Engage in Change: Making Good Stuff from Scrap

Kristen Bultman — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:00:22 +0000

Each year, we consume an estimated 500 billion plastic bags worldwide—equal to over one million bags per minute. Currently, it’s actually more expensive to recycle plastic bags and bring them back into the market than it is to make new ones.

Engage in Change is an effort established by a team of Herman Miller employees to engage coworkers in a way to create reusable grocery bags from Herman Miller’s scrap textile material. Another great benefit is that the project aligns with our environmental goals: Every time people use reusable bags rather than plastic, they are helping the environment.

Beginning in January, employees came together to sew and assemble reusable bags from scrap fabric—and to have a good time doing it. The project ran through April, in time to celebrate Earth Day. Over 80 volunteers sewed five bags to donate and were able to keep one bag for themselves. The sewing occurred at our GreenHouse facility—where our seating upholstery is done—and at the homes of our sewing-savvy coworkers. Volunteers made more than 500 bags over the course of the project, utilizing more than 500 yards of scrap fabric.

The bags were given to employees who participated in a company-sponsored Earth Day activity, such as the Adopt-a-Highway program or our annual Earth Day recycling event. A big thanks to all of those employees who helped make this project happen!

Inspiring Work Through Play

Marcia Davis — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:22:12 +0000

Walk down the corridors of Herman Miller’s GreenHouse facility in Holland, Michigan and you might spot a snake along a wall, chickens roosting on a table, or an armadillo under the bamboo. Bamboo? Yes, bamboo. Along with the rest of the greenery, it’s the perfect setting for the brightly colored wood-carved creatures that complement the space and bring a sense of play to work.

The story I was told is that one of our executives many years back had been to Oaxaca, Mexico, where he came upon the woodcarved art of Manuel Jiménez.

Center image: Manuel Jiménez pictured with one of his sons. Photo via: Wikipedia

Woodcarving is an important part of Oaxacan culture, existing since the Mixteca-Zapoteca civilizations. According to El Carocol Zapoteca, “Oaxaca’s indigenous and peasant communities reinitiated woodcarving in an open manner to create masks for festivals, dances, and carnivals, figures for popular consumption and toys.”

Manuel Jiménez got his start by carving wooden images for masks from copal wood, which he established as the preferred material of Oaxacan carvers. Originally painted with aniline and natural dyes, today they are painted with acrylic paint so they don’t lose their color.

A master woodcarver recognized as the founder of folk art woodcarving in Oaxaca, Jiménez transformed a local craft into a highly-collectible art form. Often called “the godfather of all Oaxacan woodcarving,” Jiménez practiced his art for over three decades.

Most of the figures at the GreenHouse are fashioned by Jiménez and his sons from copal wood, but we’ve added pieces from other artists as well.

Their bright, whimsical colors blend together reality and imagination, bringing inspiration to the workplace.

By Marcia Davis

Herman Miller blog: Discover » GreenHouse

Engage in Change: Making Good Stuff from Scrap

Inspiring Work Through Play