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Grow: Design for Sustainability

By Glen Taylor - March 28, 2006

in Events

Presented by the New York Chapter of the AIGA, Grow tackled the topic of Sustainability head on taking a very broad definition and presented a good mix of heavyweight speakers from BIG companies and a diverse range of creative professions. Bob Adams video of fellow IDEO designers asked what sustainability meant to them, and the range of very honest answers included one guy who wonders sometimes if his job is just to create landfill. The conference was by no means negative, Tyler Elm, Senior Director of Strategy and Sustainability at Wal-Mart put forward a case to a very tough audience of their attempts to reposition the company to take on responsibility for the complete 'product lifecycle'.

Chris Hacker, formerly Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and design for Aveda explained his motivations for moving to Johnson & Johnson and gave some very concrete examples of how to make a difference as a designer. Other highlights included the excellent presentation of the Bryant Park project by Serge P. Appel from Cook+Fox Architects, Leslie Hoffmans work at EarthPledge, fine artist Elizabeth Demarays housing project for hermit crabs, Rick Field the pickler behind 'Ricks Picks' and Bob Adams 'optimism' curve that every designer goes through when learning about a new opportunity such as the application of 'sustainability'

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Khrystle Hopper

18 years ago

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Thanks for the posting and encouraging thoughtful discussions about sustainability. The more people become educated, the more opportunity for sustainability to be something everyone thinks about and wants to have in their lives to some degree.
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John Kim

18 years ago

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I heard Chris Hacker speak and found that his contribution to sustainable design, suspect. It's hard to criticize anyone for promoting sustainable design, however his work at Aveda was akin to saying to the brocoli farmers, "grow more broccoli." They were already doing it, and he went along with it. What I find so interesting is that he spent so much time defending WHY he went to Johnson and Johnson. We know why - they offered him more money. And, no one faults him for it. The one big example he gave for how they actually made a million at Aveda by choosing a sustainable product turned out that they got a better price on the plastic, not a direct correlation between better practice and outcome. My suggestion to people who put these programs together - find better ambassadors. Not everyone who looks the part is the part.

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