Category Archives: Industrial Design

From Understanding to Design and Back Again // Denver Cumulus

The Cumulus conference will be held in Denver from Sept. 29 – Oct.2, under the theme From Understanding to Design and Back Again.

“Designers can no longer be spectators. The boundaries we are used to have disappeared and as human beings we ‘play’ a real role in designing the world around us.” (Cumulus)

Cumulus is a global association serving art and design education and research.

The Paper Lectures and Discussion Sessions look very interesting. Here are just some that caught my eye:

  • Ethics Matters! Re-Thinking the Moral Discourse in Design: Lorenzo Imbesi, Carleton University Canada
  • Visions of Environmental Art Education – Environment Means Responsibility and Art Stands for Freedom: Markku Matti Hakuri, Aalto University Finland
  • Designers as Agents of Sustainable Change: Siriporn Peters, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Thailand
  • Values Added: The Legacy of Design Responsibility: Patricia Beirne, Parsons The New School for Design United States of America
  • Revision the Future of Design: SEED (Social Economic Environmental Design)

Click here to check out the program.

Students—there is a discounted rate for you!

 

Autodesk streamlines responsible design education with innovative video lecture series

With a little help from Mr. Imagination, Dawn Danby, Sustainable Design Program Manager at Autodesk, and Jeremy Faludi, Sustainable Design Expert and Stanford University Lecturer,  deliver video tutorials on responsible design through Autodesk’s Education Series: Design for Product Lifetime Strategies.

“Introduction to Design for Product Lifetime” (embedded below) is just one of many lectures up and running, including “Design for Durability” and “Design for Disassembly and Recycling.”

Head on over to Autodesk’s Education Community to learn more, and check out the YouTube channel!

Designing values, Cradle to Cradle

No matter where we sit—consumer, designer, marketer, researcher, educator, etc.—on the global apparel supply chain, our understanding of responsibility stems from our values, individual or shared.

“By design, we start with values” (William McDonough)

We must constantly ask ourselves: “What are my values? What are my intentions? Do they align? How do they translate in practice?” Easier said than done? Not with Cradle to Cradle (C2C) design theory: C2C encapsulates values in design, by design.

 

Designers Accord – Sustainability in 7 – Bill McDonough from Core77 on Vimeo.

Image Source: “Am I happier now?” image by Carlotta Cataldi, of Slow Fashion Forward

Video Source: Core 77, Sustainability in 7 (via the Designers Accord)

 

Interactive lesson plans educate learners on responsible fashion

The Creative Commons is embedded into our responsible education ethos; we have researched and aggregated content to create educational resources because we believe that accessibility leads to accountability. Of course knowledge is power, but without access to knowledge we will not move forward.

In 2009 we brought you “[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion’ Lexicon” and our “Fibre Analysis”. In 2010 we worked further to bringing you lessons on the social, cultural, economic and environmental interdisciplinary challenges facing the value system that is the global apparel supply chain.

Social Alterations 2010 //

[Lesson 4] Corporate Social Responsibility

[Lesson 3] Global Governance and the Corporation

[Lesson 2] Connect // Key Players

[Fashion High] Understanding the Impact of your Clothing (pre-16 learners)

Social Alterations 2009 //

 

[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion’ Lexicon

Fibre Analysis

Check out this how to on navigating our site:

Social Alterations 2010 // Program Guide from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Call for Submissions // CoDesign: Special Issue for Socially Responsive Design

CoDesign, the International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, has a call for papers out under a special theme:

Socially Responsive Design – understanding the differences between service design, social design and social innovation and identifying tools and methods for designing and evaluating social change.

Click here to read the full details of this call for submissions.

Deadline for submission: 28 January 2011

Proposed timetable to publication thereafter:

Post-review notification of decisions: 30 April 2011
Deadline for submission of revised papers: 30 June 2011
Final selected papers to production: 9 September 2011
Publication of Special Issue: December 2011

Contact Professor Lorraine Gamman l.gamman at csm.arts.ac.uk with any questions about the Special Issue.

Carly Stojsic presents ‘Eco as Movement, Not Trend’ // ECO Fashion Week Vancouver

ECO Fashion Week Vancouver, September 28th, 2010 // Day one: Carly Stojsic, WGSN.

Carly Stojsic – Eco as Movement, Not Trend

Photo Credit: Kris Krüg, www.staticphotography, via Flickr.com

 BIO //
Carly Stojsic is Canada’s Market Editor for Worth Global Style Network and is a freelance trend forecaster for an array of clients. She joined WGSN, the world’s leading online service for global trend analysis, as a Market Editor in December 2007. Her extensive background in sourcing, trend forecasting and as a color specialist greatly augments WGSN’s customized consultancy services in creative intelligence. Click here to read more
NOTES //
  • WGSN predicts fashion internationally… based on their knowledge, Carly tells us about eco movements. Consumers are moving towards a eco friendly lifestyle – home grown food, sustainable power sources.
  • WGSN think tank sees society having less of an identity now. Detroit is considering turning unused city lots into farmland.
  • The majority of designers target 10% of richest consumers. Revolution is required to reach other 90%.
  • Designers as activists.
  • Zero waste designs cut from fabric using all of it; no waste. Recycled denim can be used as insulation in buildings.
  • 2007 London – dissolvable dress showcased so no landfill destination.
  • Denim dye process traditionally uses toxic chemicals, movement towards natural dyes, less harmful chemicals. Natural indigo and fruit dyes used for other fabrics.
  • Many companies creating their own ‘green star’ system to monitor internal greening.
  • True sustainability may be more about recycling synthetics, not using newly produced organic natural fibres. These wear better, wash easier.
  • Bamboo fibres used in Japan. Decomposes harmlessly. Paper fibres used also for lace, knits, unique pressed fabrics.
  • China will ban plastic bags handed out in stores June 2011.
  • Mattel is producing eco accessories for Barbie. !
  • Recycling used by artists, interior design, home fittings.
  • Swaparama clothing swap parties popular. Repair also encouraged.  
  • Bicycling communities popping up internationally. Underground communities hold repair workshops, portable sound systems for bike parties.
  • George from California kayaks to work after years of traffic jams. WGSN asks, ‘Where does he put his coffee?!’

Yves Bèhar // 1st Puma.Safe Sustainability Lecture, London

If you find yourself in London near the end of October (the 24th @ 4:00pm), be sure to check out the first Puma.Safe Sustainability lecture at the Design Museum, where Yves Bèhar will delve into his design practice.

Yves Bèhar is the founder of design studio fuseproject and the winner of Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2008 for the One Laptop Per Child.

Tickets £15 / £7.50 Members: Includes entry to all current exhibitions before the talk.
T 020 7904 8783
E tickets@designmuseum.org
W Ticketweb (booking fee applies)

Listen in on a three part series on the designer (back in 2008) via Designing Minds:

Source: Design Museum, and Sustainable Futures

Wind Powered Knitting Machine, by Merel Karhof

Check out this Wind Knitting Factory by RCA grad Merel Karhof.

But don’t just stop there—also check out Karhof’s Energy Harvesters: broaches that are worn to illustrate the amount of personal wind power harvested as you walk around!

“The knitted material is harvested from time to time and rounded-off in individually packaged scarves. Each scarf has its own label which tells you in how much time it has been knitted and on which date.” (Merel Karhof)

 

Click here to visit Core77, where Lisa Smith has more details. According to Smith, this is “quite a smart way to think about all the ways we can harvest the potential around us. especially if applied at the scale of a factory.”

We agree! This is a brilliant project–and the images and videos are wonderful!

Source: Core77

drc: Design Research Conference 2010// IIT Institute of Design + Competition

“The IIT Institute of Design’s 9th Annual Design Research Conference (DRC) will be held at the Spertus Institute in downtown Chicago on May 10-12th 2010. It will feature exceptional international speakers and opportunities to spend time with our brilliant community of designers, planners, researchers, educators, students, managers and executives concerned with understanding people.” (drc)

This year’s conference includes a design research competition. The deadline to apply is April 2nd, but hey…you still have 3 days! The winners will get to speak at the conference, and will be included in the program.

Click here to apply! Good Luck!

Check out this year’s speakers:

Tim Brown | IDEO

Martha Cotton | gravitytank

Erica Eden | Smart Design, Femme Den

Kim Erwin | IIT Institute of Design

Diane Fraley | D.S. Fraley Associates

Heather Fraser | Rotman Designworks

Usman Haque | Pachube

Cathy Huang | China Bridge International

Stokes Jones | Lodestar

Anjali Kelkar | Studio for Design Research

Diane Lee | Smart Design

Yvonne Lin | Smart Design, Femme Den

Gerald Lombardi | Hall & Partners

Doug Look | Autodesk

Bill Lucas | LUMA Institute, MAYA Design

Don Norman | Nielsen Norman Group

Sona Patadia | PDT

Ron Pierce | Stuart Karten Design

Heather Reavey | Continuum

Rick E. Robinson | Sideriver Ventures

Rob Tannen | Bresslergroup

Paula Wellings | Adaptive Path

Eric Wilmot | Wolff Olins

Lisa Yanz | PDT

Title: drc: Design Research Conference 2010// IIT Institute of Design
Location: Chicago
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-05-10
End Date: 2010-05-12

Call for Entries// The Earth Awards

The Earth Awards is a global search for creative solutions designed for the 21st Century. The award represents six categories: Built Environment, Product, Future, Systems, Fashion, and Social Justice.

Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, has been included in the Selection Committee, and will be judging the Fashion category, along with other designers, architects, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, humanitarians, environmentalists and spiritual leaders.

Here is the mission of the awards:

Human imagination and ingenuity are the impetus of every good design. All across the world, people from every walk of life are generating good design ideas that offer groundbreaking solutions to the ecological and social challenges of the 21st century. The Earth Awards provides a platform for these visionary ideas, presenting a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations worldwide to expose their design innovations to a global audience. The Earth Awards is committed to the idea of popularizing the most viable of these innovations, and transforming them into market-ready solutions.

The submission period closes May 10th. Good Luck!

Check out this video of last year’s finalists!

Source: CSF