DESIGNING FOR A GREEN ECONOMY

I work on the principles of “Is Right, Looks Right”. It keeps my feet on the ground and takes me to places my imagination wouldn't have gone.

So what is right? At this critical point in time, the green economy is by far the most obvious and the most interesting rightness. Here design has two vital parts: reaching practical solutions and making them look irresistible. People's resistance to change will be the biggest challenge to a sustainable future.

The green solution is a holistic one. It should have not just one desirable outcome but as many beneficial effects as possible. How much pleasure can it bring to the user, the maker and those in the supply chain? And can the environmental effects be useful too? In finding the sweet spot between the numerous “functions” of use and making, an elegant core idea usually presents itself. In taking it forward, it’s good to think how the chosen materials would like to be used. Here being both a designer and a maker is invaluable.

Some products are still very much in development (for example solar panels and batteries) which for the time may be limited in their options, but most things in our physical world are not at a technical cutting edge. These things have been around for centuries and are open to infinite interpretations - they are the mainstays of our cultural identities. Cups and saucers, houses and chairs, almost everything that surrounds us. These things define our culture, as individuals and as a society. It’s not that we are running out of chairs, but reinterpreting them should keep our culture relevant and hopefully optimistic.