our family of screens.

What is most important is how he see sustainability, not as a grand expensive government-run scheme, but something that each of us can embrace by doing one thing at a time. He introduces Saachi's latest campaign DOT - do one thing in this short interview which introduces Kevin Roberts sensible and down-to-earth approach to creating a "better world."

Designing for Sustainability

I ran across a video of Massimo Vignelli giving a presentation in the Heller showroom, sad to say, it was difficult to understand Mr. Vignelli, but I was reminded of the time he gave a presentation at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and the audience didn't care what he said - we were so mesmerized by his charm. He is of course a designer's designer, but what is most impressive about his work is how well it has stood up over the years. He embodies the true spirit of sustainability.

Think American Airlines and Knoll branding and the brochures for our National Parks - his work is both lasting and has lasting impact on our visual landscape. He shares his personal vision of design in a book The Vignelli Canon which is available to read online.

He shares concepts so appropriate for our current economic climate:
"We are definitively against any fashion of design
and any design fashion. We despise the culture of
obsolescence, the culture of waste, the cult of the
ephemeral. We detest the demand of temporary
solutions, the waste of energies and capital for the
sake of novelty.
We are for a Design that lasts, that responds to
people’s needs and to people’s wants. We are
for a Design that is committed to a society that
demands long lasting values. A society that earns
the benefit of commodities and deserves respect
and integrity."

Nanopool Product Demonstration

This material holds promise as a sealer for a variety of building materials. At this point, it is only available in Europe.

Respect for the Environment - a Tradition

Long before sustainability was on the tip of everyone's tongue, Manufactum opened stores in Germany with that concept in mind from their very beginnings more than 20 years ago. A German store for home products that is a cross between IKEA and Conran's, they started out immediately with a sustainability mission.

Products were to be selected based on three simple criteria:

• Produced through traditional methods, are reliable and easy to use.
  

• Materials are carefully selected and are attractive.
  

• Made of traditional materials (wood, metal, glass), respect the environment and can be repaired.
  

3 Pet Specification Peeves in Public Restrooms

As a trend analyst, I thrive on discovering all the new influences that affect building materials - but there is a ying to every yang and one of the most important things to remember when specifying building materials is the old Bauhaus saying "Form follows function." It is more than a figure of speech, and there are some times that it is more important to specify the correct material than the latest on-trend look.

I was at MASS General Hospital today, and had to look up exactly when a particular building was built because the rest room looked like it could have been installed yesterday. Yes, that is a product of excellent maintenance, but what is most important is that the products specified could be maintained. It turns out the building was built in 1981, and I knew by the black, gray and white that it was probably the eighties, although I didn't remember the specification coming across my desk, although I am sure that it did. I can date any installation from the last 50 years within three years, because of material, color and wear and tear. This installation was timeless, classic in color and material choice and impecibly maintained.

My pet peeves all apply to public spaces, as I feel that anyone can put anything in their home that their heart desires. My job as trend analyst is to understand what those heart's desires are at any given moment in time, but public spaces are usually meant to serve a large number and a wide range of people, and IMHO shouldn't be experiments in fantasy.

The new terminal of the RDU airport that I mentioned in an earlier post, is but one of the travesties of specification that I constantly encounter. It looked a fright within weeks of opening.

Pet Peeve #1:
Floor products used on the wall: This started to happen because natural stone tiles and stone looks became so cheap and easily available. Some of the ugliest bathroom installations that I have encountered fall into this category. This is particularly oppressive when carried all the way up to the ceiling. The MGH rest room had matte 6" x 6" white matte wall tile with a double row of soft gray checkerboard - a classic and timeless look.

Pet Peeve #2
Wall products that meet the floor: There is no getting around the fact that maintenance crews will slosh dirty water around with their mops and the dirty water travels up the wall for the thickness of the mop. The room never looks clean again. The MGH restroom had a base that matched the black large particle, poured terrrazo floor. The floor looked like it had just been installed.

Pet Peeve #3
Premium countertops with poorly designed backsplashes: The MGH rest room has a porcelain handicap sink, so this was not an issue. My favorite detail is to leave the countertop set back from the wall with no backsplash - that takes care of any movement issues and nasty grout joints that constantly plague improperly installed backsplashes. If a premium material is installed, then the extra expense of a proper joint at the backsplash should be considered. If the budget does not allow this, wall hung sinks or less expensive materials that are easily replaced are a better option.

The cleanliness of a rest room speaks volumns about any facility, whether it is a hospital, restaurant, shopping venue or office building. I for one, won't go back to a restaurant with a dirty rest room. It gives me immediate insight into the kitchen. Recently I was in a brand new building in another hospital in Boston, despite the cast on my leg, I asked for the most remote rest room in the building because I refused to go in several that I looked into. A scary propostion where every fourth person leaves the hospital with some kind of infection.

In our current economic climate, it is critical to create spaces with life cycle costs in mind, and avoiding these pet peeves creates installations that are ultimately sustainable in the long run if the right material is specified. The Ceramic Tile Institute of America has an excellant article on the sustainability of ceramic tile, despite the fact that it doesn't fall into any of the new "green" categories. It is, after all, THE original sustainable building material.

OK, so I don't get it!

Committee has covered the walls of their Gallop Gallery in what they call "extreme tiling." It looks as if they cleaned out someone's warehouse, and while that is certainly better than having it go to the landfill, I just don't understand this installation as an aesthetic statement. While ceramic tile is my favorite functional finish, I suppose this falls into the category described by Ambrose Bierce as: "the art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic."

Interior Trend / Past Imperfect / The New Global

I picked up a copy of The Shadow of the Silk Road as soon as it was published, because the idea of the Silk Road has intrigued me since high school history class. The book languished unread for a few years, there always seemed to be more pressing matters. This summer, I finally started reading about this part of the world, so unfamiliar that I kept my laptop turned on by my side so I could google images of the places in Colin Thubron's adventures. My imagination couldn't comprehend the exotic places he was writing about, despite his beautiful descriptions. As a visual person, I spent almost as much time with his hand drawn maps as I did reading, so that now I even know exactly where the Uighur unrest is taking place.

And yes, this does have something to do with interior trends. Following trends is about observing the convergence of ideas. Today, I received my new Garnet Hill catalog and discovered another traveler along the Silk Road - the textile merchant, John Robshaw. I can't believe I previously missed this lovely collection of textiles both made and inspired by the artisans and patterns of the Silk Road of both long ago and today.

Both men stay in "funny old hotels;" while Thubron brought back words, Robshaw brings back textiles and future design inspiration. His historically inspired hand-crafted imperfect textiles speak to those of us that are tired of computer generated perfection just like the Arts and Crafts era was a reaction to the first machine manufactured goods. He may just be the new and more authentic Ralph Lauren for our "less gilded age." Trends point strongly towards "the local" and "Buy American" for interiors, but for those who want more exotic looks, supporting artisans from around the world and helping them build lasting and sustainable craft enterprises is the NEW GLOBAL. This is John Robshaw's inspiration, product source and business model.

Both the media and the blogosphere absolutely adore the John Robshaw line, his influence will be felt in finishes as well as textiles - if only in the move towards less perfect, more hand-crafted looks.

Paolo Soleri turns 90

This slide show is my favorite tribute to Paolo Soleri, whose 90th birthday will be celebrated at Arcosanti this year. It is fitting that his birthday falls on the Solstice, as he truly designed for and lived sustainably long before Al Gore started his "creative" endeavors. The website at Arcosanti explains how he lived with the land at both Arcosanti and Cosanti, his homes in Arizona.

And who says that youtube is only for youngsters? Some, like the creator of this particular youtube slide show are contemporaries of Soleri and definitely young at heart.

The New Defined Edge

In the new era of frugality, creativity will appear in new guises...not that the Libeskind pre-fab house on the right is frugal.(The house is energy-efficient, manufactured in Germany and can be shipped anywhere in the world for $2.8-4.2M.)

It is the new "edge" aesthetic that is more in tune with the times than all those swooping curves and undulations that we have seen recently in both architecture and furniture. Exemplifying simplicity in the best sense of the word, the exquisite table with eased edges on the right is called "gorge" and is made from a single piece of powder-coated steel. Designed by Korean designer Ramei Keum, it is - at once elegant and child-like.

Affordable, Energy-efficient, Attractive? Modular Home

The press has, of late, been enamored with contemporary modular homes. As I mentioned in a previous post, they will become interesting when they become affordable. Clayton Homes recently introduced their affordable, energy efficient "i-home" (will Apple be suing? No, because "i" stands for "innovation, inspiration, intelligence and integration.") at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. (Available in two packages: $74,900 for the 723-square-foot and $93,300 for the 1,023-square-foot unit.) The interior is every bit as attractive as some of the expensive homes, but the outside still looks like temporary restrooms in an urban highway rest stop. (While the good looking one is under construction) We are in the 21st century, why the continued reliance on the cold and foreboding 50's modern idioms?

After affordability, I would include emotional livability as a requirement for the success of this concept. We may use rest stop restrooms and loved the original MickieD's as iconic, but we don't want to live in either one. (Even Walter Gropius's house is a museum, not a home.)

Coverings 2009/ Best Sustainability Statement

Having missed Coverings for a few years, I looked at everything in a fresh way, and found some new "favorites." This year one of them was BRIX, with an offering of truly classic design. They showed a highly-tactile 5mm x 5mm x 5mm mosaic, "I Frammenti" designed by Claudio Silvestrin (who designed the previous generation of Armani stores - but now Armani has a new look-for fashion sake, no doubt.) They also presented a natural neutral series designed by Andree Putman in large format sizes that allow the creation of an interesting variety of pattern called "Powder." From extremely small to large scale, no one can beat the Italians at design in the world of ceramic tile.

Ceramic tile is inherently a sustainable product that offers a long life-cycle at great value. Based largely on Italian technology there is little waste in the manufacturing of a product that is made of dirt and fired to a temperature with no possibility of off-gasing. Brix takes the sustainability of the product to an entirely new level with the classic sustainability of their "designs" and their brand statement which attests to this:

The aim of Brix is not to diversify and create short-lived trends. Brix produces materials for interior design following its own coherent style, a direction that's completely independent of trends, and doesn't follow the principles of fashion. Brix presents products from two points of view: US and YOU.

The perfect sentiment for these economic times.

A clean house at TED built in 4hours

Through all the technological inventions of the last 50 years, we are still building houses with the same methods. Will we ever move away from "stick" building? Every era makes attempts at factory building. An interesting approach is shown here, but the cost is virtually double what a "stick" built home with these amenities would cost. Unless the costs become more realistic, these modular units by LivingHomes are not likely to displace standard on-site construction processes any time soon. How long will it take to come up with something that is between the tin-can-like "mobile homes" of today and the fantasies of tomorrow depicted here? The material suppliers get good shout-outs in the video, but in down economic cycles, tradition usually wins out over stark contemporary looks. In today's economic climate, we are all looking for "comfort" of some sort. These stacks of stark rectangular boxes, don't offer so much as a comfortable corner. Whose fantasy is this anyway? It may be good for getting press, but does it provide "comfort" for hunkering down in a "down" economy.

Recession Chic

The New York Times is staying in tune with the economic times by featuring a California desert house created and owned by the sculptor Randy Polumbo. The house is featured in both an article and in an enchanting video presentation of the largely hand-made house, narrated by the artist. Found objects find new homes with glass bottles being the most common "find." Here an exquisitely beautiful window is created with bottles. Solar panels power the entire house. This house is a delightful antidote to the starkness of minimalism that only a housekeeper could find rewarding.

On GreenBuild

I was finally prompted to comment on GreenBuild when I found Nathan Shedroff's presentation which conveys my sentiments on sustainability - exactly. In reality I found only one booth at the November show that truly conveyed the spirit of what GreenBuild should be about - no further comments are needed. Antron gets it!

"Project Runway" Tenor of the Times

2007 BC (before chaos-financial ) Style over Substance wins
2008 AD (after demise-of Wall Street) Talent and hard work win

More than any other "Reality TV" 2008 Project Runway has captured the times in which we live and is a hopeful guidepost to the future. Only in hindsight do we realize that 2007 Project Runway's winner did the same; the winner's "style over substance" captured the immediate times. Did the darkness of the collection foresee what was in store, just a year later? The numbers of viewers of the presidential debate may have eclipsed the viewers of the 2008 Project Runway finale, but we can only hope that these lessons are as prescient as those of 2007 - this would not be the first time that fashion portends the future. And did Leanne's use of sustainable fabrics cinch the deal for her? If Leanne's win of the 2008 Project Runway with talent and hard work - without even a speck of attitude and posturing speaks to the future - bring it on sooner rather than later.