biomimicry

I've been absolutely fascinated and obsessed with biomimicry lately. Fred Gelli has been applying the concept here in Brazil under the title "Branding 3.0". Asknature.org is one of my favorites. Absolutely genius.

nature as the ideal business environment

And now what we’re doing, 20 years later, through our eco-innovation center here at Tátil, is trying to get inspired again by the ecosystems, understanding how coral colonies and mangroves are sophisticated trading systems, where you see beings which have a symbiotic relationship, where they trade energy and matter in a completely sustainable way. We know it’s possible to be inspired by that environment, which is a business environment because it involves trading, to try and make it work in our reality. This direct comparison to coral colonies is interesting because they only occupy 1% of the planet’s surface, yet 50% of all the life there is in the oceans lives around these colonies. It’s very similar to our reality in the cities. Nowadays, in general, more than 50% of the world’s population lives in a region that amounts to something like 2% of the planet’s surface. So we can certainly have an insight from this complementary relationship between individuals, specially if we think that all natural ecosystems have full circles, with no loose ends. Nothing remains. While our ecosystems, if you consider a city, has all the ends loose, in a sense that all the energy we use, or 95% of it, comes from non-renewable sources.

- also from the brilliant video by Fred Gelli, a man who makes me proud to be in the field that I am.

consumers vs. commensals

O que é Branding 3.0 / What is Branding 3.0 from Tatil Design on Vimeo.

I really like the idea that we’ll no longer be consumers, which is very reductive, almost as if our main condition on the planet was that of consuming. It’s almost like we are termites here. We’ll have a more interesting condition, like “commensals”. We’ll enjoy what objects have to offer, but we won’t need to possess them because owning things creates a huge environmental impact.

Eu gosto muito da idéia de que nós vamos deixar de ser consumidores – que é essa coisa reducionista, quase como se a nossa condição principal no planeta fosse de “consumir”, quase como se fôssemos cupins aqui – por uma condição mais interessante quase de “desfrutadores”, onde a gente usufruiu do que os objetos têm para nos oferecer, mas nós não precisamos possuí-los. Isso faz uma diferença enorme porque possuir coisas gera um impacto ambiental enorme.

i know y'all are smart, but it doesn't hurt to remind you.

Check out how to support Earth Hour where you live.

seconds

Remember those plates by Christopher Jagmin I posted the other day? I found another series with a similar concept by artist Jason Miller (who, by the way, is an IU graduate like me!). They are awesome and you can buy them here.

[via]

on how design thrives during economic crisis

Yesterday's New York Times feauted a wonderful article on how history has proven that design can benefit from economic constraints. Makes me hopeful and excited to be part of the industry right now.

"...however dark the economic picture, it will most likely cause designers to shift their attention from consumer products to the more pressing needs of infrastructure, housing, city planning, transit and energy. Designers are good at coming up with new ways of looking at complex problems, and if President-elect Barack Obama delivers anything like a W.P.A, we could be 'standing on the brink of one of the most productive periods of design ever,' said Reed Kroloff, director of Cranbrook Academy of Art.

On the other hand, the design community talked up its role in safeguarding the world after 9/11, with little result.

Modernism’s great ambition was to democratize design. Ikea and Target have shown that the battle for cheap design can be won. The emphasis will most likely shift to greater quality at affordable prices. This time around it will be the designer’s job to discourage consumers from regarding that $30 Ikea side table as a throwaway item.

(...) 'It will be about finding the sweet spot between affordability and durability,' Ms. Lasky said. This kind of innovation means rethinking the economy of production and distribution so that goods are made cheaply closer to home (or in the home, if the most radical ideas are to be taken seriously).

One way or another, design will focus less on styling consumer objects with laser-cut patterns and colored resin and more on the intelligent reworking of current conditions. Expect to hear a lot more about open-source design, and cradle-to-cradle, a concept developed by William McDonough and Michael Braungart that calls for cars, packaging and other everyday objects to be designed specifically for recycling so that their parts and materials are used and reused without waste."

anycoloryoulike

"TRASH: anycoloryoulike is a vivid art intervention for urban beautification and environmental awareness. The project consists of select city blocks in which new artist-created bags transform standard piles of trash into vivid sculptures of color through the participation of local business owners and residents. Each TRASH bag is 100% biodegradable and naturally scented to repel insects and vermin."

scuppie, the new yuppie

click for larger images

SCUP·PIE /skәp·e/n. (Socially Conscious Upwardly-mobile Person)

1.A person who desires all the best life can offer and strives for those goals in a socially conscious manner.

2. One who is dedicated to the pursuit of peace, happiness and cash (not necessarily in that order).

3. Someone ‘green’ -- i.e. one who understands the love of money does not preclude the love of nature...and vice-versa.

"Failla’s goal is to have Scuppie take its place in the American lexicon as the natural evolution of the Hippie-Preppie-Yuppie progression. To accomplish this, he has launched a national promotional campaign and is currently penning “The Scuppie Handbook: A Practical Guide to Living Well while Doing Good."

[via The Scuppie Handbook]

green halloween

One of my favorite blogs - Inhabitat - challenged its readers to get creative and resourceful with their Halloween costumes and go green. Here are my favorites:


The winner: Pollution-Poisoned Mermaid. Crafted from discarded plastic bags, items found around the house, and waste materials recovered by cleaning up the beach.


Cloth-Diapered Crazy Astronaut Lisa Nowak. (Again: cloth diapered.)

virgil o. stamps

It is such a pleasure for me to post about this. Not only the idea is incredibly awesome, the person behind the idea is just as cool (not to mention she's pretty much my hero).


Virgil O. Stamps is a letterpress laboratory that uses his Brooklyn neighborhood and surrounding boroughs as a source of inspiration and income, by recycling products that would usually be thrown away. All of his cards are backed by recycled chipboard from the nearby comic book store. Virgil can, of course, print on anything you like. Even regular paper. Or nice thick cotton paper. Sometimes you need to be normal—Virgil understands that and promises not to judge you.

Gunned: Shot up targets donated from a New York City gun range.

National Geographic: Pages torn from old National Geographic
magazines and backed by recycled chipboard.

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Virgil O. is officially awesome: it's been featured on kottke.org and on NotCot.org.



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Yay for Minus - the woman who gives me hope that any 33-year old kid can wear patriotic pajama pants for three days straight, and sometimes forget to wear socks when they go outside, and eat nothing but Cheetos and ham and cheese sandwiches, and like stained t-shirts and painted on pants, and not be friends with morning or alarm clocks, and wear mohawk hats and go to city hospitals for their sheer entertainment value, and still manage to make a living and sometimes pay rent and super-size (or “make it a large”) their value meals at McDonald’s!

coffee drinkers, engage thyselves!

You may have seen this before, but if you haven't you should take a look. Starbucks has a site called "My Starbucks Idea" where it gives users/consumers the chance to contribute with ideas in order to improve the company's services, products and brand. Starbucks has put together a team called "Idea Partners", a group of employees from different areas of the company, to dedicate themselves to reviewing what's submitted to the website. Brad Stevens, marketing VP, is also part of the team.


The project includes the "Ideas in Action" blog, where users can keep up with the status of the suggestions given. It is divided in four main categories: Under Review, Reviewed, Coming Soon, and Launched. The "Idea Partners" talk about the suggestions, if an idea is feasible, how it would be feasible and when they will be available.



Here are some suggestions I found particularly interesting:

"Cup Discount - I'm psyched that Starbucks has started using more environmentally friendly, partially recycled cups -- but isn't using travel mugs the best way to reduce waste? Encourage customers to reduce & reuse by reimbursing them for the money they save by using their starbucks travel mugs."

"Free wifi - do it."

"Personalized Ordering - Since most people order their coffee the same particular way every time, I think it would be a good idea to create a database of customers and how they like their coffee. This way when they order they would only have to say their name and the sticker would print out how they like their coffee. It would save time for Starbucks to ask what the customer wants, when most times the customer orders the same item the same way; and it will save the customer from the repetition of repeating their favorite drink every time they visit the store. If the customer wanted something different than they normally get, they would just order normally instead of giving their name."

"Starbucks iPhone app - Apple sold over 1m iPhone 3G in 2 days. It would be great to have a Starbucks' ordering app - for free - so we all can order our favorite bevs without having to stand in line. I'd like to be able to have a favorite, use the GPS - or a list of my favorite locations - and just order it. Funds can be subtracted from my Starbucks card. A win for all as I'd use Starbucks a lot more if I could order this way vs. standing in line."

"Tip jars - please remove the tip jar from the counter. seriously, i just paid almost 3 dollars for a cup of coffee in a recession. the last thing i should see is a tip jar."

social technology

The project “Massa do Bem” (literally translated as “Good Dough”) is the first “social technology” developed and implemented by the 3M Institute of Social Innovation in Brazil. It was developed by a team at a local college, Faculdade Metrocamp, who created small “containers” made out of bread dough – the Emsopão – used to serve soup to homeless people. The edible container not only feeds those in need, by also eliminates environmental and hygiene problems caused by disposable material made out of foam, foil or plastic.

The 3M Institute believed in the idea and hired the Food Technology Institute of Campinas to enrich the dough used to make the bread. Their research improved the amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fibbers and other nutrients that should be part one’s daily intake in order to have a healthy diet.

The project lasted almost two years between research and implementation. The expression “Sustainable Technologies” can be considered new, and it encloses methodologies, techniques, tools or processes that are economically accessible. They must be easily reproduced, should minimize the negative effects to the environment and improve quality of life.

The methodologies of social transformation, developed with the help of local residents and applied to their daily routine, are simple solutions to social inclusion. The goal of 3M Institute is to discover and implement social innovations that promote social development of communities where 3M of Brazil is involved, encouraging the spread of knowledge through social networks of students, journalists and the company’s employees.

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O projeto "Massa do Bem", primeira tecnologia social descoberta e aplicada pelo Instituto 3M de Inovação Social, foi desenvolvido por uma equipe da Faculdade Metrocamp. O grupo desenvolveu pequenas cumbucas de massa de pão – o Emsopão – utilizadas para servir sopa aos moradores de rua. Além de alimentar, a massa elimina problemas ambientais e de higiene causados por embalagens descartáveis de isopor, alumínio ou plástico.

O Instituto 3M apostou nessa idéia e contratou o Instituto de Tecnologia de Alimentos de Campinas, para enriquecer a massa utilizada no pão. Os estudos aprimoraram a quantidade de carboidratos, proteínas, fibras e outros nutrientes que devem ser ingeridos diariamente para que haja uma alimentação completa.

O projeto rendeu quase dois anos de estudos entre desenvolvimento e implantação. A expressão “Tecnologias Sustentáveis” pode ser considerada nova e compreende metodologias, técnicas, equipamentos ou processos economicamente acessíveis. Devem possuir fácil reprodução e minimizar os impactos negativos no meio ambiente e na qualidade de vida das pessoas.

Essas metodologias de transformação social, desenvolvidas com a participação da população e aplicadas ao seu cotidiano, gera soluções simples para a inclusão social. O objetivo do Instituto 3M é descobrir e aplicar inovações sociais que promovam o desenvolvimento social das comunidades onde a 3M do Brasil atua, gerando conhecimento por meio da formação de redes de relacionamento entre estudantes, jornalistas e funcionários da empresa.

[via]

the brazilian, recyclable "moleskine"

Moleskines are hard to find and really expensive here in Brazil. What normally costs around 10 bucks in the US, is sold for roughly 3 times the price here. The options are not so wide either.

So, LV Design has created the Moleco, a brazilian version of the famous Moleskine - not only a whole lot cheaper than the original notebook, but also made of 100% recyclable material. The website is pretty cool, too.

Big ups to the initiative!

[via the lovely Ligia Fascioni]

bottled spices; keybag; helium lamp

More of João Sabino's work here.

Sk8 Bags - I want it!

New York city based Beck(y) is a shrewdly designed collection of one-of-a-kind bags & accessories constructed with recycled skateboards & plush high-end fabrics. Beck(y)'s aptly named Sk8 Bags are all handmade. For each board Beck receives she donates $3 to various organizations dedicated to building and maintaining skateparks across the country.

Available here.

this is genius

Only available in brown for the maximum anti-theft protection.

"I can see my whole childhood in this chest of drawers"

Title: Decades
Year: 2007

"Chest of drawers made out of discarded drawers, found and rescued at flea markets. A mix of different styles from earlier decades, with woods and knobs of various kinds, in a single piece of furniture. The old drawers are enhanced by the new frame in white lacquered MDF."

by Wis Design

affordability, sustainability, safety, beauty

Say what you want to say about the man behind the project, I don't care, that's beside the point. This is a beautiful project and I'm excited to see something like it happen.

Make It Right Nola is a project launched by Brad Pitt to help bring families back home to New Orleans, after having their houses destroyed by Katrina.

13 architecture firms were commissioned to design green affordable housing to be built at the impoverished Lower Ninth Ward. The future residents will be able to choose the layout of their home from a list of designs selected by Make It Right, which to me, sets this project apart from so many others that may have come before. The idea that people will be able to go back to a place that was carefully designed for them is nothing short of outstanding. Those people have lost everything they had, and most of them probably never had much to start with, so rescuing their self-esteem seems just as urgent as giving them a home.

You can see the selected designs here.

Anybody can donate anything, from a dollar to $150,000, which is the cost of a full house. The website also gives you information about how to sponsor specific things, such as landscaping, appliances, low VOC paint, efficient lighting, rooftop solar panels, etc. Click on the pictures below, go check out the website and maybe help if you can.