A brief explanation of cradle to cradle

Can eco-design be for everyone? reach chemicals legislation

We have been working on a number of eco-design projects recently at the studio (Hoffi). While going through the initial research of eco-design and how people perceive eco-design the feeling of elitist and middle class came out strongly. In someways this is true eco-design products on average are more expensive than other products on the market, and it seems that this is going to be the case for sometime yet. I did come across a glimmer of hope though when I recently was pointed in the direction of the REACH legislation.

See more information here.

twitter, to tweet, tweeting,

As with everyone recently it seems like there has been no end to twittering or tweeting in our office. It has very much followed the same pattern as most of the things we get involved in. One of us gets into it first them makes the others try it out. The the novelty dies down or more likely we get really busy and it gets placed on the back burner. Then a few weeks later a project always seems to come up that would be great to use the new technology so we all get back into it.

We have been using twitter with cradle so first of all get exposure of the project out there in the public domain but also using it for a informal chat to potential customers to really ask them who and what they really want, we hope this will turn into a great project fro us to publish the findings in future months. We also feel it could be a possible direction of how 'good' customer online service might develop. Notoriously the idea of customer service and that of just service has been blurred within e-com over recent years, and on a personal level perhaps this goes some way towards gaining the ground back to putting customer not fist but actually acknowledging they exist. To keep up to date on what we are all up to see Andrew's tweets here, Carwyn's here and mine here, we also have one setup for hoffi but we will be doing something slightly different for that one so watch this space.

Biodegradble t-shirt

Following on from previous posts, cradle has had a great response from twitter members and has been pointed to a number of new products. One being from trigema which is the first biodegradble t-shirt, also cradle were directed to Triumph Underwear who do a 'pure origin' product range that has also been accredited cradle to cradle.

Watch for further developments, here or on twitter. The project is the brainchild of myself but it would not have gone this far without the aid of the rest of the guys from Hoffi.

Finally taking shape

Well it's taken some time but we are nearly there. 'Cradle' is a project I have been working on now for the last few months (as you may have gathered from my previous articles about new products and cradle to cradle – C2C), Cradle – will fingers crossed be launching in a few months time and is aimed at selling only C2C products. The project is one of the most challenging I have been involved in as the current C2C products out there are few and far between, also they are from hugely different arena's. For example Steelcase has a number of it's office chairs that are C2C, then there is a surfing company that has had it's sex(surf) wax accredited as C2C. With regards to the branding and the project I will keep you informed on this blog, however 'Cradle' launched on twitter yesterday so check out how it's going on a minute to minute basis. Just search for cradlecardiff. We have grand plans for developing and evolving the brand over the next 5 years or so, so it is an exciting time for all of us involved.

think sneaker

A modular trainer designed to disassemble easily to make the trainer as cradle to cradle.

the magnificent six

Following my recent posts for cradle to cradle products I came across the following article about six products that have gained the cradle 2 cradle accreditation. This was way back in 2005, but over the last four years or so things seem to be growing and expanding into different areas for an up to date as I can find list see link.

Puma retail experience

See full article here.

It's Alive - new fibres

Having been looking into cradle to cradle materials and processes recently, I came across this article about innovations in fibers. The article shows 5 of the latest fibers that are an advancement in eco-friendliness. The image above is 'victimless leather' the leather is actually grown so no animals are killed in the process. Very frankenstein...

The Future and all of it's guises

Having looked at the future in consumption and both bio and mechanical products I was really interested in how one of the biggest companies in the world saw how things might evolve. This video from Microsoft shows how they see the world in a mere ten years. I think the whole compatibility issue might be intriguing to overcome but I do like how technology almost wraps round our lives which makes it very plausible.

ATM for books

I have been meaning to put this on for a few days know. My father actually spotted it for me. The piece was written in the Friday 24th April edition of the Daily Mail by Daniel Bates. The machine known as the Espresso Book Machine is designed to print and bind books at a simple click of a button. In Britain Blackwell bookstores will be fitting the machines into a number of their stores over the next few months. 

For me this piece comes at a really good time as the question of making items onsite and to order as opposed to stack it high mentality, very similar to a piece my colleague Andrew found a month or so ago. It would be interesting to know if in the making of the book people become more attached to the volume in comparison to one just bought off a shelf.

For a quick description of how it works:

1. Customer chooses book on list or prints their own by inserting a cd or usb, they then click the 'Make Book' icon.

2. book cover is printed on thick paper and waits for rest of book to be printed.

3. printer prints book pages at 105 pages per minute.

4. pages are printed collated and clamped ready for glueing.

5. the spine is roughed up and glued together and cover is attached.

6. book is now trimmed to required size. 

7. Finally finished book is received with the whole process taking no longer than five minutes.

no-frills

Picked up this post relating to Future laboratories findings about affluent people seeking minimal aesthetic. It seems to be a very similar trend/reaction to what we saw in the early nineties with the move towards 'NO Logo' type brands. In fact at that time in Britain it coincided in the rise of the Japanese brand MUJI. 

Link:

Authenticity the key to brands future

Design Week (Vol24 No14 9/04) has a few really good articles in this issue and to continue to theme I came across an article about the recent findings by Future Laboratory regarding how post credit-crunch the differences we may face. 

One of the interesting aspects to the post-crunch world seems to the the lack of bling and a move to the authenticity of the brands being paramount. The concentration of the feel and the obvious quality of goods being much more apparent as an example they look at designers such as John Rocha with his very understated luxury feel. It also reminds me of MUJI back in the nineties with their understated style which while in no way luxurious, it has an understated quality.

To see the full article.  

SCP sustainable approach for Milan Furniture Fair

As you have probably noticed, over the last few months I have been writing and working on a project centred around cradle to cradle products, and making things as low impact as possible. I came across a piece in this weeks design week about UK furniture manufacturer SCP, who are launching a fully sustainable furniture range at this years Milan furniture fair, which runs from 22-27 April. What is interesting about the new range is that as well as the materials used to produce the furniture range has been altered (mainly changed to natural materials) there is also a part about the increased emphasis on hand crafting and manual skills to produce the work. This is another theme of unique and bespoke that somehow I believe could lead to added value way beyond the actual value of the product. 

To see the full article.

Recycling our gadgets

I came across this article in Wired recently which is really opportune for a project we are working on at the moment – which is centred around cradle to cradle products. While the biological cradle to cradle is fairly self explanatory the mechanical version of cradle to cradle relies on a service that should be provided by the supplier of the product. The design of the product should also make it (as easy as) possible for different components and materials to be separated and so no loss in 'contaminated' materials will be an issue, and so the materials will be able to continue at their same quality or and over again.

In Europe the WEEE directives touched on this concept. With produces and retailers now being responsible for the lifespan and so disposal of electronic goods, from memory it was initially quite a narrow band of products that would be covered in the directives, but it was a start. The above picture taken form the Wired article really put's into perspective the amount and variety of 'gadgets' out there and also how complicated they seem to be in terms of disassembly.

Sustainability, Eco-friendly, bio-degradable, ethical

I am currently researching the perceived notion of sustainable design. In particular within the mass-consumption market of day to day lifestyle products. I am particularly interested in is the categorisation of products. Words such as 'sustainably sourced', 'made from recycled materials', and 'bio-degradable' all seem to give the impression that the companies producing these products are 'ethically' aware and some would lead you to believe they are in fact helping the environment. Advertising campaigns from 'Triple Velvet' with their planting three trees for every one tree they use and 'Lenor's' concentrate range that has helped reduce the amount of packaging of their product's and so allowing more products into one shipment and so reducing the amount of lorries on the road.

On face value these all seem to be strongly ethically balanced ideas. But is this true? and what do these really achieve? For the company it may help their profit it could also improve there brand values within the outside world by 'green washing' over things, but ultimately they are a lesser evil. They do not really answer the big question they still use virgin materials and ultimately once the consumed part is used the rest goes is perhaps recycled into a lower grade product and then goes into landfill or is incinerated, or is put into landfill straightaway. 

So while this may prolong the consumption of the plants and resources of the planet it is not ultimately going to stop them from being lost or consumed. At this point I must point out that this is not about being ethical and environmentally conscious (as Michael Braungart and William McDonough said in their book 'cradle to cradle'), it is about being smart. We live in a world now with huge knowledge and expertise. Materials can and have been produced that not only do not use up natural resources but put things back into the system. 

product No 2

Biodegradable Tent Pegs - made from Potato Starch

Product No 1

Swedish cheese slicer, just a great product.

Cradle 2 Cradle in Venlo

I came across this article on treehugger.com. I have been interested in cradle to cradle design ever since Michael Braungarts visit of Cardiff when he lectured at a Design Wales arranged event. I think back in 2007. I remember the lecture vividly mainly due to the different approach and also the disturbing facts of products that have been built for years and have been taken for granted, yet they give out and include huge amounts of toxic chemicals. Also the simple notion of everything being designed in such a way to give back and not just to take take take.