The problems of packaging...

I was wandering down the street the other day and I came across this bit of mess on the sidewalk. The bags lasted for about 2 blocks, and were blowing even further. For those of you who haven't worked in a retail store - each garment comes packaged in a plastic bag, just like men's shirts, then are grouped in usually 6's, and then put in another bag, and then put in a box (sometimes a reusable plastic box that goes back to the warehouse, sometimes not). Every day, when the new stock comes in, it is all taken out if its bags, security tagged, and put on the shelves, and when sold, put in a different plastic bag.

Hundreds of these bags are thrown in the garbage - as there is no daily recycling for this type of waste, and number 5 plastic (polypropylene) is not easily recycled in most places. This is a significant design challenge - is there a way to collect and reuse these bags? Can we find a better way to package things for shipping? Can we package things so that these bags can be used as a final bag at the cash? We all think we are doing 'good' for the environment when we bring our own bags to the store, but that's only the half of it it seems... so to the packaging designers and fashion companies out there - I'm calling you out in order find a better solution to this waste.

I was away...

Sorry... I've been away in oh so many senses it seems. I was on the West Coast for the OLYMPICS and to be around for the birth of my nephew (whom I love and adore). While I was gone, I spent lots of time making things, but strangely I forgot to take pictures... or maybe not so strangely (how very much like me to forget to document). I did take a lovely little day trip to Salt Spring Island and was truly enthralled with the beautiful textures of the forest. The pictures below are a few I managed to eek out of my little camera.

cute...

things to learn from Matt Edgar on Vimeo.

I'm working on the doing nothing part... maybe some good ideas will come out of it. Thanks SwissMiss for the link to this very sweet video by Christian Borstlap for Kinderpostzegels.

The Art of Telling a Story...

I have been taught that spinning a tale is one of the most important things we can do within design. What I have learned, is that I don't feel as if I am particularly good at that - and therefore I've decided to become the listener - as I hope I'm good at listening. I'm working my way through some of the TED talks, and looking how the stories of others are constructed, and that being an audience is as important as being a presenter.

A particularly beautiful story that I was listening earlier today can be found here, Devdutt Pattanaik's TED talk on "East vs. West - The Myths that Mystify".

A New Year for New things

so this is a list of my New Year's Resolutions... Now you all know them, so you can hold me more accountable.
1. Answer my emails more quickly as opposed to letting them sit in my inbox
2. Do more yoga and RELAX
3. Work on my creative practice - clients or no clients (remembering all things take time)
4. Create my own little bioplastic library (I'm well on my way to that one already)

Recycling is BullSh*t

I couldn't agree more (see this treehugger article for the real deal) - but you want to know what's even more of a load of bull - 'recyclable'. My question always comes to where - and what will it become, and what will the rate of recycling actually be (I believe that its under 9% of plastic is recycled in the UK). There are tons of designers who work with discarded goods - but they certainly have not been recycled in the truest sense, and more importantly are only a small amount of what is actually disposed of. Lets stop fooling ourselves, our green bins are just another version of a garbage can. We need to move past all of this rhetoric in order to actually make a dent on the future solid waste, material sustainability etc.

Book Report - The Omnivore's Dilemma

Now, I thought I would read this, and love it - but to be perfectly honest, it was just okay. Michael Pollan seemingly has a problem with Xanthan Gum - he mentions it several times with a bit of an incredulous tone. I ask to that - what's so wrong with it - it holds all of my gluten-free baking together, is not poisonous and even if derived from corn, is not the root of all food evil. I truly love corn and many of its incarnations (bioplastic anyone?), and certainly there are many substantial political, social and environmental issues in regards to corn, but it is not inherently bad, as is insinuated. He also repeats himself often, as if he had forgotten he had said 'insert fact here' before.

Now with my biggest problem with the book. It is truly a man's view of the world with not a single female voice other than his wife. How on earth can I take a book that neglects half of the population and the primary family cooks very seriously. Really did remind me that no matter how much time passes - that I still have to be a feminist first (how sad). Nowhere in this book did speak to the actual dilemma of how we feed ourselves - time vs. quality vs. nutrition vs. money - and does explore the omnivore's dilemma for anyone other than himself and his foodie friends. I'll stick with Margaret Atwood in the future...