Designboost 2007

sustainable design

sharing design knowledge 17 October – 17 November 2007

”Sustainable Design – creation which enables several possible ”Sustainable design is when outcomes”

we combine understanding of individual need and function with the need for a desirable development”

Björn Jeffery - web strategy

Marcus Wendin - environmental management

”Sustainability demands forward-looking thinking, caring and boldness” Agneta Hahne - architect

”It is our responsibility to be dedicated to improvement, innovation and perfection” Mårten Claesson - designer and architect

”Sustainable design is the opposite of the three fundamentals of crap-culture; reproduction, reconsumtion and recycling, sustainable design is not only something that lasts its also something you keep for your life” Mats Theselius - designer

”I demand the consumers to start act actively and choose quality with, of course, a bit higher price instead of getting all watery about all this cheap things that surrounds us with fantastic subhumanly low prices, quality IS sustainable in itself, after 1 comes 2 etc” Maxjenny Forslund - fashion designer and producer

“Working with sustainable solutions is an opportunity to embrace local craftsmanship and new technology with a human and emotional approach. Sustainable design is not about trend, but is here to stay – it’s inevitable” Thomas Lykke - design and innovation development

”Sustainable: something you never get tired of.

Christina Elving - information director

”Design that restrain consumption tend to be sustainable - high quality and a long term thinking” Johannes Norlander - designer and architect

”Sustainable design sails the trends and becomes rarely wrinkled!”

Olivier Rohrbach - journalist and music designer

”It should be a long-term commitment for everyone” Louise Hederström - designer

”Content is always sustainable, design is not” Jan Åman - director/Färgfabriken

The mission of designboost

C

reating a plattform where people can meet, discuss and challenge the meaning of design, through workshops, talks, exhibitions and other media

The vision of designboost

Sharing knowle Design in a sustainable society Designboost is a completely novel concept on the Swedish design market.

It will be annual, different, international and will penetrate questions of current interest on design in a broad perspective and put them on the agenda in the society at large.

It consists of three different parts; – boost meetings (formerly known as workshops), – boost chats (formerly known as lectures) – boost show (formerly known as exhibition).

The boost meetings take place with an invited group of participants while the boost chats and the boost show are open for the public.

Designboost is supposed to inject both it’s participants and the audience with new ideas, make them ponder, reflect, worry and be amused about what design really is and how it should be used in order to create a better life for people, and a more durable society

design edge...

�Sustainable design has past, present, and future; the rest of design is a figment of our desire for imagination�

Brent Richards - creative thinking/Futurescaping

Boost meetings 17th October The first day of Designboost, October 17th, specially invited participants will be given the opportunity to take part in Boost meetings (formerly known as workshops) with interesting questions at issue.

We have invited different Swedish companies that are all influential in the design field as well as specially chosen ”boosters” with unique competence in their certain fields. The ”boosters” group contains designers, future scientists and brand strategists as well as creative thinkers and material experts. In addition to this students from leading design schools will be invited as well.

We believe in knowledge exchange!

Our boost meetings can be regarded as internal meetings in an external form. A closed circle, open to the participants. Every participant will be given the opportunity to to discuss, vent, ponder, think and reflect over a number of questions that concerns design of the future.

BOOSTERS 2007 Kristina Dryza, Satyendra Pakhale, Stephen Burks, Ilkka Suppanen, Jennifer Leonard, Mårten Claesson, Jody Turner, Christel Vaenerberg, Thomas Sandell, Katarina Graffman, Tim Power, Anna Kirah, Brent Richards, Sean Pillot de Chenecey, Nina Jobs, Thomas Lykke, Björn Jeffery, Mårten Knutsson, Kristina Börjesson, Oliver Ike, Olof Kolte, Ida Hult, Jonas Bylund, Olivier Rohrbach, Jens Martin Skibsted, Jonas Pinzke, Jens Pamp, Marcus Wendin, John-Michael Ekeblad, Ann Wåhlström, Jan Wifstrand, Johannes Norlander, Agneta Hahne, Joakim Norén, Nick McLean, Sanna Sevika Hansson, Anders Breitholtz, Louise Hederström, Christina Cheng, Pernilla Jansson, Mathilda Tham, Maxjenny Forslund, Claes Foxerus, Claes von Hauswolf, Charlotte Sörensen, Jan Åman, Per Key Björcke, Kevin Low, Kajsa Bengtsson, Peter Andersson, Marcus Bergman, Ewa Kumlin, Mats Theselius, Kerstin Sylwan, Sanjoo Malhotra, Stefan Fallgren, Kristina Sahlqvist, Christina Elwing, Jonas Magnusson, Dori Gislason, Anna Kraitz, Steuart Padwick and Anders Stedson.

The “boost meetings” will be held on October 17th at floor 53 and 54 in Turning Torso, the Malmö landmark designed by Santiago Calatrava.

�Sustainable: a product or service you only need to purchase once, and last for a liftime or more.

Example: BRIO wooden railway�

Claes von Hauswolf - brand and design director/Brio

Boost chats 18th October The lectures and duels of the Boost chat day on Ocotber 18th is open for all. You will be able to listen to interesting talks about different aspects of sustainable design. The conclusions that where drawn on the Boost meetings the previous day will also be presented. The Boost chats will take place between 9 am and 6 pm at the conference center Europaporten at Stadiongatan 25 in Malmö.

25 Boosters Satyendra Pakhale – http://www.satyendra-pakhale.com International designer based in Amsterdam describing himself as a “Cultural Nomad”. He conveys a message that could be defined “universal” through his designs and ranks him among the most influential designers at work today. Recently he has been invited to art-direct and head the Master Programme in Design for Humanity and Sustainable Living at Design Academy Eindhoven.

Jennifer Leonard – http://www.renegademedia.info Jennifer Leonard is a design researcher and writer at IDEO, in Palo Alto, California. Jennifer coauthored Massive Change, a book about the future of global design. She has spoken at design conferences around the world and is a graduate of the inaugural year of the Institute without Boundaries, a design think-tank that once-upon-a-time lived inside the Bruce Mau Design studio in Toronto.

Mårten Claesson – http://www.claesson-koivisto-rune.se Mårten Claesson is one of the designers and architects of Claesson Koivisto Rune. They have been working with everything from interiors, culture house in Japan to products and furniture design. Their assigners include Asplund, Offecct, Boffi and Cappellini. Mårten Claesson is a regular lecturer and has spoken all around the world.

Kristina Dryza – http://www.kristinadryza.com Kristina Dryza is a trend forecaster whose exposure to global consumer trends and cultural knowledge leads her to bring the experiential and forward looking aspects of design to the projects.

She recently started KRLT studio, a conceptual design studio based in Vilnius, Lithuania. The first products from the studio is a luxury fashion collection based on the regional heritage.

Brent Richards – http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk/csm_design_laboratory.htm Former dean of Central Saint Martins college of art and design. Founder of Design Laboratory which is a creative bridge between education and the commercial agenda of industry, consultancy and business. Projects are in key areas such as branding & communications, product design, interiors and trend forecasting, or any combination of these.

Stephen Burks – http://www.readymadeprojects.com Stephen Burks is one of the most successful designers in his generation. He is working with everything from shop interiors and packaging to to furniture and home accessories. One of his latest projects was the design of the bottle for the new Calvin Klein perfume CK IN2U. Mathilda Tham – http://www.beckmans.se The work of Mathilda Tham includes trend forecasting, fashion and sustainable issues. Mathilda has also been working with design, pr and marketing. Mathilda works as professor at Beckmans college of design in Stockholm and teaches about eco-design at Goldsmith college in England.

Ilkka Suppanen – http://www.suppanen.com Ilkka Suppanen once belonged to the successful Snowcrash design community and his creativity often leads him forward towards new materials and technologies. He is both preserving and developing the innovative and functional Scandinavian heritage.

Katarina Graffman – http://www.trendethnography.com Katarina Graffman works as an ethnographer. Her tools are simple but the practice is complex.

It consists of digging for something with unknown shape, colour and size. The research take place wherever, whenever as reality is her lab. The experiments are conducted in cars, homes, stores, workplaces and parks.

Kristina Börejsson – http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk Kristina has for most part of her professional life as a projects manager and managing director worked for an altered attitude to marketing. Kristina lives since 1996 in London and has written a Master thesis on designers as the link between culture and meaning as also a PhD thesis on the affective sustainability of objects.

Jens Martin Skibsted – http://www.skibstedid.com Through is company Skibsted Ideation Jens Martin Skibsted develops innovative products that are brand carriers, drive numbers and massively boost PR. He applies the thinking of branding, fashion and music to the world of industrial design. Jens Martin Skibsted is the founder of Biomega - the luxury urban mobility brand.

Nina Jobs – http://www.ninajobs.se Nina Jobs is an internationally recognized and awarded designer. With a background as graphic designer she holds a master degree in product-design from ENSAD-Paris. Her designs includes works within products, furniture and textile design. In 2001-2005, Nina Jobs also assigned to promote Swedish design in Asia on the behalf of the Swedish government. Nina also make speeches world wide.

John-Michael Ekeblad – http://www.daytimeprojects.com John-Michael Ekeblad runs Daytime Projects Inc which is a strategic design consultancy based in New York City that creates magic out of rationality. John-Michael’s philosophy is about convergence of design culture with deep consumerism and artistic movement that creates a platform of Commercial Aesthetics.

Björn Jeffery – http://www.goodold.se Björn Jeffery works as CEO and Internet Strategist at the Swedish communication agency Good Old. As co-founder of the company, his main focus is the implementation of current and future web trends to large publishing houses. Björn is also the founder of two of Swedens largest blogs, Discobelle.net and Manolo.se.

Thomas Sandell – http://www.sandellsandberg.se/ Thomas Sandell is one of the most acknowledged designer and archictect in Sweden. Thomas has received several Swedish and international design awards. His assigners include Cappellini, B&B Italia and Asplund to mention a few. His recent work with the proposal of a new ”Kallbadhus” in Riddarfjärden has caused a lot of debate.

Olof Kolte – http://www.olofkoltedesign.com/ Civil Engineer KTH, Stockholm 1990, Master of Art RCA, London 1998, has worked as Civil Engineer in France, Mexico, and Latvia, own design practice in London 19982000 and in Malmö, Sweden since 2000, part time lecturer at Industrial Design LTH since 2001 Tim Power – http://www.tim-power.com/ Tim Power, architect and designer based in Milan. For the past decade the office of Tim Power has worked on a variety of projects including furniture, lighting, interiors and architecture for a large international client base. Recently, with the participation of Slow Food and Boffi, he has conducted a program at the I.E.D. on researching and designing self sufficient kitchen units.

Kevin Low – http://www.small-projects.com/ Kevin Low runs smallprojects which is a company that conceptualizes, designs and builds things; primarily architecture and utility design. Kevin studied closely with the Aga Khan Foundation and over various periods, has been professionally involved in writing, environmental sculpture, illustration, teaching and copyrighting.

Oliver Ike – http://www.ikebranco.ch/ Oliver Ike founded Ikepod Watch company in 1986 and worked as its CEO until 2003.

Today manager & contributing writer of Ikebranco productions, a company operating in the field of interior and architecture photography and publishing. He has various consulting mandates in the watch business and as well new projects in the pipeline in the field of watches.

Jonas Bylund – http://www.syntes-studio.com Jonas Bylund is the co-founder and Creative Director of Syntes Studio, a product design and branding agency based in Stockholm. Syntes Studios work spans from strategy, product design, packaging and graphic design and the client list include British mobile communications leader O2, H&M, L’oreal and Estee Lauder. He is regularly lecturing at various conferences around the world.

Sean Pillot de Chenecey – http://www.captaincrikey.com/ Sean Pillot de Chenecey works with research and brand development. He injects vitality and creativity into consumer insight and brand positioning. Before starting the company Sean spent ten years with cutting-edge agencies. He is often quoted on brand/consumer issues by the media and writes for a range of business and consumer publications.

Jody Turner – http://www.cultureoffuture.com/ Culture of Future provides visually flavorful conversation, inspirational POV and leading edge trend language encompassing tech to retail, generations to culture and design to sustainability. Founder and CEO, Jody Turner, is a “Trend Hunter” or “Meaning Hunter” and travels globally to present ideas on the future of culture and design.

Ewa Kumlin + Kerstin Sylwan – http://www.svenskform.se/, http:// www.kerstinsylwan.se/ Ewa Kumlin is managing director at Svensk Form which is missioned by the Governement to promote Swedish Design in Sweden and abroad and to run the official meeting place for design in Sweden. Kerstin Sylwan works as a designer with a deep interest for sustainable development. She is also founder of the project “Saving the planet in style.

�ReSimplified Life

+ ReEngineered Imagination = Sustainability�

John-Michael Ekeblad - design strategy

�We must have more holistic approach to sustainability to avoid sustaining the unsustainable�

Kristina BĂśrjesson PhD, Research Associate /Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

To aim at the affectively sustainable is to look for the hidden obvious in an object.

The limits of rational thinking?

Most designers share at least one vision: to contribute to real development rather than to design merely another. My vision as a researcher is to provide designers with new or newly combined knowledge, which have a chance to facilitate their mission. Knowledge, in my meaning of the term, is also consciousness: to put in doubt and rethink as also to look beyond the rational, to see the potential of the irrational.

Irrational problems have been the subject of much analysis. In 1973 Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber wrote a landmark article where they discussed the existence of a set of problems [of social policy] that cannot be resolved with traditional analytical approaches. They labelled such problems “Wicked Problems”. Are irrational problems in general “wicked”? If this is the case, there are according to Rittel and Webber no solutions to these problems ‘in the sense of definitive and objective answers’. (p. 155) They are unsolvable.

I oppose this logic as also the overall focus on ‘problems’, which risk blurring the route to development: new ways of thinking, a change of direction of thought. Importantly, development goes further than innovation. I refuse, however, to call this type of thinking ‘a new rationality’. This expression, though often heard, risks in fact conserving rationality as the one way to think: to replace one kind of rationality with another. Given a ‘softened’ name, this reasoning can be referred to as making a difference when in fact it does not.

It is in this context the construct of ‘affective sustainability’ has to be analysed, as it immediately might appear to have connotations to something irrational. Many measures in the direction of sustainable development are halted or rendered difficult due to what are considered to be irrational causes (wicked?). Knowing that many, if not the majority, of the choices we make through life are irrational, based on feelings, the struggle for what is aimed at sustainability becomes evident as does the term itself. Sustaining for the sake of it has no sense.

Research on the affective, attachment and sustainability is in its early stages. What has already become evident is that existing objects can be found again and new designs may have a chance of a longer life, if time, tradition, aesthetic and perception are rethought in the context of human ways of being rather on their ways of living.

Rationality is one important tool in designing but not the only tool. In the tension between rationality and intuition the latter must increasingly be valued as a competence based on lived experience, not merely a spiritual thought. Rationality has given us the simple object, but not simplification.

Simplification is not solely a measure concerning physicality. It takes into consideration the affect an object evokes: this must be positive, easily decoded and stored and allow us to interact with the object without friction: “… the augmentation or diminution of a body’s capacity to act, to engage, and to connect, such that auto-affection is linked to the self-feeling of being alive – that is aliveness or vitality.”

My wish is to further engage in research that adds to designers’ understanding of what augments these capacities of the body. It is my belief that these affective qualities [of objects] are reasonably obvious, though immediately hidden, and when found they show the way to simplification.

Kristina Börjesson PhD, Research Associate/Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

Rittel H. & Webber M. (1973) Dilemmas in General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences. No 4, pp 155-169.

Damasio, A. (1994) Descartes’ Error. Revised ed. London: Vintage Bastick, T (2003) Intuition. Evaluating the Construct and its Impact on Creative Thinking. Kingston, Jamaica: Stoneman & Lang.

Earth Everyday I recently (barely) watched the film Idiocracy, starring Luke Wilson. It was one of those late weeknights at home, with laptop in bed and lights low, so I didn’t get through it. I fell asleep before it really got going. And I have to say that I think it was a blessing in disguise. I nodded off shortly after a clip where Luke’s character (who was frozen by the military for a set number of years for some kooky cryogenic experiment) awoke disastrously past due to a world gone idiotic. It was a future where landfills over-stuffed skyscrapers, ER rooms were operated by buffoons who couldn’t differentiate one orifice from another, and belching slobs sat in Lazy-boys watching TV shows like “Oh My Balls” on their in-home Jumbotrons.

My generous guess is that Idiocracy was intended to be a worst-case trajectory of American culture today; and certainly, a good reminder of the sort of tomorrow we don’t want for ourselves and the generations to come. Call me an idealist, but we do not want an Idiocracy. We want a Brilliantocracy. Or Enlightenedocracy. Or Awesomocracy. Whatever it’s called, the point is that we want the sort of today and tomorrow where ecoconsciousness, emotional intelligence, and exuberant human creativity rule our days – not the day.

Comedian Jon Stewart, at the end of February, announced on his Daily Show that “Black History month is now officially over.” And then, wryly, “But you do know, people, that black history continues, right?” Likewise, as I see it, Earth Day is an ongoing event. We want to toot Earth’s horn daily.

Which brings to mind our modern storytellers – the news media – which, on the whole, aren’t living up to this standard. The problem here is not that there are no stories to tell that lift us up and move us forward in a more sustainable way. There are! The problem is that these stories are not being reported broadly enough, often enough, and with sufficient gusto.

(Worldchanging is one of a few exceptions to the rule, where storytelling of the non-idiotic, or “brilliant-enlightened-awesome”, variety is supported.)

We need more powerful positive storytelling, each and every day. We also need more powerful story-making – I believe these dynamics are mutually supportive, and generative. At the very least, we need a shift in what counts as “story worthy.”

This media makeover would facilitate what I’d propose to call Earth Everyday. The new face of media would be replete with stories that matter: stories that offer a deep sense of possibility and hope. It’s not technological innovations and their capacities to solve problems that excite me most. It is the human stories that underlie them. It’s the human dance with life and how we take action on our imaginative urges. Rather than lauding the rich and famous, Earth Everyday’s story gathering focuses on the everyday people that make up its heartbeat. Daily, stories come out about the people who in small and big ways are working in areas they’re passionate about in an effort to be all that they can be in the context of a mission that’s bigger than the individual self. By living up to what positively drives them, they are doing their part to make the world a better place. And their stories give readers and listeners and watchers hope. These are the people we should give a damn about and brag about and give airtime to. These are Earth Everyday’s foot soldiers.

Enthused by their charge, Earth Everyday is a movement of movements where the internal and external fighting stops long enough for everyone - even those who agree to disagree -- to recognize that without our planet Earth, there will be nothing to fight about, period. No urban space, no transportation, no energy grid, no data banks, no markets, no farms, no global relations. Regardless of one’s political or faith-based affiliation, we have within us the potential as human beings to look around the Earth we share and appreciate the sky, the fields, the trees, the oceans -- the free assets it daily provides us with. We can all acknowledge the astonishing beauty in natural events like a blooming rose, a lightening storm, metamorphosis; and the irreplaceable value inherent in all these things.

The evolution of Earth Day into Earth Everyday goes hand in hand with our human evolution. We can choose to push it to a greener, richer, more luminous level as we, too, evolve as residents of Earth. We are the DJs of the earth jams, so to speak – in the sense that “we are all designers” – and we are also in the mix. In the spirit of iteration, I’d like to build on past work I’ve done and offer up a new way of thinking about storytelling, below.

What would the impact be if categories of human explorations were seen not as “economies” – or systems of exchange – but ecologies, in which we played a rightful part? What if, in place of technological categorizations of human activities, we reflected on our lives through a social lens?

For instance, in the Massive Change project, the “urban economy” was about documenting a wave of new innovations in housing, shelter, and urban space. It was about relaying the fact that sprawl and density are both true and that all space, per Rem Koolhaas’s inspiration, is now “city” and we must consider it as such. It was about green building technologies and manufactured housing materials. The urban ecology, however, is about the new urbanists – guerrilla gardeners and home gardeners and all those aspiring green thumbs out there taking baby steps to turn dead urban space into living, breathing, life-giving experiments. It’s made up of people around the world who are changing their behaviors (and their light bulbs) to make less of an imprint on the path they trod.

The “movement economy” was about collecting evidence of congested highways and bi-ways from all corners of the globe, and showcasing innovative vehicles and transporters whose fuel source was alternative, renewable or entirely electric. The movement ecology is about the new mobilists, who are in transit in a diversity of ways. They’re moving and shaking in carpools and smart cars; on buses, trains, scooters, and skateboards. Collectively, they’re walking and biking their way to understanding new ways of moving, in relation to each other.

The “energy economy” was about trying to understand what was being developed at both small and large scales, so to technically respond to an impending crisis. It was about wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric and coal. It was a landscape of all activity in electrification. The new energy ecology is about the new energizers, the champions of fresh air, blankets, wool socks and hand fans. They’re cognizant of turning the lights off, powering-down their PCs and switching over to CFLs. These folks are unafraid to use human power to get their motor runnin’. And they know that this is in no way about giving up what we’ve got. It’s about knowing there’s so much more that we can still do, with less.

The “information economy” was about information overload, grid computing and complex data mapping. The new information ecology is about the new informers, the courageous professional media and citizen reporters the world over; the witty observers of our ways, with a message; the poets, the artists, the real rock stars.

The “market economy” becomes an ecology of new marketers, who value holistic thinking over numbers and stats. The “manufacturing economy” becomes an ecology of new cyclers of life, who see the journey of a product through its lifespan and treasure first and foremost what we already have. The list goes on, and the power here is in how we talk about what we do. There’s great force in phrasing: from technology to people; fro passive change to active change. It frames how we view what we do.

Earth Everyday, in the end, is less about describing a solid, stagnant state and more about setting up a vibrant set of sustainable conditions around which like-spirited people can align and get a move on.

Jennifer Leonard Designer researcher and writer

�What will endure is what is uniquely human�

Jennifer Leonard - designer researcher and writer

Boost show 19th October The Designboost exhibition, or Boost show as we prefer to call it, will take place in a former cinema at Fridhemstorget in Malmö October 19th – November 17th. The Boost show will reflect on how we, with design, can create a sustainable future.

Sustainable design is not only about ”green” and environmentalism, even if it is an important part of it. Sustainable design is also very much about timelessness, new materials that push the envelope, storytelling, sensorial experiences and cultural awareness.

Normally when you talk about sustainable design, environmental issues are quite often the main ingredient. We would like to make a more openminded definition. We have identified seven different themes that according to us is important in the definition of sustainable design. The themes, which all are part of the ”sustainable wheel” are environment, ethics, aesthetics, energy, identity, function and re-use will be visualized through both filmed interviews and products on display.

According to us, a product could be defined as sustainable flrst when it take all spokes of the ”sustainable wheel” in consideration.

We have defined seven different areas that by it self or in combination is important in the definition of sustainable design. In the end, a product is nothing worth if it is not put in a humanly context. We have to remember to always look through the lens of humanity when we develop, or trying to define a sustainable product.

In the boost show you will see: Alcro, Apple, Artek, Audi, Biomega, BRIO, Cleasson Koivisto Rune, Electrolux, GodEl, HC Ericson, Iittala, Kristina Dryza, Mater, Satyendra Pakhale, Spirit of Maya, Stephen Burks, Tejo Remy, TAF, Tom Dixon and more.

– Emotional connection

The seven different areas are: – Environmental influence – Innovation

– Aesthetics – Quality – Authenticity

During the weekends ”mini boosts” or short lectures will be held.

– Compatibility

Opening hours: Wednesday–Friday 11am–6pm Saturday–Sunday 12am–4pm Free entrance.

”Sustainability will be one of the greatest branding tools in the future” Jonas Bylund - designer

�Solutions which meet the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to fulfill their own needs�

Christel Vaenerberg - product portfolio director/Iittala

Everyday life is yours to design.

Iittala design objects are combinable, multi-purpose tools for everyday life.

The entire Iittala collection is created with thought to help us design pleasurable, everyday moments that enable us to relax, recharge, share and simply live the lives we want to live.

By stripping the object back to its purest form, essential design lets the end user decide the use, so we can own fewer things that do more. Not just to cut the clutter, but also to live life to the fullest, without cupboards full of things that are destined to break, go out of style or become useless.

Mindmade design.

It is easy to know quality when you see it. You feel it intuitively as well as with your eyes and sense of touch. It takes a lot of human effort and thought to create an object of quality that survives the test of time. It is only knowledge of the material, production methods and end user insight that creates truly inclusive design objects that serve the individual human needs. Iittala calls it mindmade design. Design created by the experienced minds of craftsmen and designers against throwawayism.

Modern essentials.

Teema is a range of 21st century design objects created by Kaj Franck in the 1950s. They represent the essential design thought at the heart of the Iittala collection. The idea is simple – find the object’s simplest form so it can fulfil more functions to be combined in the right way for each occasion. Teema serves every need, from preparing to serving.

Based on bold, geometric forms, every piece is part of a larger thoughtthrough system where everything fits with everything. Every new design object complements the ones that come before and after, in design as well as colour, to offer the highest quality combinable, multi-purpose tools for an active and modern life.

Life changes, Iittala stays. Iittala’s lasting everyday design is not only flexible in use and style, but also durable. Craftsmanship at every stage of production ensures objects of the highest possible quality.

“The choices you make today, shape tomorrow.”

“As consumers, we can make conscious statements by choosing fewer, well-produced objects which are multi-functional. Iittala products never shout. They are quiet, dignified and timeless – very refreshing in an overcrowded world. Each essential object is an intrinsic part of our lives, and part of a larger family designed with thought, a deep knowledge of craftsmanship and our human needs in focus. Lasting design is the result of this process. Of course, everything can be thrown away, or at best be recycled, it’s the cycle of life. But essential design slows down this process.”

Chrystina Schmidt Co founder and partner of Skandium, London.

”Sustainability is about working with context and having context work for you” Kevin Low - architect

”Sustainable design is for me much about working with ideas that lasts, functionally of course, but above all - intellectually” Peter Andersson - designer

Q&A ”Against throwawayism”

The Iittala brand will focus increasingly on taking the brand advertising and communication to a higher, more value-adding level in 2008. The main brand message will always come down to the philosophy of ‘Lasting everyday design against throwawayism’. Since the expression might rise questions regarding the contents of it, eg. relating to our assortment decisions, our actions towards the environment etc., this Q&A has been created to help with the basic thinking and ideology, and how to respond to possible consumer questions.

When needed, additional information will be provided by the Iittala brand team (Johanna Kesti), as-sortment team (Christel Vaenerberg) and PR team (Tuija Aalto-Setälä).

Q: What do you mean when you say you are ‘against throwawayism’?

A: We are talking about the brand’s core philosophy, and taking a stand for and against the things that we believe in. With this statement we are expressing our opinion for the creation and use of lasting everyday design, and against throwawayism, building the mountains of needless objects in the world of today. This statement is very much based on the fact that each and every person can make conscious choices in everyday life, helping us build a more lasting future and society. Choosing objects that will last in design and quality is a choice for a more durable society, and against buying short-lived things that are destined to be thrown away.

The very core of this philosophy is based already on Kaj Franck’s early thinking. According to Franck, objects should always be appropriate, durable and functional. And this is why one of the most important functions of design is to make sure that objects designed for everyday use should be universally usable.

In the Iittala collection all objects, made of different materials, are designed to be timeless, combin-able and versatile in use. This is just like Franck’s Teema, created over 50 years ago, and still being as much topical today as in it’s long history.

Q:

Are all Iittala objects developed and produced according to this principle?

A: In the Iittala assortment all objects are designed to be functional, combinable and versatile, re-gardless of the material in question. The Iittala design philosophy defines the principles according to which the assortment is developed and what kinds of products are launched. These principles in-clude, in addition to pure functionalism, also the qualities of essentialism and emotionalism, which will make sure that all objects are both highly usable and that their design in terms of beauty and form will remain in the long-term. Thus to create ‘lasting everyday design against throwawayism’, the Iittala design philosophy states that we will create eternally relevant and contemporary design that responds meaningfully to universal human needs.

Q: How can you delist some products/sizes/colors, and say that this is against throwawayism?

A: In the Iittala philosophy and thinking design is what remains. It is the natural flow of things that all objects will not last forever; they might break or colors/forms/sizes in the assortment might change. But what is important, is that all Iittala objects are designed to be combined, which means that even when certain colors/forms/sizes might not be offered all the time, the objects will anyhow fit with other Iittala objects to come and that have been. This way we allow each person to build and refresh their own personal Iittala collections over time.

All products cannot be always available, and the demand of objects guides us when making decisions about the assortment. Our distribution channels also act according to the demand levels when making decisions about delisting products, and we also need to take notice that the space in distribution channels is very limited to hold a wide and growing assortment.

This, however, does not take away the fact that the design items, which might be delisted from the assortment, still remain classic and high quality design objects. Objects that can be either complemented with other Iittala objects or handed over to someone else who wants to collect the classic items. The design does not lose value even in these cases. Rather, it might even gain some. It needs to be remembered that even if some objects are not available anymore, as design objects they still represent as much as ever the principle of ‘lasting everyday design against throwawayism’ , offering durable, high design and the highest possible quality.

Q: Stating that you are against throwawayism, why do you launch new products at all? Shouldn’t it be enough to have the lasting objects from the past that will remain forever?

A: We need to, first and foremost, meet the requirements of real consumers with high quality design objects that support the ‘lasting everyday design against throwawayism’ thinking. As based on our design philosophy, Iittala is committed to creating eternally relevant and contemporary design that responds meaningfully to universal human needs. This means that development needs to go further, and we as a leading company in the area of Scandinavian design have the responsibility to develop and take things further. Even though design classics are not born every day, the only way to strive to make things even better is by introducing novelties that are based on real human needs. And by bringing novelties to the market we can even bring more relevance to the eternally classic objects.

A good example of this is the new Taika series, which refreshes and complements perfectly for instance the classic Teema range.

When we launch novelties, specific research is done to see what are the consumers needs and how to best cater to them. This many times also leads to us having to take something out of the assortment, which is the natural flow of things. It lets us serve the latest needs, as well as at the same time lets the timeless design objects correspond to the universal, timeless needs. The delisting decisions of products are many times also dictated by limited production capacity, since everything cannot be produced forever.

Delisting decisions are always harder to make than launches of new objects, but these decisions are always educated and well considered and sales figures are carefully followed. As the Iittala philosophy also contains the idea of ‘doing more with less’, we cannot always widen our assortment, but also need to make sure that the decisions we make are based on consumer needs and in the best possible way support the main philosophy.

Being against throwawayism demands us sometimes to make difficult decisions, but we make sure that all the decisions we make support the general idea and philosophy. We are also happy to help our consumers to design and redesign their own personal Iittala collections to fit with changing situa-tions in everyday life – together we can find just the right objects for every home.

Q: When you talk about lasting design against throwawayism, what is your environmental policy - how do you take the consumption of products into account?

A: As a company we want to progress durable consumption as an important value by producing timeless, quality objects that have a long lifetime.

The long lifecycle of an object is better for envi-ronment than cheaper products with short life span. We also have working environmental policies in all of our production facilities and preserving the environment is an important value for us.

You can then lead the conversation to the following: When saying that we are ‘against throwawayism’, we are taking a stand on the amount of consump-tion. Today studies are showing that many people are tired on the endless amounts of useless things and long for more durable values. It is Iittala’s objective to create attainable objects that serve their purposes. We do not want to grow the mountains of rejected things, but to improve people’s quality of life. This way each and every object in the Iittala collection represents ‘lasting everyday design against throwawayism’.

Q:

How do the Iittala objects represent the idea of lasting and functional design better than other objects in the same field?

A: All Iittala objects are created to offer timely and functional solutions to everyday challenges – they are all based on a deep understanding of consumer needs. All the solutions made by designers, craftsmen and production are mindmade to withstand time and changing needs. And the whole Iittala collection is combinable to make sure people can extend their personal collections with versatile, usable objects just by combining them to what they already have purchased earlier, without having to throw some unfitting parts away.

Q: Isn’t

the intention always, after all, to sell more?

A: The Iittala products are a choice for people who want durable quality objects. For these people the functionality and quality of the product are more important than just a low price. In today’s fast moving consumer society there is a need for objects that are made to last and function through the different stages of human life. That is why all Iittala objects are designed to be combined and durable through time.

Q: Do you have approval from eg. Kaj Franck / Alvar Aalto or other late design masters when you make changes on their classic designs?

A: In 1981 Kaj Franck himself checked the relevance of the Teema assortment, and changed some measurements, angles, sizes etc. to better relate to the present day world. In 2005 Oiva Toikka and Heikki Orvola redesigned the Teema range. Oiva Toikka shared a studio with Franck for years, and he has officially been nominated as the person in charge of Kaj Franck’s design heritage. Heikki Orvola, on the other hand, was Franck’s student. These widely appreciated Finnish designers have the respect of the original designer and are dedicated to see that Franck’s designs are treated with due respect.

What comes to the Alvar Aalto collection, the Alvar Aalto foundation approves all products that are launched in the collection carrying Aalto’s name. Iittala has a legal agreement with the foundation and co-operation is tight. Iittala is the owner of the Aalto registered trademark and the Alvar Aalto foundation owns the copyright and supervises the use of the design heritage. All decisions made regarding the classic form will always be in line with the designers form language and will respect and support the immeasurably valuable design heritage.

Q: You talk a lot about craftsmanship, but is everything in the Iittala collection produced by hand / by craftsmen?

A: When we talk about craftsmanship, we refer to all the extensive knowledge we and our partners possess; regarding material knowledge, knowledge in production techniques (color expertise, for ex-ample), design insight and expertise, consumer insight etc. Some of our iconic products, like Aalto vases and the Birds collections are produced by hand, which is the purest expression of hand-craftsmanship. But also the other products in our assortment have phases in their production and de-sign process, where all the extensive craftsmanship knowledge described above is used to create objects worthy of carrying the Iittala brand name.

Q: Where are the Iittala products manufactured?

A: The Iittala products are manufactured both at our own production facilities and at our contract part-ners’ facilities. The balance between in-house production and outsourcing varies significantly from product to product, depending of the categories and raw materials in question

Q: What is in-house production’s role in the Iittala strategy?

A: All Iittala production needs to be competitive on the international scale, this is a necessity in to-day’s market situation.

– In-house production focuses on products and materials in which the Iittala Group possesses tech-nical or other special expertise.

The aim is to continuously improve production processes by in-creasing automation, and offer valuable flexibility by eg. producing short runs of products featuring eg. seasonal colors.

– In-house production might also have some added qualities, which are hard to obtain when out-sourcing, eg. higher level of quality or flexibility in production. We have the objective of producing less products for stock and relying more on the demand forecasts, which means that it’s

important at times and at need to produce smaller quantities very quickly and efficiently.

– When we compare own production to outsourced, we also need to include all costs to the out-sourced production, eg. larger storage costs due to large order batches, transportation, product loss etc. This means summing up all the costs included, not just the cost per production unit.

– Thanks to our own production facilities, Iittala is also able to work closely with designers in the product development area and to develop new technical innovations.

– The proximity to the group’s home markets provided by in-house production makes it possible also to react rapidly to unexpected fluctuations in demand.

Q: How big part of your production at the moment is made at in-house production facilities and how much is outsourced/made at contract manufacturer’s? How do you anticipate the situation to change in the near future?

A: Over 70% (largest part of) of the Iittala Group’s production in terms of net sales is produced at in-house production facilities.

– Iittala products are also manufactured by contract manufacturers, who have been selected on the basis of quality of their products and operations, cost, reliability and environmental and social responsibility.

The goal is to build long-term supplier relationships. As the Iittala products are known for their high quality, the production and quality of outsourced products is monitored closely on a regular basis.

– Contract manufacturers bring us additional capacity and production flexibility especially in peak seasonal demand. It also provides us with an opportunity to use materials for which the Iittala Group does not have in-house technology.

Q: How can you survive in the price competition between branded goods and retailer’s own brands, will this not lead you to lower quality or design level of certain objects?

A: We know that in the future people will even increasingly value high quality and good design, and they are also willing to pay for the value added that a brand like Iittala can offer.

Nowadays people do not only buy for need, but rather choose products that reflect their value choi-ces. We at Iittala can offer modern consumers objects that represent lasting & durable values. And we are also very proud of our history, which started already in 1881 when the Iittala glass factory was founded. We know with long experience that the work put into designing quality objects will pay back in the long term. Quality is something that always can be recognized and will find its supporters. This is why the Iittala philosophy is the base for a movement against throwawayism. A movement, in which the people who choose our quality objects want to belong to. And a movement which is supported by our talented craftsmen and designers. The philosophy is the differentiating factor in the Iittala brand, and we know that there are likeminded people all over the world who share the same thinking - and want to be part of the movement against throwawayism.

Johanna Kesti 28.8.2007

”We have a responsibillity to make active choises as designers.

If we don’t, who does?”

Charlotte Sörensen - designer and president/DISK

”Design with multi-layered meanings, spiritual as well as functional, will always taste better than the fickle diet of temporary design buzzwords served in this ’Fast Design Nation’” Sanna Sevika Hansson - visual artist/designer/corporate design consultant

�...It is stating the blindingly obvious!

Nature consists of millions of years of collected design knowledge - it would be stupid to ignore it and suicidal to kill it... �

Anders Breitholtz - material and production techniques

”A complex connection between consumer values and material clture” Ida Hult - ethnographer

Iittala environmental policy Iittala Groups operations are based on sustainable values in which respect for nature and the environment is of the highest importance.

We are committed to complying with all relevant legislation and regulations. Our products feature timeless design and have a long duty life. We believe that in an increasingly disposable world, people value things that are well-designed and made to outlive changing times and trends.

We always strive to use environmentally friendly raw materials in our production. Raw materials are used efficiently at all stages of the process.

In order to minimize surpluses, the first recycling phase is often carried out at the factory itself as part of the manufacturing process. We develop manufacturing processes constantly in order to reduce energy consumption and emissions to the environment. Iittala Group requires also its suppliers to keep the national legislation and continuously work in direction of reducing environmental impacts.

In the handling of materials and finished products, our aim is to have an efficient logistics chain that operates without unnecessary intermediate stages. In cooperation with goods suppliers and those involved in the distribution stage, we develop functions in which each stage imparts value added. In so doing, we can reduce the total transport needs significantly.

In packaging, we as a rule, use recyclable materials. Together with the retailers, we implement meas-ures whereby discarded products are recovered so that their materials can be recycled. We use communications and training to give guidance to consumers on how to use our products energy-efficiently and with respect for the nature.

Tero Vähäkylä President & CEO Iittala Group Oy Ab Helsinki, 1.9.2007

�The future of design lies in it’s ability to make a positive contribution to the transformation of economies in the developing world�

Stephen Burks - designer

�Sustainable design is a democratic thought which means a sustainable society with equal opportunity and participation for all people�

Kristina Sahlqvist - lector/HDK

Sustainable design in the shape of ancient signs with the future ahead of them.

The question is if the letter is not the most democratic of all of mans inventions.

My letters are yours. The letters you use are the exact same as the ones I use.

The letters you are now reading are the same kind of the letters as your friends – and foes – use daily.

The letters belong to all of us, yet they belong to no one.

Our letters are not numerous, 27, 28 or 29 depending on which language you’re expressing yourself in.

So few, and yet many enough for you to express your innermost feelings in writing.

It may be an opinionated text for the letters to the editor column of your local newspaper, thoughts drafted for the benefit of future family, words from your heart, meant only for your private diary, an appeal or a cry for help from the world around one, or simply notes to self: Milk, cheese, toilet paper, eggs, hard bread. The letters come in handy then too.

Thanks for the word. But without the letters the word couldn’t take shape. Hadn’t been visible, not been free for each and everyone to interpret. Thanks and praise to these free words which, without the letters, could not be printed.

A-Ö, are unusually well functioning visual battons, as made to spread thoughts, research results and the word of mouth - from generation to generation, in the shape of the written word. Messages that for thousands of years has been preserved and has developed with the help of letters, perhaps our most timeless textbook case of sustainable design.

In journals and books you meet the letters in print, ”flat”, or two dimensional.

Here however I have let the letter take a three dimensional shape, transformed the otherwise flat signs inte sculptures. You cannot only see their outer shapes but also look into the signs. Look far into the corners of the letter, just as if you had X-ray vision.

Imagine if you with the same eyes could look not just at the letter but also at the human. Could see not just the outer shapes, but also her inner qualities.

HC Ericson HCE is a professor in graphic design and also the creator of the 3-dimensional and designpatent alphabet ABCHCE.

Sustainable design “Every design ought to be Sustainable design, meaning something people refuse to trash.”

“One could talk a lot about the ecological side of design therefore sustainable design and one must not forget it’s a political issue. But I would argue whatever we produce it pollutes our environment in one-way or the other. So for me, real sustainable design is the design that people will cherish and keep it for generations to generations.”

“Sustainable design is the one that is appropriate design; keepingvery many issues in view and addressing those issues in the best possible way in a given situation. I really hope this doesn’t become another buzz word.”

Satyendra Pakhale Cultural nomad and designer

Timelessness – what does it really mean?

You will find it in reports from design and furniture exhibitions, in descriptions in shop catalogues, in articles in professional as well as popular magazines: the timeless object. There appears however to be little accord on meaning. An article in Blueprint a few years ago featured the new library in Alexandria and the Norwegian architects behind, Snohetta and described them as having ‘an elemental empathy with their surroundings’, which is explained as ‘their designs connection with the earth’. This, claims the author of the article, is what makes ‘the vastly overused’ word timelessness suitable to describe the quality of their buildings: connection with the earth has replaced ‘anything so superficial as styling’. This description made a friend of mine reflect: he would not interpret timeless this way and would moreover suggest the work of Snohetta as rather being contemporary, creative and futuristic.

Not only is it obvious that there are numerous everyday interpretations of timeless, but the phenomenon has moreover important connotations beyond its popular meaning. Although philosophical, timelessness is frequently applied to objects: there are various suggestions concerning the properties of a timeless object in literature and popular publications, but there is no apparent unanimity on how to realise these characteristics.

The approach to sustainable development has broadened, but the impact of the immaterial properties of objects needs to be further explored.

What makes some objects retain their significance over time and in a changing human context?

Analyses of literature makes it evident that the discourse on sustainability, including system thinking, has an apparent focus on material characteristics, though there is nothing implicating opposition to an expanded view comprising immateriality! On the other hand, there are indications that the ambiguity of timelessness and related notions, including how the judgment is formed, causes confusion for designers pursuing longevity in objects.

It is thus time to address this ambiguity and introduce directions, which would allow designers to consider the immaterial qualities of objects when designing and thereby promote a more profound holistic approach to sustainability and sustainable design.

In my doctoral research, I took on the challenge trying to formulate well-founded directions. My thesis embarked on a deconstruction of timelessness, resulting in the phenomenon being conceptualised as affective sustainability, and subsequently explored through three applications. These initiated new lines of inquiry and allowed for the thesis to summarise the key findings of the research.

The study concludes that affective sustainability is considered to be a lived experience. Re-considering sustainability and rethinking time, tradition, aesthetics and perception facilitate comprehension of affectively sustainable objects: a designer has to use intuitive judgements but to reach beyond the personal these have to be balanced by the verbal visualisation of thoughts and the study of un-reflected human behaviour outside laboratory settings.

My emphasis on the unconscious and un-reflected needs some further explanation. It is well-known that people unconsciously use metaphors to express their wishes: a ‘wooden gate’ might well be a way of saying ‘a welcoming gate’. IKEA experienced this in their Bo-Klok project, which stirred confusion. The fact that we also behave differently and very reflected in artificial settings, like when we participate in experiments

and surveys, is causing flaw when it comes to the interpretation of the results of these investigations. Most of our everyday acts are more thoughtless than we normally consider and the objects that surround us ought consequently to be designed for these acts rather than to extrapolate those we perform in less natural settings. These findings are as such not very surprising, but they do set limits to some of the recent ways of designing for durable attachment: i.e. user-centred and participatory design s well s personalised products.

Emotionally durable design and the design of pleasurable products are both aims to go beyond environmentalism and point to other components as vital for sustainable design. With hindsight and closer analysis neither of these approaches escapes the problem of risking sustaining the unsustainable. Emotions are reflected, they have an apparent cognitive component, pairing the affective and the motor, and are thus susceptible to rapid change. Furthermore, to judge which pleasures will give long-lasting satisfaction has always been a challenging task as they in turn are influenced by fashion: they are not necessarily responding to wellbeing but rather to desires and well-living, which are to be found well outside Maslow’s need pyramid.

The good news is that these different approaches stand for recognition of individual well-being as a precondition for sustainable design, it has become more human-centred than eco-centred. Early approaches suggested that sustainable design as such gave satisfaction to the user: knowing that a product did not contribute to mismanagement of the world’s resources made it automatically beautiful. I am not suggesting that these types of products do not induce a sensation of ‘I feel good’, but this does not warrant how long this feeling will last. We have a tendency to shelf products, more or less consciously, if they do not care for us in the meaning of adding something positive to our life beyond reflection.

The approach, which currently comes closest to a holistic approach, is co-design as it comprises economic, environmental, socio-cultural and individual forms of well-being. Unfortunately, the crucial role of the affective is very little explored in current models, neither what concerns the individual or the interaction within the system.

We will continue to use, or even overuse, the expression timeless, ask for timelessness in design and mean different things: simplicity, a certain style, particular forms, in harmony with nature and surroundings and more.

We will not necessarily imply that we personally would like to live with this object ‘forever’ or see it being around ‘eternally’. Moreover, by denominating an object timeless we are not saying that this object cares for us, adds to our individual well-being or that we feel attach to it.

On the other hand we might mean just this if the object also is affectively sustainable!

Kristina Börjesson PhD, Research Associate Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design References: Börjesson, I.K.B. (2006) The Affective Sustainability of Objects; a search for causal connections.

PhD thesis. The University of the Arts London.

Chapman, J. (2005) Emotionally Durable Design. Objects, Experiences & Empathy. London: Earthscan Chapman, J. & Gant, N. (2007) Designers, Visionaries + Other Stories. A collection of sustainable design essays. London: Earthscan.

Datschefski, E. (2001) The Total Beauty of Sustainable Products. Hove: RotoVision.

Dunn, K. (2004) Northern exposure – Company Town. Blueprint, No 216, pp.49-51.

Fulton Suri, J. (2005) Thoughtless Acts. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Jordan, P.W. (2000) Designing Pleasurable Products. London: Taylor & Francis.

Wilson, T.D. (2002) Strangers to Ourselves. Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.

”If you can imagine living with something all your life – it is sustainable design!”

Ann Wåhlström - designer

”Sustainable design – products and services designed, produced and sold in a way that creates a better world worth living in” Kajsa Bengtsson - PR manager and business coach/Minc

”There is no business to be done on a dead planet” Jonas Pinzke - brand experience

”Can we do this indefinetly ?”

Olof Kolte - lecturer/LTH

”Is there an option?”

Stefan Fallgren - design coordinator/Region Skåne

WHAT ROLE HAS DESIGN PLAYED

SOURCE my daughter, who is 4 and a half years old, can already recognize hundreds of brands. but she doesn’t know that water comes from the sky, unless it rains. and she doesn’t know that it comes from the ground, even when it forms a stream....she is only four years old, so she thinks water comes from supermarkets........she thinks that it comes in bottles. with some embarrassment i have to tell her that this is not entirely true. so to teach my daughter about where water comes from, we went high into the mountains. we walked along streams with river beds made from black rocks while angry dark grey clouds rained on our heads......we saw dark holes from which fresh water sprang, drilled deep into the earth.....this was very curios, but very mysterious for her - so she still thinks that water comes from the supermarket. with some embarrassment i have to tell her that this is not true.

”Sustainable design is the responsible use of resources - the pleasure of simplicity and walking lightly on the land” Tim Power - architect

IN WHERE HUMANITY IS TODAY? I have been reflecting lately on 20 years ago or so, when a major discussion amongst designers was something like this; ‘design must reach into every aspect of life, everything must be designed, design must be everywhere’........

But now that ‘Design Is Everywhere, For Everybody, All The Time’, i would like to ask if our condition is better or worse than 20 years ago? Are there examples or regions in the world where ‘design’ has produced a better society, and others where ‘design’ has done little more than polluting the social or eco-system? What role has design played in where humanity is today?

I’ve got a few thoughts to share, and would love to hear yours.....

”The Sustainability Way Rules – all and everything else will erode!”

Claes Foxerus - design management

�A unique attribute to design as a is not to create desirability, but the desirability with time. Good design Jens Martin Skibsted - ideation and innovation

development strategy attempt to sustain this is sustainable per se�

�The sustainability heritage amidst th of global change a Kristina Dryza - trend forecaster

of cultural e backdrop nd modern life�

[Introduction sustainable innovation]

Food for Thought We are making progress. Raw materials do no longer have to become depleted. Great opportunities for renewable materials are opening up, provided we are smart enough to recognize the chances. A Chinese car made of bamboo? The idea may sound a bit weird, but technically, it is definitely possible. The material can be reused once the car has mechanically broken down. The key issue is in which ways the innovative use of existing materials should be able to contribute effectively to a more sustainable society. What developments in the field of material innovation seem to become the directional trend for the future?

The new ecomaterials comprise various development processes.

Biocomposites, such as the combination of biopolymers (PLA) with natural fibres, will in time be able to replace synthetic polymers. Other developments concern extremely strong lightweight materials that can be used for industrial products and means of conveyance, such as aluminium sandwich panels, extremely sustainable synthetic composites, and technical ceramics. The production of these materials requires much energy but measured throughout their entire life cycle they can save huge amounts of energy.

There are great opportunities for renewable materials containing non-wood natural fibres. Products such as MeadowBoard TM, Pacificboard, Shortstraw, Heraflax, Thermo-Hanf, Cantiva, all made of ordinary grasses, wheat, flax, or hemp, are like hidden powers winning ground slowly but surely. These materials have a broad range of potential applications in buildings, furniture, and fashion. And what’s more, the raw materials are available in Europe, which means a reduction of the transport costs and higher proceeds for the growers, who are already working under great pressure as it is.

Natural materials from so-called renewable resources such as flax, hemp, wood, cotton, and potatoes have the capacity to be replenished through natural processes such as sun and water, producing new plants that can absorb CO2, hence the term ‘renewable’. The advantage of these materials is that they do not contain fossil (petroleum-based) resources.

By the combustion of fossil materials, CO2 (carbon dioxide) is released, one of the gasses that cause the greenhouse effect. The burning of renewable resources also emits certain amounts of CO2, but this is the gas absorbed at an earlier stage from the air by plants. The basic components are (plant) proteins, fibres, starch, oil, and oil derivatives such as bioethanol and additives such as plasticizers, flame retardants, and chemical aroma compounds.

The results of material innovation are already noticeable close to home.

Since 2005, the leading chain of Dutch supermarkets Albert Heijn, has been packing all biological non-cooled potatoes, vegetables, and fruit in crackling bioplastics made from potato starch. A special logo points out to the consumers that the packaging is biodegradable and can therefore be dumped in the vegetable, fruit and garden waste bin. An additional advantage is that the packaging is breathing, which keeps the products fresh for a longer period. After a trial period, the largest bread producer

in the Netherlands (with a market share of ten percent) will soon start using biodegradable window bread bags on a large scale.

The trade association of producers of bioplastics has for a year now carried out a market introduction project with support from the Senternovem Unique Opportunities Regulation. Corn cups were introduced at a number of large pop festivals: transparent plastic cups made from polylactid acid derived from agricultural products. These cups do not break and are therefore just what the concertgoers want: sustainable glasses.

One of the most recent inventions is Metabolix. This microbe produces in its cell wall in times of stress due to nitrogen shortage a substance that can be used for the production of plastic. Metabolix reduces our dependence on fossil resources. And that is a hot issue in our day and age when oil prices keep soaring and we just have to wait and see what the oil-producing countries are going to do about it.

Some developments are in fact old history. Out of sheer necessity, the value and suitability of materials that have been available to us for a very long time are emphasized. Now we have the knowledge to adjust these materials to the current standards. Take for instance the comeback of nettle cloth in the 21st century: the alternative (for it is equally strong) to cotton, linen, and silk, insulating and breathing to boot because of the stinging nettle’s hollow fibres. As early as the Middle Ages, the elite preferred nettle cloth to silk.

Part of the challenge lies in enhancing the acceptance of innovative materials among the public at large. This also involves the introduction of new aesthetic norms and values, with probably a trendsetting role for large international brands such as H&M, which has launched a collection featuring (once again) T-shirts made of biological cotton. The fact that frequent objections have been made to the higher costs involved may in this respect form a stumbling block. The costs are indeed higher in the short term, but when we are called to account for the costs of the greenhouse effect (aridity, sea level rise) the decision is made soon enough. For this to happen, however, we need a social, cultural, institutional, and political basis.

This basis has been enlarged considerably by the impact of Al Gore’s recent film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. The most important task for the coming years is to remove social and emotional impediments. Now that even cities compete for the lowest ecological footprint, the moment seems to have come for a change, also in legislation and regulations. The fact that in the USA and Europe between eighty to one hundred kilos of plastic are annually used per head of the population makes it abundantly clear that this a matter of great urgency. The use of plastic in China and India, together forming one-third of the world population, is currently five to ten kilos per year. The growth of prosperity in these countries will undoubtedly lead to an increased need for raw materials.

The automobile industry, one of the sectors that need large quantities of raw materials, can easily apply much larger quantities of renewable materials. Cars made of sheet material based on sunflowers and hemp in France, rattan in Malaysia, wheat in the USA, or bamboo in China. It is all feasible. What we now need is the drive to make use of all technical opportunities.

Natascha Drabbe is an architectural historian and expert on design with a specialization in sustainable design. She takes stock of the latest international developments in this field from her bureau Cultural Connections in Amsterdam.

She was the organizer of the travelling exhibition Re-f-use: sustainable design.

See alsi ndcc.nl and re-f-use.com.

�To make products environmentally sustainable they need to be both emotionally sustainable (appealing over time) and not be limited to not harm the environment but try to benefit the environment�

Joakim NorĂŠn - trend research

Love & lights

Spirit of Maya wants to inspire individuals to a holistic approach towards consumtion.

Understanding of fashion and design as a mean to spread a massage and an attitude. Spirit of Maya adress individuals who wants to care for their inner beauty. Take possition and show a responsibility for consumtion.

Spirit of Maya is constantly seeking to find the best materials and to ensure that the production is of highest possible moral.

Therefor we among other things use a cotton fiber called Colorganic, a natural coloured and ecological cotton fiber.

In hinduism the name Maya means illusion. Spirit of Maya interprets that as what we wear is the illusion behind the human, who is the truth.

�The ultimate in sustainable design are products etc. with a quality that makes you want to keep them forever�

MĂĽrten Knutsson - communication

”Transparency story: The citizen consumer now wants to know, ’Where has this product come from, what is it doing to me now and where is it going to?’ This changes everything going forward” Jody Turner - creating future culture/empowering consumer citizen

�Is economy of scale one of the biggest disasters for the planet?�

Steuart Padwick - founder Designbar

The real deal.

What business needs to know about the trend “authenticity” By: Katarina Graffman, Ph.D. Anthropology, founder of Trendethnography Ida Hult, Ma. Ethnology, founder of Trendethnography

Designers and product developers spend too much time producing items they think people want instead of what people need. Stop designing for your own sake. Good design works for people. Great design connects with them. You need to know how your audience generates meaning in their everyday lives.

That in the era when everyone creates and communicates and the eternal is long gone.

We live in a world of staged experiences. Our interaction is more and more mediated by technology. Our confidence in major social institutions has eroded and no meta story is still going strong creating an ever-growing perception of how “society” runs afoul of its purpose. We get lonely, distrustful and detect fakeness everywhere.

Lately however, the term authenticity seems to be resurfacing in the business community lingua. In this article we dissect this trend. As consumers increasingly look for something ‘real’ not fake, authenticity becomes a competitive advantage and a new business imperative. Is it possible to manage the value perception of authenticity? Is authenticity even up for creation?

Drivers for increased demand In a society where speed of consumption is prioritized before sustainability critical voices are raised. More and more consumers with critical minds buy-cott rather than boycott. The demand for the sustainable increases as energy prizes are on the rise and the climate change becomes evident for all in the global village. Everything that damages our planet is regarded as un-authentic. The great challenge is to develop new ways for us to live accordingly. Undermining mankind’s way of life is no solution.

It’s hard telling if it is the concern for the environment, for future generations, for health, happiness or the personal finances that drives the trend forward. The effect however is pointing in one direction only: a booming market for sustainable design. The authenticity trend opens more doors for sustainable design yet sustainability only holds one definition of authentic value. Authenticity always runs the risk of waxing nostalgic. But the trend is not about longingly looking back but moving forward in new ways. So how will the trend authenticity affect the future? What does it stand for?

When talking about the authentic many mix it with the notion of ‘the real’.

The term real however is more superficial, a term without soul. The ‘real’ can be defined as follows:

1. Social constructions of the ’real’, mainly constructed by media and different power structures.

2. Someone standing as a guarantee for the ‘real’, maybe a chef at a restaurant, a TV host, a politician or maybe a designer. ‘Real’ people is people with an authentic vibe.

3. The created ’real’, mostly brands or communication. The created can be ‘real real’ or ‘fake real’ and is context dependent.

Authenticity carries more complex connotations than the word ‘real’.

An authentic feeling or experience symbolizes inner harmony and emotional satisfaction. The definition of authenticity may include consumers concern about the ethical and honest behaviour of companies, i.e CSR. It also contains the urgent need for the natural, the simple, the local and the sustainable. Unspun communication and the longing for stories and histories are factors that tie in with an urge for the imperfect three-dimensional.

The authenticity-strive is mainly an effect of the things we miss in modern society.

Modern life: Project Identity Simply stated: modernity is about trusting what we create, not what we become heir to. In modern life identity is something we create, not something we inherit. As time changes faster our concepts of self is liberated from origin, place and history. We identify ourselves less from goods produced and more with items consumed. As anthropologist Mikael Kurkiala says: “Our Gods are permitted, our rites forgotten, our myths replaced with docusoaps”.

The famous sociologist Zygmunt Bauman states that we feel alone as we experience the dismantling of unity and eternity. The sustainable and the eternal is long gone in the modern project even though it used to be mankind’s earlier strive for meaning. Back then, we believed that our short time here on earth would be prolonged for eternity within a higher power.

Today, life is just s short series of non-consistent moments. Nations are experienced as unstable and constructed. Companies and product exist for shorter amount of time. Trends shift faster. Brands change as often as consumer changes underwear.

It’s your personal resume that matters, not how you act in society or treat your neighbour. ”People no longer have a sense of a higher purpose, of something worth dying for”, according to the philosopher Charles Tyler.

People focus on their own perfect life resulting in serious meaning-shortage. No wonder compassion and social interest decreases.

’Real’ or authentic people In modern society young people build upon brands to create identity. The range of brands used for the identity projects stretch from global giants like Nike and Converse to smaller local brands like Cheap Monday and Odd Molly. Identity by branding is more connected with the “real” than with the “authenticity” issue.

“Sustainable design gives an authentic value to the consumer” Katarina Graffman - ethnographer

The authentic mind shy away from brands since they want to build identity on loose parts rather than comply with items and emblems already charged with meanings. Brands are thought about like constructed shortcuts, i.e. fake. To build a trustworthy brand a company needs to already be looked upon as solid by their target audience. Today branding is having a social mission, actually do something. Basically all advertising focus on what they want to say instead of communicating a feeling. Everything needs to go together: the story behind the product, the design of it and the company overall picture.

The creation of an authentic self is about defining oneself differently.

As media, advertising and brands build images of who the consumer wants to be and what to buy accordingly, other channels for identity input turn significant. The drive for authenticity is something deeper than buying ’real’ brands, it’s about values and ethical standpoints. The inner-directed people are growing in numbers in the modern world. This authenticity driven movement influence the market in new ways.

The converted no-frills chic More often than not, the authentic is about the emotional. The authentic food we are eating does not have to be luxurious to be experienced as authentic whereas goods that used to be deluxe and a treat for few becomes more common. Today the prize gap narrows and there is a wider range of choices. The currency is not always money but time, experiences and emotions as well.

The longing for authentic things, people and experiences are on the rise which results in polarization between the authentic and the fake. The split is connected to the currency used which varies with situation.

A consumer is willing to pay for authenticity in one moment but not in another. The rational mind, the economical side, goes for the most financially pleasing, especially if the quality is almost the same. Consumers that are well off tend to go for the more authentic alternative. But, in other situations even people with less means go for something that feels authentic because “they’re worth it”.

The beautiful and fair for example creates values that increase meaningfulness. Beauty is an important part of authenticity since it charges places and situations with that special one-of-a-kind-feel, uniqueness. The architect in charge for British Government’s Urban Task Force, was constantly advised to leave out words like beautiful and harmonic in sketches and descriptions. They wanted to use the more objective term ‘good design’.

But really, a building without beauty is a construction in the same way as music without beauty is just a noise. Beauty cannot be measured and is therefore difficult to value. Beauty is subjective and difficult to deliver with return policy.

The authenticity split will remain; polarizing consumer behaviors due to context. It is evident that you either go for quality or mass production; you go for soul or the general idea. For example; when it comes to food one

either chooses ecological or locally produced or cheap canned good without story or localization. It’s a logical process depending on what currency you use in that certain moment. More irrational is the behavior around and close to the authentic. You fly to Copenhagen to buy designer shoes designed in an environment friendly process.

The emotional and the rational are both drivers of consumption – the context is king.

Constants and breaking points The conception of authenticity is ever changing and moving. It has become the modern kaleidoscope constantly creating new patterns. But as well as the kaleidoscope only works within its frames so does authenticity define itself toward the constant commercialism.

The commercial is experienced as fake whereas non-commercial activities are regarded authentic. Just look at the different connotations carried by Christmas sale and Christmas market or by Liquor store and Winery Boutique. All of these are places that include commerce but one is personalized and authentic the other is fake and anonymous. In other words: much more important than defining the authentic is to find the breaking point.

This is the key – once you locate these points of cultural and social white spaces- authenticity will crystallize itself. Since the concept is always on the move it is not useful to define authentic occasions or products because that will change in a split second.

The most important thing for those who want to act authentic is to define what authenticity means in different consumer groups or in different places. With that knowledge it is possible to connect to the emotional forces in the consumers mind and build a long and sustainable relationship.

Ethnography and design Design research at its best helps designers to create landscapes of possibility for social life, not products for users. Building ethnography into the design process is about making useful things no one knew they needed.

Ethnography informs design by revealing how people make sense of their world. For a long time design research was twisted towards usability testing. Nowadays the appeal of ethnography to design is the recognition and appreciation of the social circumstances in which products are deployed.

Authenticity should be claimed as the purview of innovation. Innovation requires exploring outside of our personal habits and values with the most important approach being the flipping around exploring from the other’s point of view. Go native, as anthropologists say. Authenticity is not about managing perception; it’s about engaging in the pursuit of it. Design is problem solving, but the problem always comes in a context. Go native!

The vision is that all of our colours will be water solvable.

All paint is made with some kind of solvant who’s function is to make the paint paintable and then evaporate.

The solvant has hence no part in the quality of the remaining paint.

Traditionally most colours have contained organic solvants which are dangerous both to humans and to our environment. Therefor a big part of our environmental work focus on substituting these harmful solvants.

Thanks to persistent product development and new materials we have suceeeded to develop paint that solves with plain water. In 2005 80% of our paints were water solvable. The goal is that 99% of the entire sales will be water solvable by the year 2010.

We work very hard and focused on reducing the environmental influence from our entire company. In our Stockholm factory we have for example improved the environmental issue by eliminating the discharge of naphta aswell as the risque of fire due to firehazardous solvants and the energy consuming air incinerating installation has been has been discontinued.

During the spring of 2006 we decided to move the swedish production from Stockholm to our central warehouse in Nykvarn, just outside of Södertälje. We will then be rid of the 4 mile long journey each tin of paint has yet made. We also have a fantastic opportunity to build a modern factory with the best qualities from an environmental aspect. The new factory, which will produce only water solvable paint, is expected to be up and running in 2008.

”Design is probably the most underrated factor of all when trying to improve sales of traditional products” Jan Wifstrand - journalist

�Quality is always sustainable�

Thomas Sandell - designer and architect

As we gear up for Designboost in Malmö, the debate over some of the issues to be raised rage on in the blogosphere. At a range of events throughout 2007, the talk has been of an industry on the back foot due to issues including technological acceleration and a new ‘Self-Obsessed Consumer’ who is connected, creative and questioning. With consumers no longer being a captive audience to the world of advertising, we’ve moved from the age of interruption to the age of engagement and from a passive consumer to an active one. It’s generally agreed that a whole new mind-set is therefore needed in the way the marcoms industry creates and develops creative work and how they plan their media, etc.

TV may still be the king of the marketing mix- albeit it in a hugely expensive way - as an infamous ‘marketing factoid’ has it, in the US 20 years ago an advertiser could reach 80% of the population with just three TV commercials; now it would take 150 ads to do the same thing. In our timepoor culture the 30-second ad is still the most intense, multi-layered way of telling you about a product; and yes, mass-media will always be with us because shared experience is so fundamentally important. But while the (occasional) standard of advertising may be sky-high, advertising per-se is suffering because of the sheer amount of it, the lack of innovation within traditional advertising formats and the power that media fragmentation and technology give consumers to tune out the ‘buzz’. Advertising has been reduced – or elevated depending on your point of view – to pure gloss, where image is the only answer in a ‘product-sated society’.

Traditional advertising is therefore a high-risk zone – a swift look at the race by those like Interpublic, Omnicom and WPP etc to grab every possible share of the (still) rapidly growing design, research, guerrilla and digital sectors show us that innovation in all areas of brand communication is the only way forward. It’s in the successful marriage of creativity and technology that the success of future marcoms campaigns will be found, where media and discipline-neutral thinking lead the way.

Meanwhile, client-side marketers are desperate for information on where to gain clear information on (and how to re-connect with) the ‘soul of the new consumer’. So where to turn for inspiration when journalists, financial analysts and shareholders alike point to structural societal issues like situational consumption & hypermobility, and ongoing trends like ‘brands under the spotlight’ the ‘US backlash’ and ‘localisation’ etc and ask ‘so where is your brand connecting?’ The likes of MySpace, Second Life, YouTube, Flickr and Bebo have exploded into the lives of consumers on a

global basis, showing that ‘communities of interest’ are THE obsessional talking point in the marketing community today.

One of the major catalytic points for brand development is the overlap where the breakdown of the institutions, the plethora of life choices and the impact of a digitally connected society meet. The marketing of culture and the culture of marketing have long kept academics busy (John Seabrook wrote an excellent book of the same name), but a really interesting issue posed time and again is ‘who owns the brand’?

Consumer power is – finally – a very real fact of life for brand teams and agencies alike where digital marketing, branded content, brand stories, PR, design & word of mouth marketing have linked up to mean that the consumer really is in control. Some shy away from this and recoil when consumers get too close to the gates of the company, but others – particularly media brands – have given as much control over to consumers as possible (i.e consumer generated media and consumer use of existing content as supplied by the BBC) and have benefited massively as a result.

The brand, agency and consumer therefore meet where core brand values connect and consumers are only too pleased to link with others via ‘their’ brand and the ‘actual’ brand gains massively as a result.

We’ve heard a lot recently about brands leveraging the power of media via permission based activity. The old adage that the (increasingly ineffective) interruption based advertising model would change only when consumers had the opportunity to choose when & how to be targeted by advertisers has moved on another step with DIY media, linked with mobile based, instant messaging technology.

Regarding specific ‘routes in’, Tom Himpe identifies four key driving forces to help brands getting closer to the modern consumer in his book ‘Advertising is Dead – Long live Advertising’: 1. Proximity – Basically ‘be personal’ where the medium essentially evaporates and brands either step into the consumers own world i.e. by reallife brandetainment or by inviting consumers into the brands’ own world online.

2. Exclusivity – or ‘Go where the competition isn’t’. The Holy Grail for marcoms remains an exclusive, uncluttered environement specifically suited to their profile. Yet conventional advertising formats are loud, essentially uncontrolled and over-crowded places. In just the same way that companies pay to be ‘exclusive-sponsors’ of big events, they’re now doing the same

”The ’sustainability question’ is a profound one - that it’s regularly being asked on a global basis makes it of vital interest to anyone interested in the answer ’Good Business is...Good Business’”

with ‘new’ media opportunities. ‘Exclusivity is power’ as they say.

3. Invisibility – or moving the brand to the background. If consumers (via PVR’s or simply the off-button) are ‘tuning out’ from traditional advertising because it’s so (literally) predictable, then advertising that works is often advertising that…doesn’t look, sound or appear to be like…advertising.

4. Unpredictability. Catching consumers off guard, using genuinely unpredictable media, leads to interest, interaction and cuts through the potential cynisicsm of jaded consumers.

Whilst specific techniques also identified by him are…

Intrusion Transformation Installation Illusion Infiltration Sensation Interaction The above, of course, can be linked by mobile marketing – which many forecast to overtake online marketing activity, sooner rather than later.

Another issue which really had conference’s talking throughout ’07 has been Chris Anderson’s book ‘The Long Tail’. Real furore surrounded the impact his views of the way mass consumption is generated via digital retail where niche interest items sell to the masses - effectively ‘mass to mass’ rather than ‘small-niche to mass’ as is found in ‘real life’ retailers who depend on the economics of scarcity.

But how do brands target what we’re told are ‘new’ consumer groups?

By waking up to a new way of thinking that rejects old-style demographic modelling to a new era where cluster groups can be identified via shared interests, passions and activities – often illustrated via ‘favourites’ on their Mac or PC. Thus all this ‘encouraging’ peer to peer activity via interactive technology engages consumers in ways that marketers of only five years ago would hardly believe.

So - what we’re seeing is a revolution in adland, which is being forced at gunpoint to deal with issues like the rapidly increasing ability of brands to finally communicate effectively via mobile technology, the rise & rise of branded content on TV or via video-games, live event ‘brandetainment’, guerrilla marketing and PR-led campaigns; all are the areas of marketing where the excitement lies, and all are mutating rapidly in an era where ‘brand amplification’ is where it’s at.

Sean Pillot de Chenecey - research and brand development

marketplace where media channels have proliferated beyond anyone’s expectation. Brands are forcing their agencies to welcome and harness the power of an immersive and engaging media environment to create a world of content that consumers draw on as and when they choose. Not that this means that mainstream marketing is over – far from it – but what a range of keynote thinkers in the industry agree on is that what’s required now more than ever from agencies is a ‘big idea’ to glue all the wildly varying elements of a multi-disciplined campaign together, where what is needed is a big over-arching ‘big ideal’, supported by a brilliantly original, central thought driven through all its communications. These multi-disciplined campaigns can include guerrilla, stealth, ambush, buzz, viral, grassroots, wildfire and ambient marketing.

So…what of the future? As Roderick White (editor of Admap) put it when discussing the future of marcoms ‘some issues will run and run – we’ll still be trying to understand consumers better and generate usable insights for marketing, and the input from new sciences and theories will continue to provoke new responses from marketers. At present, neuroscience is leading to frantic re-thinking about how we communicate with consumers, whether as ‘targets’ or as ‘research subjects’. What it also means is that from a consumer point of view, access to ‘exactly what I want’ content, when it’s wanted and how it’s wanted just got a whole lot easier – putting them very much in a real position of power.

The last 40 years have seen the industrialised world pass though at least two phases of Mary Goodyears’s classic marketing hierarchy sequence, and emerge into a post-modern era in which the old certainties of the advertising business have had to be re-appraised in the face of highly sophisticated consumers and a growing realisation that it really is, in fact, among consumers that the power genuinely lies and where customercentric marcoms are absolutely vital.

Marketers who ignore this emergent truth do so at their peril. Design has an immensely ever-more important role to play in this brave new world, and and it’ll be cutting edge thinking on these and other emerging issues that we’ll be discussing in Malmö in October!.

See you at the bar…

The above comms trends all illustrate a move towards building synergies where past consumer/brand relationships were breaking down, helping brand messages to cut through the clutter of a disrupted and fragmented

Sean Pillot de Chenecey www.captaincrikey.com

Social responsibility

Thule is a company that operates across the globe and increasingly in emerging markets in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. Wherever we go we apply the same Code of Conduct which has been in place since 2004.

The respect for co-workers and the environment is part of the Scandinavian heritage of the company. Wherever Thule is located we are engaged in the local social life, either through sponsoring of community activities or actively participating in the daily life of the community. For Thule it is the small steps on a daily base that make the difference.

We are also encouraging our managers to actively strive for a balance between work and family. Going on vacation is as important as exercising together with colleagues during working hours or being involved in activities for the kids.

The majority of our operations are dedicated assembly units which means Thule has no heavy industrial process (with the exception of snow chain making) to pay attention to. Workers’ safety is nevertheless a top priority throughout the Group and is continuously reviewed and improved both in self assessments and through internal revisions Anders Pettersson CEO Thule group

”Design that takes as a starting point, that respects, supports and inspires good and sound relationships between people, and between humans and nature” Mathilda Tham - Guest professor in Fashion/Beckmans Designhögskola, Lecturer in Eco-design/Goldsmiths College

Current knowledge on the topic of CO2 CO2 stands for carbon dioxide. This colourless and odourless gas is a natural component of air. Most of the CO2 in the air is produced by humans and the cellular respiration of other living things. A further proportion is produced by the complete combustion of carbon-containing raw materials. The reduction of CO2 emissions is one topic in the current debate on climate protection. The reason for this is that CO2 absorbs part of the heat radiated by the sun, which causes the greenhouse effect and in turn the warming of the earth’s atmosphere.

Facts about CO2 emissions According to the German Institute for Economic Research, around 68 percent of all CO2 emissions in Germany are produced by industry and power stations. Cars are responsible for producing around 12 percent.

During the period from 1990 to 2005, the German automotive industry has succeeded in reducing the CO2 emissions produced by its vehicle range by as much as 25 percent. To reduce emissions even further, the EU currently aspires to introducing an emission threshold of 130 g/km.

CO2 emissions in vehicles The CO2 emissions from vehicles are governed directly by the fuel consumption. Compared with petrol, diesel is slightly more disadvantageous in terms of CO2 emissions. The lower consumption, however, balances this out again. Basically speaking, three factors influence the level of CO2 emissions, these being a driver’s individual style of driving, vehicle technologies and transport systems.

Holistic concept at Audi Vorsprung durch Technik is a commitment. At present, no other automotive manufacturer implements a holistic concept as consistently as Audi. As the pioneer of numerous technologies, Audi represents a clear stance on the topic of CO2. Factual argumentation and responsible, eco-conscious behaviour help promote a sustainable form of mobility.

Environmental protection with a long tradition Environmental protection enjoys a long tradition at Audi. A tradition that we pass on to our customers: with cars that help to protect the environment thanks to their innovative technology. Through economical fuel consumption, a long service life and the use of eco-friendly materials.

Without the customer having to forfeit performance, comfort or safety

�Products designed to last, in terms of product quality and timeless design is not necessarily always what the consumer wants�

Jens Pamp - design and brand management

”Sustainable design will spur unimaginged creativity and be the second Industrial revolution” Christina Cheng - concept development

”The design process is an effective tool for change and designers are the link between manufacturers and consumers.

They can influence how social, environmental and economic criteria are integrated into a product’s design, manufacture, marketing and communication.”

Ewa Kumlin - managing director/Svensk Form

”The ability of design to nurture people, planet and profit” Sanjoo Malhotra - project manager/business development

”Sustainable design should mean a long lasting design that makes sense for its environmental, social and economic impact” Oliver Ike - entrepreneur

”Hopefully we will reach a point in the near future when the phrase ’sustainable design’ becomes an unnecessary tautology and all design becomes not only sustainable but also beneficial to society” Nick McLean - entrepreneur and photographer

Furniture for the digital depot of the Boymans van Beuningen Museum Museum collections sometimes resemble living creatures: they grow. In the new digital depot of the Boymans van Beuningen Museum this is apparent. By means of digital presentations it is possible for visitors to acquaint themselves with the entire museum collection. There is for example a projected digital data cloud, constructed from small balls each representing an object of art. They make the sheer size of the collection palpable. There are also projection screens zooming in on the world behind an object of art.

The six seating elements in the digital depot are designed by Rene Veenhuizen and Tejo Remy. The units invite visitors to sit down, rest or look around. What attracts the attention immediately is that the units are different in size. Starting point for this design was the idea that the museum expanded like a body. Subsequently the idea arose to let the seating units originate through cell division: by means of connecting the same basic element (a tennis ball) over again, the units represent organisms in different stages of growth. Depending on size, the units offer seating capacity from 2 to several visitors.

Although the material has probably never been used for furniture before, it appears to be made for this purpose. The tennis ball not only has an appropriate molecule like shape, it is also soft on the outside. The upholstery of the seating unit is therefore already enclosed in the smallest part of the unit, the ball itself.

Tejo Remy and Rene Veenhuizen were commissioned by among others, Boymans van Beuningen museum, Central Museum in Utrecht, Fondiazione L’ Arte Teseco Pisa, Kossmann and De Jong exhibition architects and De Appel Amsterdam. Their products are included in the collections of Droog Design and Mobach.

The Boymans van Beuningen Museum and Kossmann and De Jong exhibition architects commissioned the furniture for the digital depot.

Tejo Remy en Rene Veenhuizen

�In the problem-solving work as a designer I work for solid development by making the right choices of material, high quality in function and expression, the best production pattern to offer a durable product available for many people�

Nina Jobs - designer

Can a fence become a meetingpoint and/or a place for staying?

The answer is in the commission of Remy and Veenhuizen.

They transformed a part of an existing fence to lounge- and sittingspots for the students. Their first thoughts were about adding nothing to the schoolyard. Instead of that, they used an existing element and put that trough a transformation. They came up with the idea to transform the existing fence into a meetingplace, to go away from the negatively experienced fence. A distortion of the existing rhythm creates these meetingplaces on both sides of the fence. The work, that covers five fence parts joins the existing Heras fence in terms of measurements and colour.

The project was completed in 2003/2004 this project came along with The primary school “ Het Noorderlicht’ in Dortdrecht Artcouncil Centrum Beeldende Kunsten Dortdrecht Tejo Remy and Rene Veenhuizen

�I would hope that still we would believe that individuals who join together can make the world a better place, like Jesse Jackson once�

Ilkka Suppanen - designer

Partners: Sponsors 5 star Above Audi Fälth & Hässler Lars Andersson SAS Radisson Scandvision Sydsvenskan Thule

Friends

Alcro Artecnica Biomega Disk God el HC Ericson Iittala Iren Kullander/Apple Mater Spirit of Maya Tejo Remy Tom Dixon Råvara Svensk Form Sveriges Designer SVID Swedish design Award

Schools

180 Academy Beckmans college of design HDK/School of Design and Crafts Hyper Island K3/Malmö University LTH/Lund University Oslo National Academy of the Arts University college of Borås

Founders

Founders of Designboost are Peer Eriksson and David Carlson together with City of Malmö and Region Skåne.

Peer Eriksson works with his own communication agency, Peer Communication. David Carlson is the founder of David Design and today works as a consultant with design and brand development issues and also has an internet based trend report, the David Report.

- It’s important to look upon things from a new perspective and be given a push forward, which is exactly what the word boost means. When it comes to sustainable design it’s likely that things need to be questioned.

Since the world is constantly changing and the maps rewritten it’s impossible to sit around and wait, says Peer Eriksson.

-There are plenty of design events in Sweden. We want to create a different and unique arrangement that will function as a creative arena and meeting point that gathers people, companies, organisations, institutions and schools that all work with design, in one way or another, David Carlson says.

BOOST SHOW An exhibition about susta inable des ign

19/10 – 17/11 Opening 19/10 kl 12:00

The Designboost exhibition, or Boost show as we prefer to call it, will take place in a former cinema at Fridhemstorget in Malmö October 19th – November 17th. The Boost show will reflect on how we, with design, can create a sustainable future.

Normally when you talk about sustainable design, environmental issues are quite often the main ingredient. We would like to make a more open-minded definition. We have identified seven different themes that according to us is important in the definition of sustainable design. The themes, which all are part of the ”sustainable wheel” are environmental influence, innovation, affection/attachment, aesthetics, quality, authenticity, compatability will be visualized through both filmed interviews and products on display.

According to us, a product could be defined as sustainable flrst when it take all spokes of the ”sustainable wheel” in consideration.

OPEN WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY 12:00 – 18:00 SATURDAY-SUNDAY 12:00 – 16:00 FRIDHEMSTORGET 217 53 MALMÖ Partners: Fridhemstorget, 217 53 Malmö.

Peer Eriksson, peer@designboost.se 0705-336631 David Carlson, david@designboost.se 0707-982897