In the Design Activism reading, there was a big focus on consuming less and trying to find a better way of living through less consumption. This made me think about how We could use parts wasted to make something people will want. This triggered my design concept, my concept is for a new startup company or manufacturers to take leftover or scrap pieces of fabrics and make decorations out of them. On HGTV I saw a lady frame some funky patterned fabric to make a cheap decoration for the walls. I have noticed in many furniture stores lately that a very trendy furniture style is to get a neutral colored sofa and pair it with a funky side chair. Many furniture stores also sell accessories to go with the furniture. If a manufacturer could take the leftover fabric used to make the chair and use it in a framed decoration or other piece, that would reduce thrown away scraps of material. If there are smaller pieces then the person creating the artwork could sew together the smaller scraps.
The most important thing I learned in this class is that synthetic fibers are actually better than natural ones in most ways. That will make me use these materials more often in my designs and when shopping. What I wish I had learned in this class was more ways that Interior products could be reused. I felt this course was mainly apparel focused and it would have been nice to see simplistic examples. I would also like to learn more about how governments regulate companies on environmental wastes. I know that Germany is pretty green focused and I think that would have been something interesting to learn more about
Friday, April 13, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Call of Duty
My husband is a serious gamer who has a nice collection of video games, systems, and other parts that go along with it. My brother and most of my guy friends are the same way. When I moved out of my dorm a few years ago I did not know what to do with m mini fridge. I tried selling it in a garage sale, but no one wanted to give me more than $15 for it and I felt that I could make better use of it rather than take that much of a loss on it. I had it stored at my mothers for awhile, but recently decided to turn it into a video game storage unit. I did this by filling the inside of the fridge with his games like an entertainment center holds DVDs. I put his controllers, small cords, and chargers in the smaller pockets in the door of the fridge. I also added some game related stickers to the outside of the fridge to customize it for him.
My concept for others people and maybe even manufacturers would be to turn a broken or worn mini fridge into a storage container like I did. This prolongs its life and also because a functional household item. It does not even have to be just a video game center. Turning it on its back and putting a cover over it to turn it into an outdoor cooler for Barbecues is another idea. Once you get tired of it as one function it could be turned into another and another.
The C2C Metabolism that I used was the Technical Metabolism. The Technical Metabolism influenced my concept because I thought about how my product went or has the potential to go through several product cycles and maintain value and function through the different changes. The principle from Quinn's reading that guided my concept was use waste as a resource. Even though I was not going to throw my fridge away, a lot of people would have. If someone has a broken mini fridge than this is a substitute to just throwing it in a landfill. You can use a broken mini fridge for many different things.
The C2CAD reading talked about how a designer needs to think about the "functional, aesthetic, and economical needs". My concept hits all 3 of those points. It is functional because it takes care of storage needs and hides messy or unattractive items. It takes care of aesthetic needs because each individual owner can decorate it or add covers to their choosing; they can make it into anything they want it to be. It meets economical needs because it can be reused and turned into other functional items as each cycle ends.
My concept for others people and maybe even manufacturers would be to turn a broken or worn mini fridge into a storage container like I did. This prolongs its life and also because a functional household item. It does not even have to be just a video game center. Turning it on its back and putting a cover over it to turn it into an outdoor cooler for Barbecues is another idea. Once you get tired of it as one function it could be turned into another and another.
The C2C Metabolism that I used was the Technical Metabolism. The Technical Metabolism influenced my concept because I thought about how my product went or has the potential to go through several product cycles and maintain value and function through the different changes. The principle from Quinn's reading that guided my concept was use waste as a resource. Even though I was not going to throw my fridge away, a lot of people would have. If someone has a broken mini fridge than this is a substitute to just throwing it in a landfill. You can use a broken mini fridge for many different things.
The C2CAD reading talked about how a designer needs to think about the "functional, aesthetic, and economical needs". My concept hits all 3 of those points. It is functional because it takes care of storage needs and hides messy or unattractive items. It takes care of aesthetic needs because each individual owner can decorate it or add covers to their choosing; they can make it into anything they want it to be. It meets economical needs because it can be reused and turned into other functional items as each cycle ends.
Friday, March 30, 2012
One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure
When I first moved into my apartment 2 years ago, I was pretty short on furniture. About a week later I noticed a two drawer chest that was broken and had been set by the dumpsters. I grabbed the chest and took it inside, I was able to fix it up for about $11. It only took a can of spray paint, two handles, tools I already owned, and a small plate of plexiglass. I was able to fix it and use it for storage for cheaper than I could buy a chest of drawers brand new.
In the reading Cradle to Cradle, the part that really stuck in my mind was "If our systems contaminate Earth's biological mass and continue to throw away technical materials (such as metals) or render them useless, we will indeed live in a world of limits, when production and consumption are restrained, and the Earth will literally become a grave." This means that if we do nothing but consume and throw things away, than our planet will be nothing but a giant landfill (or grave of trash).
The Rhoener textile video talks at the beginning about growth. The video asks us, What do we want to grow, I think the answer is products with little or no consequence for the environment. Rhoener textiles have taken steps toward achieving this by creating materials that can be turned into mulch when a consumer is finished with it. That mulch will then degrade within a six month time frame, leaving behind no trace that it was ever there before.
My design concept is for furniture manufacturers and how they run their businesses. Furniture manufactures should have a number to call so that when a person is tired of the furniture that they have a store employee could pick it up for free. Then the manufacturer could restore the furniture and redistribute it, and use scrap parts to go on other pieces. Being able to resell the furniture would make up for the price of picking up the old furniture piece and restoring it. I understand not all parts to all furniture pieces would be completely restore-able, but mixing and matching could easily be done.
In the reading Cradle to Cradle, the part that really stuck in my mind was "If our systems contaminate Earth's biological mass and continue to throw away technical materials (such as metals) or render them useless, we will indeed live in a world of limits, when production and consumption are restrained, and the Earth will literally become a grave." This means that if we do nothing but consume and throw things away, than our planet will be nothing but a giant landfill (or grave of trash).
The Rhoener textile video talks at the beginning about growth. The video asks us, What do we want to grow, I think the answer is products with little or no consequence for the environment. Rhoener textiles have taken steps toward achieving this by creating materials that can be turned into mulch when a consumer is finished with it. That mulch will then degrade within a six month time frame, leaving behind no trace that it was ever there before.
My design concept is for furniture manufacturers and how they run their businesses. Furniture manufactures should have a number to call so that when a person is tired of the furniture that they have a store employee could pick it up for free. Then the manufacturer could restore the furniture and redistribute it, and use scrap parts to go on other pieces. Being able to resell the furniture would make up for the price of picking up the old furniture piece and restoring it. I understand not all parts to all furniture pieces would be completely restore-able, but mixing and matching could easily be done.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Clearing the Clutter
Last week I informed people about a lifestyle that a few people have been choosing in the past couple of years. A lifestyle where we create little to no trash, and instead refuse packaged items and resort to reusable containers. I also described my vision of grocery stores making this lifestyle easier for people who wish to shop and live this way. My main concept for this vision is to limit packaging. The two principles that I applied to my vision were take waste and make it your resource and using materials that have more than one end use.
I feel that stores should make an effort to reduce wasted packaging that no one really wants other than to make sure breakables stay safe and food from going stale. I have found that there are more than just two principles that can help support my vision. One of my new principles is to think about the environment when designing. Businesses could come up with more creative ways to package things, ways that make the packaging reusable instead of a waste of space. That also goes hand in hand with my other new principle, be spring with material usage. If a company must use packaging on something, then they can at least use the least amount of packaging possible. I found a really good example of this to be Aquafina (by PepsiCo) who in 2009 decided to use 50% less plastic in their bottles and also took out the cardboard lining inside the 24 packs. If stores started to only buy packaged products from companies who do this type of thing, than we could severely cut down on the amount of packaging in everything.
Not only is packaging a waste, but every package has something different printed on it and a different graphic. The printing process that all packaging goes through is also harmful to the environment. In the reading "Textile Futures", Becky Earley talks about how she came up with a fabric printing process called exhaust printing. It is a lot like exhaust dyeing because it reuses dye solutions already in the fabric. This helps reduce water pollution and also minimizes chemical waste. I know the fabrics she uses have already been dyed before she gets them, but I think this is something that could be mimicked for packaging of all kinds and not just in clothes.
The reading "Sustainable Fashion and Textiles", talks a lot about making local purchases and tries to steer people away from shopping online or anywhere where lots of energy is used to deliver products or materials. If local grocery stores were to buy more of their products locally than I think that it would make it easier to keep the food in the bins fresh. It would be easier to get things without packaging and would be healthier for consumers in the long run.
I am not saying that packaging should be completely done away with for everything. I am simply saying that if we can reduce the amount of and the harmful processes of creating packaging, I think we can reduce the amount of trash going to landfills each year. If we can reduce the amount of clutter we bring into our home, we can reduce the amount of clearing out we will have to do later.
I feel that stores should make an effort to reduce wasted packaging that no one really wants other than to make sure breakables stay safe and food from going stale. I have found that there are more than just two principles that can help support my vision. One of my new principles is to think about the environment when designing. Businesses could come up with more creative ways to package things, ways that make the packaging reusable instead of a waste of space. That also goes hand in hand with my other new principle, be spring with material usage. If a company must use packaging on something, then they can at least use the least amount of packaging possible. I found a really good example of this to be Aquafina (by PepsiCo) who in 2009 decided to use 50% less plastic in their bottles and also took out the cardboard lining inside the 24 packs. If stores started to only buy packaged products from companies who do this type of thing, than we could severely cut down on the amount of packaging in everything.
Not only is packaging a waste, but every package has something different printed on it and a different graphic. The printing process that all packaging goes through is also harmful to the environment. In the reading "Textile Futures", Becky Earley talks about how she came up with a fabric printing process called exhaust printing. It is a lot like exhaust dyeing because it reuses dye solutions already in the fabric. This helps reduce water pollution and also minimizes chemical waste. I know the fabrics she uses have already been dyed before she gets them, but I think this is something that could be mimicked for packaging of all kinds and not just in clothes.
The reading "Sustainable Fashion and Textiles", talks a lot about making local purchases and tries to steer people away from shopping online or anywhere where lots of energy is used to deliver products or materials. If local grocery stores were to buy more of their products locally than I think that it would make it easier to keep the food in the bins fresh. It would be easier to get things without packaging and would be healthier for consumers in the long run.
I am not saying that packaging should be completely done away with for everything. I am simply saying that if we can reduce the amount of and the harmful processes of creating packaging, I think we can reduce the amount of trash going to landfills each year. If we can reduce the amount of clutter we bring into our home, we can reduce the amount of clearing out we will have to do later.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Jars and Art
In my search for good ways to improve how everyone can be sustainable, I discovered articles on a family from San Francisco(The Johnson's) who literally creates only one jarful of trash a year. They take jars and refillable bags into stores and uses them to buy and store cuts of meat and dry products at the grocery store. They also refuse products that come in packaging. This is the only amount of trash that the family has created in about a six month period. 
I think that this is going to become a lifestyle that more people will choose in the coming years. (If you want to read more about this family, here is the link http://earth911.com/news/2011/04/13/zero-waste-johnson-family/)
According to T.E. Graedel, who wrote Industrial Ecology, the concept of industrial ecology is basically the search for a balance between humanity and our surroundings. It is how people acheive industrial processes, extract resources, and then transform those resources into products that meet human needs. He also says that one of the most important factors in industrial ecology is that it rejects the creation of waste. He also hinted that overpopulation is part of the issue as well.
In the reading, How Will We Conduct Business, we also are told about industrial ecology and how manufacturers and humans in general should try to work with "substances that nature would recognize and be able to assimilate." I think that this is good good advice in some ways, although I do still favor synthetic fibers over most natural fibers. However, plastic is definitely one of those substances we should try to eliminate. I try to keep both of these readings in mind while coming up with an interior product I think would appeal to zero waste lifestyles.
I feel that a good concept would be to try and implement a grocery store section for people who have a lifestyle like the Johnson's. This section would be full of bulk food dispensers that people could get cereal, candy, or other dry foods from. There would also be glass jars full of condiments, peanut butter, and other commonly jarred items and they could be refilled for a certain, cheaper price next time the needed refilled. This lifestyle concept was not developed by me, but I envision that this is what grocery stores would do if this lifestyle does catch on. I think this is a shopping experience of the future if it does.
There were several good principles in the readings this week, but one that really stuck out to me was use waste as a resource. I would make sure any resource used in my product was directly from another product and kept in the recycling loop. Another principle that I think would be good for my product is get materials that have more than one end use. I think the main materials I would use would be wood and metal, wood and metal can be transformed into many different products with many different end uses. You can cut both materials into any shape and size you need' and you can also drill holes if need be as well. They are also very easy to re-purpose after each product use.
When deciding what would be a good interior product for these families who live the zero waste lifestyle, I thought it would be fun to create them an art-piece that also serves as storage for their jarred goods. The art-piece would be a frame with shelves that would hang on the wall and would have lots of room for the jars on it. I drew a picture to show what it would look like and the frames could come in different sizes; although the shelves on it would be 5 inches deep. I imagine that the frame and the shelves would be from re-purposed or recycled frames and boards that come from unwanted furniture or anything being recycled.
I think that this is going to become a lifestyle that more people will choose in the coming years. (If you want to read more about this family, here is the link http://earth911.com/news/2011/04/13/zero-waste-johnson-family/)According to T.E. Graedel, who wrote Industrial Ecology, the concept of industrial ecology is basically the search for a balance between humanity and our surroundings. It is how people acheive industrial processes, extract resources, and then transform those resources into products that meet human needs. He also says that one of the most important factors in industrial ecology is that it rejects the creation of waste. He also hinted that overpopulation is part of the issue as well.
In the reading, How Will We Conduct Business, we also are told about industrial ecology and how manufacturers and humans in general should try to work with "substances that nature would recognize and be able to assimilate." I think that this is good good advice in some ways, although I do still favor synthetic fibers over most natural fibers. However, plastic is definitely one of those substances we should try to eliminate. I try to keep both of these readings in mind while coming up with an interior product I think would appeal to zero waste lifestyles.
I feel that a good concept would be to try and implement a grocery store section for people who have a lifestyle like the Johnson's. This section would be full of bulk food dispensers that people could get cereal, candy, or other dry foods from. There would also be glass jars full of condiments, peanut butter, and other commonly jarred items and they could be refilled for a certain, cheaper price next time the needed refilled. This lifestyle concept was not developed by me, but I envision that this is what grocery stores would do if this lifestyle does catch on. I think this is a shopping experience of the future if it does.
There were several good principles in the readings this week, but one that really stuck out to me was use waste as a resource. I would make sure any resource used in my product was directly from another product and kept in the recycling loop. Another principle that I think would be good for my product is get materials that have more than one end use. I think the main materials I would use would be wood and metal, wood and metal can be transformed into many different products with many different end uses. You can cut both materials into any shape and size you need' and you can also drill holes if need be as well. They are also very easy to re-purpose after each product use.
When deciding what would be a good interior product for these families who live the zero waste lifestyle, I thought it would be fun to create them an art-piece that also serves as storage for their jarred goods. The art-piece would be a frame with shelves that would hang on the wall and would have lots of room for the jars on it. I drew a picture to show what it would look like and the frames could come in different sizes; although the shelves on it would be 5 inches deep. I imagine that the frame and the shelves would be from re-purposed or recycled frames and boards that come from unwanted furniture or anything being recycled.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Consuming Ourselves
First off I really just want to see if anyone remembers this commercial. It pertains to this class and it is one of my favorite commercials of all time. I really wish more people would be like this guy.http://www.youtube.com/
I can remember, even as a kid on the playground, I would get mad at my friends if they threw their trash on the ground. Even at the age of about 12 I would either pick it up and throw it in the trash myself or sneak it in their backpacks with reminders to throw away their trash. I come from a really small town in southeastern Oklahoma where no one really worries about their environmental impact or about making sure they throw thier trash away. What does it matter to them if their are ditches full of trash. My family, on the other hand, taught me and my older sister from a very early age that polluting the environment was a very bad thing and that we should keep as much trash off the ground as possible. As I have grown older I have started to realize that trash on the ground is only the surface of the problems that have come to face our environment. The production processes of textiles, apparel, and other goods; carbon emissions and high quantity consumption ; chemical spills, pesticides, and other runoffs are even bigger problems and they are problems most people do not think about.
I think that one of the biggest threats to the environment that can be helped easier than most other problems is consumption and packaging. According to the article on limiting consumption, we throw away 462 pounds of packaging each year per person. This is because most of what we buy is placed in packaging that we just throw away after we get it home. TV dinners, cameras, hard candies, and most kitchenware are all unnecessarily packaged. I know they want to protect the products to make sure they don't break, but there is usually more packaging than necessary.
According to the reading over Visioning, it is not enough to just vision a change to make it so. You have to manage those wants and set goals for yourself so that you can actually make that vision a reality. Once you start making sustainable decisions, it will be easier to turn those decisions into habits. More and more people are becoming aware of the impacts we have had on the planet, but many do not do anything to try and reverse the damage. The more people who make it a habit to be sustainable will raise more awareness for how and what can be done to erase some of the environmental footprints humans and our way of life has left on the earth.
I think that what all of us can do is change our mindset to making sustainable choices. If we make good decisions in the products we buy and places we support than corporations will have to make the shifts to more sustainable practices so they can appeal to the consumers. If we choose to not buy harmful products than companies will be forced to stop making them. We as consumers have this power and things will not change unless we do as Lombardo says in the Thinking Ahead article, and change our mindsets and become more optimistic. The simple truth is that we cannot just wish to be more sustainable, we have to act on those visions and make shopping decisions that reflect our wants and needs. Shopping for things you want and need that have less packaging and less to throw away when you get home is only one of the many things that we can do to help the impact humans have had on the Earth.
I can remember, even as a kid on the playground, I would get mad at my friends if they threw their trash on the ground. Even at the age of about 12 I would either pick it up and throw it in the trash myself or sneak it in their backpacks with reminders to throw away their trash. I come from a really small town in southeastern Oklahoma where no one really worries about their environmental impact or about making sure they throw thier trash away. What does it matter to them if their are ditches full of trash. My family, on the other hand, taught me and my older sister from a very early age that polluting the environment was a very bad thing and that we should keep as much trash off the ground as possible. As I have grown older I have started to realize that trash on the ground is only the surface of the problems that have come to face our environment. The production processes of textiles, apparel, and other goods; carbon emissions and high quantity consumption ; chemical spills, pesticides, and other runoffs are even bigger problems and they are problems most people do not think about.
I think that one of the biggest threats to the environment that can be helped easier than most other problems is consumption and packaging. According to the article on limiting consumption, we throw away 462 pounds of packaging each year per person. This is because most of what we buy is placed in packaging that we just throw away after we get it home. TV dinners, cameras, hard candies, and most kitchenware are all unnecessarily packaged. I know they want to protect the products to make sure they don't break, but there is usually more packaging than necessary.
According to the reading over Visioning, it is not enough to just vision a change to make it so. You have to manage those wants and set goals for yourself so that you can actually make that vision a reality. Once you start making sustainable decisions, it will be easier to turn those decisions into habits. More and more people are becoming aware of the impacts we have had on the planet, but many do not do anything to try and reverse the damage. The more people who make it a habit to be sustainable will raise more awareness for how and what can be done to erase some of the environmental footprints humans and our way of life has left on the earth.
I think that what all of us can do is change our mindset to making sustainable choices. If we make good decisions in the products we buy and places we support than corporations will have to make the shifts to more sustainable practices so they can appeal to the consumers. If we choose to not buy harmful products than companies will be forced to stop making them. We as consumers have this power and things will not change unless we do as Lombardo says in the Thinking Ahead article, and change our mindsets and become more optimistic. The simple truth is that we cannot just wish to be more sustainable, we have to act on those visions and make shopping decisions that reflect our wants and needs. Shopping for things you want and need that have less packaging and less to throw away when you get home is only one of the many things that we can do to help the impact humans have had on the Earth.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Green or Fiend
There is a problem with some companies tricking people into buying products that say they are economically friendly without the product actually being so. These companies try to appeal to people who like buying economically friendly products while their products are not actually economically friendly. Their products will say Eco-friendly on the box or container, but do not actually do anything to help the earth or limit waste. Eco-promising is when a company provides information about why their products are economically friendly and how they benefit the earth. Eco-promising can help a consumer be more aware of what they are buying so that they do not end up buying a product with a meaningless guarantee.
First off, Greenwashing is a term that is used to describe the practice of a company who tries to claim that they are an economically responsible figure and marathon. The 10 signs of green washing mentioned by the Greenwashing Guide made me laugh; but more importantly I realize that I have seen products with these claims on them before. These companies try to make it seem like they have great products that are great for the earth, but in most cases they are made in non Eco-friendly ways or they try to compare themselves to companies and products that are dreadful. What is also surprising is how new the concept of green washing actually is. Greenwashing wasn't a term that caught on until around 1990 and wasn't added to the dictionary until 1999.
This chair is from crate and barrel and they claim that it is environmentally friendly. They tell us that it was Eco-friendly constructed and that it is made from a certified sustainable hardwood. They have also stated that it is upholstered with 100% cotton; in last weeks blog I talked about how cotton is not as sustainable as synthetic fibers because of all the dyeing and water used to make textiles from it. All of their claims are very vague and do not really tell us how the products are environmentally friendly. I feel that they are just trying to target customers who feel they should be environmentally responsible.
This is a couch from The Sofa Company and they have a whole page on hier website that tells you all of the ways they are environmentally friendly. They even tell you how you can customize your furniture and how your choices can make it even more environmentally friendly. I thought this was a good company and they are being more responsible than Crate and Barrel. (http://www.thesofaco.com/furniture-articles/Eco-Friendly-Green-Sofa-Options.aspx)
After all of the readings for this week and my scavenger hunt, I feel that it is important for consumers to be aware of the products that they are buying. Knowing how and why a product is economically friendly is just as important as shopping Eco-friendly products. Making the Eco-friendly choice does no good if you aren't actually buying the right products. It is also good to think not only about the product itself, but the packaging it comes in and the technology that produced it. I think it is important to be aware of our products and how they are made.
First off, Greenwashing is a term that is used to describe the practice of a company who tries to claim that they are an economically responsible figure and marathon. The 10 signs of green washing mentioned by the Greenwashing Guide made me laugh; but more importantly I realize that I have seen products with these claims on them before. These companies try to make it seem like they have great products that are great for the earth, but in most cases they are made in non Eco-friendly ways or they try to compare themselves to companies and products that are dreadful. What is also surprising is how new the concept of green washing actually is. Greenwashing wasn't a term that caught on until around 1990 and wasn't added to the dictionary until 1999.
This chair is from crate and barrel and they claim that it is environmentally friendly. They tell us that it was Eco-friendly constructed and that it is made from a certified sustainable hardwood. They have also stated that it is upholstered with 100% cotton; in last weeks blog I talked about how cotton is not as sustainable as synthetic fibers because of all the dyeing and water used to make textiles from it. All of their claims are very vague and do not really tell us how the products are environmentally friendly. I feel that they are just trying to target customers who feel they should be environmentally responsible.This is a couch from The Sofa Company and they have a whole page on hier website that tells you all of the ways they are environmentally friendly. They even tell you how you can customize your furniture and how your choices can make it even more environmentally friendly. I thought this was a good company and they are being more responsible than Crate and Barrel. (http://www.thesofaco.com/furniture-articles/Eco-Friendly-Green-Sofa-Options.aspx)After all of the readings for this week and my scavenger hunt, I feel that it is important for consumers to be aware of the products that they are buying. Knowing how and why a product is economically friendly is just as important as shopping Eco-friendly products. Making the Eco-friendly choice does no good if you aren't actually buying the right products. It is also good to think not only about the product itself, but the packaging it comes in and the technology that produced it. I think it is important to be aware of our products and how they are made.
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