Dwell 02.2009
Yes, my container housing fetish lives onward and upward. Dwell beats a path to Marmol Radziner‘s Southern California factory to watch its assembly line in action in the February 2009 Prefab issue.
Its as if sometimes they’re inside my head or something.
Phillips Volume dial by maskingtape on Flickr
Low stock prices, failed buyout deals, housing market crash below the 49, and Christmas. All these factors contribute to the economy. We are constantly fed tid-bits and micro-chunks on our worsening economic situation by the media, the government and our peers. Are we really facing the crisis of the 21st Century? Or is it all what we have chosen to believe therefore it must be true. Has any other designer felt the effects of a turned-down crisis on our hands?
It’s hard to imagine that this particular situation, a turned-down/off moratorium on spending, has led us all to the point that we are selecting what to buy, where to buy it and possibly even going for the no-name brand. Every time I think about the down-turn, turn-down, turn-off – or whatever it’s called – I imagine a volume knob slowing moving from ten towards two, or even zero in some cases. That knob, which is completely imagined in our minds, can be regulated by perception, intuition, the government and media. It’s the worst kind of gauge for your self-worth or helplessness that we could ever put upon ourselves.
Quite a few months ago, before that knob moved from ten to two, I saw lay-offs and terminations everywhere. Sometimes it’s just housecleaning, which was the case in the summer of oh-eight, and other times it’s just poor management. At that time, I was praying to be hit with a buyout every day. I was looking for a solution to something that wasn’t in the employment but rather within myself. I needed an excuse. A get out of jail free card. Looking back, I am very lucky that didn’t happen.
I was foolish and overwhelmed with work. I had referrals that I had to turn away at every call because there was only one of me. Now? Nothing. The faucet of my design business has been turned off. Not even a drip drop in the background.
So it’s time to regroup and get my solders lined up for the fight of my career. Back to school – again. I don’t doubt that it will pick up again but I just don’t know when and I don’t want to be stand here stuck in a snowbank of mystery and doubt.
For 2009, I think Interior Design and decoration will face a challenge of truth. I know where I would like to take it myself but I think we will be on an upward battle with the tight purse strings of clients and corporations to contend with. There are some things we can do to soothe penny pinching:
www.GreenEarthOrganics.ca
Since Organica left us with a hole in our hearts for fresh, local produce delivered weekly, I have soul searched at Choices and Capers. Welcome Green Earth Organics to my home! Why I didn’t catch onto this gravey train before, I will never understand. Shopping online is easy and convenient including dry goods and cleaning supplies. Substitutions are so quick and simple. Best part? Auto-payment from my bank account.
Go local, go organic.
Image courtesy Inhabitat
I’m always looking for design ideas of the future and sometimes it’s hard to find because history repeats itself, a lot. When I stumbled upon the Ovetto Recycled Recycling Bin by Gianluca Soldi I became memorized by it’s form and function. Presented at the London Design Festival last week, Ovetto is manufactured from recycled polypropylene (carpeting) is so stylish in it’s egg shape. [Inhabitat]
Why the egg? Deconstructing the design (on my own impressions) shows the egg as the vulva, mother nature, returning the products we use for consumer packaging of food and other things back to our environment responsibly and un-harming.
Images courtesy Holcim Awards
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction has awarded their 2008 selections and 3 oustanding Canadian projects made the cut:
Bronze: Living with Lakes Center for freshwater restoration and research, Sudbury, Canada
Designed by Peter Busby and Wills Architects, Vancouver BC and J.L. Richards & Associates Ltd, ON
The outstanding strengths of this project are twofold. Firstly, the new research and exhibition center will be built according to the most stringent criteria of sustainable construction minimizing the ecological footprint and assuring self-reliance with regard to energy and heat supply. Secondly, the research to be conducted in this center will contribute to the restoration of Sudbury’s ecosystem with an emphasis on guaranteeing the drinking water quality and quantity for future generations. – Holcim Awards Jury
Acknowledgement: Evergreen Brick Works heritage site revitalization, Toronto, Canada
Designed by du Toit Allsopp Hillier and du Toit Architects Limited, Toronto, ON
The altered and upgraded buildings hosting classrooms, exhibitions and various social services will comply with today’s requirements regarding resource and energy consumption. This very broad approach to the complex task of urban transformation combined with an effi cient management of the urban metabolism, driven by a strong partnership between citizens and authorities are the outstanding merits of this project. – Holcim Awards Jury
Acknowledgement: Minimal-impact North Vancouver Outdoor School, Canada
Designed by Larry McFarland Architects Ltd, Vancouver BC
[The] new school and exhibition buildings will be completely self-reliant and fulfill net zero energy and net zero CO2 requirements. The elevated buildings offer free view and access to the beautiful nature in the neighborhood and avoid potential future damage from fl ooding. In addition, the building components and systems will become part of the learning experience and therefore fundamentally change the educational concept. – Holcim Awards Jury
Overall, a job well done. Canadians be proud!
“The future is build one choice at a time” Rona’s website boasts.
Rona has turned the corner and pushed out a massive surge of green products and is ready to take on the Home Depot USA giant. Rona is the Green Party of the Canadian home improvement world, and they don’t sell themselves short. Their new RonaEco product brand emphasises key performance indicators that put up strong contention to any one’s needs.
Honestly, there’s nothing that these products can do that baking soda, borax, or a little forsight and planning can’t already do.
Care of HomeSteadWeaver.com
Could it finally be? Could plastic bags finally be verboten? All across Metro Vancouver, City Counsellors are chatting about a reduction of 50% on plastic bags in the next 5 years. [Vancouver Sun]
“We don’t think 50 per cent is enough. We need to go past that,” says Councillor Marvin Hunt
Honestly, he’s right. 50% is not enough. Remember in the 80′s when you couldn’t get anything but a paper bag at the grocery store? How did this happen? What will happen to all those plastic bag rugs that so creatively made their way into homes in the 90′s? There is a HUGE market here for the Pulp and Paper sectors, once again, to produce brown paper bags.
Currently there are two grocery stores in Vancouver where paper bags are available: Capers/Whole Foods, and Choices Market. Have you ever tried to get a paper bag at Safeway? All be it that they do offer recycling of plastic bags in their store, is that enough? How many people, besides my household, actually bring their plastic bags to Safeway for recycling? I bet you that I am one is six degrees of separation that does. Their environmental policy states:
Safeway recognizes that air, water, soil and vegetation in our communities are vital resources and must be kept as free as possible from negative effects. To assure we do our part to protect against harmful environmental impacts, the company conducts its business in an environmentally responsible manner.
So, if Leaf Rapids Manitoba, a town of 550 people, can pass a bylaw that fines anyone $1,000 per day for plastic bags, then why can’t a huge machine like the GVRD get the same law in place? I guess I’m just a paper bag princess.
Update 10.15.2008 A feasability plan should be established shortly. Councl. Tim Stevenson brought forward a motion to study out right ban or a tax, also put forward a motion to ask the provice for a ban on plastic bags. The ban is more likely because a tax would just tax the poor.
Thoughts on green? Great intellegence, nature, bad spirits, spring, fertility, youth, enviroment, wealth, money, good luck, vigor, generosity, creative intellegence to name a few. The colour of Cancer. Month of August. Kermie & Miss Piggy, “It’s not easy being green”, The Rainbow Connection. Traffic lights, lettuce, avacado, lime, chlorophyll. Oh I used to drink a chlorophyll drink… it was so good. Aged copper. Oh! Blue cheese! Trees, leaves, Christmas, eyes, Shamrock Shakes (probablly a TM), mint, lemongrass. LEED. My bedroom.
