Greengaged

During last years London Design Festival, 100% Design London spoke to a number leading figures in the design industry, asking them to share their expertise and opinions on the complexities, issues, concerns and contradictions in sustainable design. This short film offers an insight into the views of Vicky Richardson (Editor, Blueprint), Lynda Relph-Knight (Editor, Design Week), Chris Sanderson (Trend Forecaster), Gareth Williams (V&A), Sam Hecht (Industrial Designer), Tom Dixon (Designer), Nipa Doshi (Designer), Michael Sodeau (Designer) and Jonathan Clarke (Architect).

Produced by Max Fraser and Aaron Stone in 2008.

During last September, Greengaged '08 was pleased to unveil the exclusive news of Professor Michael Braungart's revised introduction to the UK edition of ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things’. We were then lucky enough, on Monday 22nd September, to have Braungart close the penultimate day of Greengaged '08, with a lecture at London's Royal Society of Arts, where he discussed material assessments, waste and energy balances, and life-cycle design. Following his engaging lecture, Braungart was joined in conversation with science and culture of materials writer Philip Ball, and to launch the first of our weekly podcasts from last years events we are pleased to offer you access to hear that very conversation...

(Click here to download the MP3 file directly. You may need to Cntrl/Right-click and save as a file.)

Following the conclusion of last year’s London Design Festival - and a few weeks of sleep - myself and co-founders Sarah Johnson and Anne Chick met up and reflected on the inaugural greengaged. We came to the conclusion that we had managed to cram in a huge amount of events in seven days, all of which were incredibly interesting, instructive and thoughtful. We hope all 2000 of you who came to one of our events thought so too. For this we are still very thankful to everyone who offered their time and made it happen; from the multitude of marvellous speakers to the organisers that sorted out IT, drinks and PR.

You can still look through and hear about last year’s events on this site, in the blog archive. We will also be releasing weekly podcast recordings of the highlights starting with this week’s – a conversation between Michael Braungart and Phillip Ball. Keep in touch for further audio and video releases coming up…

One of the things we did vow last year was that we would give ourselves more time to plan for the London Design Festival if we were to do it again… and here we are in June - already zooming up to September – a bit too fast for my liking, but hey. Things are coming together and we are really excited to announce our presence again at the Design Council for this year’s London Design Festival. We are very thankful for the continued support from the Design Council who have again offered to host our week of events at their lovely offices in Covent Garden. Greengaged ‘09 promises a very full and relevant programme for all designers in all disciplines. So, whether you are interested in sustainability or not sure if you should be, make sure you are signed up on our mailing list to be the first to hear of our plans. For now, here’s a quick taster of what is in store for 2009... 

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Bringing together key figures since the 1960s who have created utopian works and inspiring solutions for our ever-changing planet, Radical Nature–Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet (1969–2009) is the current art and design exhibition open until 18 Oct 2009 at London's Barbican Centre. "The beauty and wonder of nature have provided inspiration for artists and architects for centuries. Since the 1960s, the increasingly evident degradation of the natural world and the effects of climate change have brought a new urgency to their responses."

Radical Nature draws on ideas that have emerged out of Land Art, environmental activism, experimental architecture and utopianism. The exhibition is designed as one fantastical landscape, with each piece introducing into the gallery space a dramatic portion of nature. Work by pioneering figures such as the architectural collective Ant Farm and visionary architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, artists Joseph Beuys, Agnes Denes, Hans Haacke and Robert Smithson are shown alongside pieces by a younger generation of practitioners including Heather and Ivan Morison, R&Sie(n), Philippe Rahm architects and Simon Starling. Radical Nature also features specially commissioned and restaged historical installations, some of which are located in the outdoor spaces around the Barbican while a satellite project by the architectural collective EXYZT is situated off site. 

The RSA Art & Ecology network have offered a sneak insight into this must see environmental exhibition. If you have been to the show already or are planning on attending any of the forthcoming talks and events do let us know your thoughts!

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In Franny Armstrong's epic motion picture The Age of Stupid, famed actor Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking back at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? On Friday 22nd May 2009, I attended the first Indie Screenings of the film at London's Royal Society of the Arts, and the film is absolutely incredible - a truly remarkable piece of cinema, that truly deserves international recognition. Read my full review of the RSA screening here...

read the article...

Welcome everyone to the new and improved Greengaged website! After an energetic ten days at London Design Festival 2008, the Greengaged hub is taking brand new directions for 2009 and beyond! We have gained international recognition for the events of last summer and the discussions and debates we raised are far too important for us to leave in the past. So, we have been working hard to build a better digital presence, that will allow for more accessible information and knowledge to this years events, and the future of the Greengaged hub!

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It is estimated that over 90% of production materials do not end up in saleable products and 80% of products are discarded after a single use. This is causing us to rapidly consume the planet’s resources including metals, minerals, clean water and fossil fuels. Sustainable chemistry technologies are being used to reduce the impact of our lifestyles.

On Friday 19th September, in a disciplinary twist to the Greengaged events schedule, we welcomed Dr Mike Pitts (Manager of the Sustainable Technologies Priority for Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network), who held a masterclass that discussed how chemists and designers can work together to reduce the impact of the products we design (and buy).

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Early on Monday morning, Greengaged’s penultimate day kicked off with an informative discussion about the future of design education. Speakers included Tracy Bhamra (Loughborough University), Ian Capewell (Practical Action), and Emma Dewberry (Open University).

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