Can Good Design Help Save the World? 500 Colored Pencils Might Help

Photo via: Social Designer

Kristin at Novità Communications in Brooklyn asked design writers like me to “spread the word to the creative community” about a very cool competition from Felissimo and Social Designer. Here’s the design brief:

You create a one-minute video that shows or tells the story of something you believe is worth waiting for, or, from experience, something you had to wait for that was worth it in the end. The winner gets $500, plus a set of 500 Colored Pencils from Felissimo.

Deadline is March 16, so it’s time to get focused.

Felissimo is a subscription-based clothing and household goods company that believes good design promotes happiness and well-being, adding value to everyday life. Sounds a lot like Herman Miller. Says Felissimo: “We hope that our efforts will demonstrate our awareness of the power of design and our responsibility to take good design and use it to design good.”

When you order the 500 Colored Pencils, every month you receive a box of 25 new colors, from Drizzly Afternoon to Lobster Bisque, until you have a full, rich rainbow to draw from. For every 100 boxes of pencils sold, Felissimo donates a set to a UNESCO arts education program for underprivileged kids.

Felissimo created Social Designer, an online platform for customers, consumers, and designers to meet and participate in design for the greater good. It also helps promote meaningful causes by developing high-visibility design competitions for corporations and nonprofits.

A New Wave in Architecture

Aqua Tower, with its wavy exterior and Lake Michigan views, is open now in Chicago’s Lakeshore East community. For a fascinating perspective on the 82-story apartment/condo/office tower, and a profile of the architect, Jeanne Gang, of Studio Gang Architects, check out The New Yorker (Feb. 1, 2010 edition).

Aqua Tower is getting a wave of good reviews for many reasons, but its most obvious attribute is the undulating cantilevered balconies, which change slightly from floor to floor, forming a curvaceous façade that also shades apartments and protects the building and balcony sitters when Chicago’s hawk talks (that’s Chicagoan for “oooh, it’s so windy”). No two balconies are alike. There’s also a big rooftop garden. And LEED certification is being pursued.

Condos range from about $300,000 to $2 million; rents start around $1,500 per month.

Says The New Yorker, “It reclaims the notion that thrilling and beautiful form can still emerge out of the realm of the practical.” And it calls Gang an “anti-diva” for the building’s lack of conceit.
 
Some critics and bloggers complain, though, that the balconies are gimmicky ornaments disguising a traditional box structure. Indeed, The New Yorker notes Aqua is “an ordinary glass condo tower” turned into something exciting. What do you think? Let us know.

Photos via: Studio Gang Architects

Seven Questions for Industrial Designer Tom Newhouse

Tom Newhouse walks the environmental talk. From the earth-bermed, passive solar house and studio that he designed and built in 1978 to his recreational choices (kayaking, hiking, and snowshoeing—“all human-powered activities”), Tom has lived his ethos despite the shifting winds of fad and cultural consciousness. Sustainability is part of the “Four Corners Philosophy” of design from which he operates. According to Tom, products should be: aesthetically pleasing, sustainable, ergnomic, and cost-effective. Tom works primarily in the areas of home and office furniture, kitchens, and lighting. His most recent design for Herman Miller was the Flute personal light.

Here are seven questions for Tom Newhouse:
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Celebrating the Spirit of MLK Through Community Service

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Herman Miller employees gathered this week to paint soup bowls for the annual West Michigan Soup’s On For All (SOFA) fundraiser, which helps nourish families and individuals in the area. Proceeds benefit local food pantries, including Catholic Charities of West Michigan, Christian Community Center, God’s Kitchen, and Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry. All the bowls painted by volunteers will be given to participants at the event.

Herman Miller’s Black Inclusiveness Resource Team—one of seven employee networks that work to implement business recommendations for a diverse workplace—sponsored the bowl painting opportunity in cooperation with our Inclusiveness and Diversity Team.

Our employees displayed great artistic ability in the 98 bowls painted in one day. This was our way of recognizing MLK Day as a “day of action”—doing an activity that benefits the community.

Coretta Scott King sums up the spirit of the event well: “The greatest birthday gift my husband could receive is if people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds celebrated the holiday by performing individual acts of kindness through service to others.”

Reflecting on Martin Luther King: One Face, Many Voices

Last week I was part of a group of Herman Miller employees from various Inclusiveness Resource Teams (IRTs) who attended a luncheon honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as part of the annual Civil Rights Celebration Week at Hope College. It’s the fifth year in a row that Herman Miller has sponsored the event.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Lawrence J. Pijeaux, Jr., President and CEO, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Dr. Pijeaux’s presentation, “MLK and Birmingham: Turning Point of the Civil Rights Movement,” brought to mind that impactful and powerful movements are often attributed to an individual or at most a few individuals, when in reality it is the words and actions of many that lead to the resulting change. This is also true in the business world. The CEO or president of a company may set the strategy for its success, but it is the many employees who execute the strategy that make it a reality.

At Herman Miller, I have seen the impact of the average employee as we focus on our strategy to work for a better world. Our IRTs and Inclusiveness and Diversity team have expanded our awareness of the uniqueness of each individual through education programs, policy changes, and access to more resources. We have made amazing progress toward our environmentally-focused 2020 goals through the work of more than 400 employees. And our safety incident rate has steadily declined because of the decisions made every day by every employee.

“My Stuff” 2: Things That Matter to an Art and Design Student

I’m sure you’ve been wondering how things turned out with Emerson’s Art and Design Perspectives project I reported on a few weeks back–the one where he had to list, categorize, and analyze the environmental impact of every object he owns? Well, his final tally included nearly 1,200 discrete items. Here are some of his findings.

Only 21 percent of Emerson’s stuff was made in the United States. His apartment at the University of Michigan contains items that were made in 37 other countries. Paper is the most common material used to manufacture the things he owns (30 percent), followed by plastic (22 percent). The value of his possessions averages out to $24 per item or approximately 3 hours of Emerson’s time as determined by the pay rate of his summer job. As far as he was able to determine, 706 items–60 percent of the stuff he owns–are destined for a landfill.

Bottom line? “I have a lot of stuff,” Emerson writes in his final report. “The most important thing I can do is buy less stuff and to make sure that I know where the stuff I do buy comes from, what it’s made out of, and what implications it has for the environment and for human rights.”

Professor Trumpey gave him an “A.”

Sustainable Solutions: What Inspires You?

Poking around Metropolis Magazine’s website, reading about past winners of their Next Generation® Design Competition is not only interesting, it’s downright inspirational. Perhaps one of their stories will motivate you to enter the contest yourself. Better hurry, though. Entries are due January 29, 2010.

The 2008 victor, for example, San Francisco architect and teacher, Eric Olsen, based his prize-winning concept–a means of carrying and purifying water at the same time–on the saguaro cactus he observed as a boy growing up in the Nevada desert. Taking his cue from the cacti’s “pleats,” which is where they store water, he devised a lightweight, portable water tote that can be worn almost like a shawl by individuals, say, working in fields, while solar heat and ultraviolet radiation purify the water.

Called the Solar Water Disinfecting Tarpaulin, it’s quite an incredible invention and a potentially important one, too, considering that the lack of access to clean water is a major health problem for more than a billion people on our planet.

As one of the contest judges, architect Lance Hosey of William McDonough + Partners, said about Olsen’s project, “What’s brilliant…is that instead of making a better bucket, he reduced the challenge to its essence: how to get safe water.”

The Next Generation annual contest focuses on finding sustainable solutions that address today’s energy or environmental challenges, a cause that parallels Herman Miller’s environmental advocacy.

What do the winners get? A prize of $10,000, which they can put toward the development of their idea. What a great way to reward (and fund) people to stretch their minds, use their imaginations, and create innovative solutions for the real environmental problems we’re facing around the world. Good idea, no? Next year at this time you could be one of them.

The Bees in Winter: A Parable for Tough Times

If you haven’t already heard the story of Herman Miller’s wasp-defeating, wildflower pollinating, incredibly productive honey bees, you should check out this sweet video. If you know about the 24 busy hives located on the grounds of our GreenHouse facility–an award-winning “ecologically intelligent” manufacturing site–I’m here to tell you about what those bees do during long West Michigan winters when Black-Eyed Susans are scarce on the ground.

The GreenHouse hives are maintained by a local beekeeper who also has an operation in Georgia. In autumns past, Herman Miller’s bees were transported to the Peach State, where they could continue to produce the quantities of honey that are the happy side effect of a pesticide-free solution to an aggressive paper wasp problem. But, as for many human residents of northern climes, a recessionary economy and high fuel costs have conspired to keep the GreenHouse bees home this winter.

So while workers inside the seating operations plant continue to weather tough economic times, their apian counterparts outside form big, shivering clusters in their snow-covered hives. Worker bees take turns at the warm center (around 80 degrees F) and the chilly outer edges (46-48 degrees F)–so all can survive.

Seven Questions for Materials and Product Designer Susan Lyons

Susan Lyons follows her nose. And her hands, eyes, and ears. In fact, her love for all things sensate has led her to exotic as well as homely places. India, for example, with its riot of scent and color as well as its craftsmanship and reverence for materials and finally to New York where she began designing textiles. Lyons was an early champion for the environment, which led to a partnership with architect Bill McDonough and, in 1995, to an award-winning, cradle-to-cradle collection of compostable textiles.

Still in New York, Lyons has her own design firm, and she consults with Herman Miller on materials and finishes, where her passion for sustainability and love of color and texture has found a likeminded partner.

Here are seven questions for Susan Lyons….
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The Happy Planet Index and You

Drizzly Denmark is the happiest country in the world. No, really. There’s research to back it up. But other research shows Costa Rica is happiest. It all depends on what you measure.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)—the Paris-based group that says Denmark is happiest—measures only life satisfaction. It asked citizens questions like “Did you learn something today?” and “Were you proud of something you did yesterday?”

But, nef, the independent “think-and-do tank” that says Costa Rica is happiest, measures life satisfaction, life expectancy, and ecological footprint. This allows it to assess the “environmental efficiency with which, country by country, people live long and happy lives.” It assigns each country a “Happy Planet Index” (HPI). So it’s not just about the happiness of a country’s people; it’s about whether or not the way that country’s citizens live makes the planet happy. An interactive map shows each country’s cumulative index and its index for each measure.

In addition to checking out your country’s HPI, you can also calculate your own personal HPI. Mine was 64. That’s above the world average of 46 but well below the target of 83, “which represents a good life that doesn’t cost the earth,” according to the folks at nef. Once you have your score, the site generates suggestions on how to improve in each area.

My ecological footprint really hurt my overall score, a weakness my country shares: The U.S. ranked 114th on the Happy Planet Index because it, too, has an outsized ecological footprint. We’re both going to have to work on that.

Check out what Herman Miller is doing to improve our ecological footprint through our environmental advocacy initiatives.