designing

Why do we do what we do?
This is the bio I sent to Hemptech: the company who releases beautiful eco textiles in Australasia.

(My Cows and Couches design and the Footprints collection. Below with a Mooodlies cushion.)

"As a designer I work on many different creative projects: interior, furniture, product, and textile design. I work primarily as an interior designer. My passion however is: goats. I'm an absolute animal nut and yes I do talk to them too. On our 64 acre llifestyle block in the south of Otago we run highland cattle, saanen goats, turkeys, chooks and pigs. Inspiration abounds as nature is very much expressing itself on our property. New Zealand scenery is so powerful and beautiful. My heart is always outside running alongside the animals in gumboots, clad in overalls, having my hair in ponytails.


My designs reflect this happy attitude and I do adore the whimsy and playing. My desire to design for eco textiles stems from that inner sense of letting my love of living in New Zealand out. As a Dutch immigrant I am fully aware that this slice of paradise is not (easily) accesible to everyone on our planet. We do live in a wondrous place down under. So what could possibly be lovelier then sharing that magic energy at home with others?"
Why do you do what you do?

 

Photos: copyright: Mirjam Spronk and Hemptech ltd

lasting fancy

I have a chair fetish. Not shoes, not handbags, no, chairs. I just love them. So what could be better then a big lush outside chair that is like a treehouse? Exactly!

10 trees growing into a life structure to support people having a snooze, or to read a book in dappled sunlight.

from Design Folio mag: "Stockholm-based studio Visiondivision asked students at Politecnico di Milano to consider the impact of a fast-paced lifestyle and asked them how to create environments in which nature can be used to create a sense of retreat on campus. The result? Ten Japanese cherry trees that are encouraged to grow in certain ways making room for a two-story retreat that students can sit up high in."

The result was drafting plans and planting the young trees plus structures to support the growth over time.

From VisionDivision: "Together with the students we worked out a maintenance plan and instructions to future gardeners that is simple enough to actually work.

On the structure, we instructed that a pattern of wood will be grafted in, leaving two spaces between the trees as entries/exits and the rest is closed in ornamental patterns with branches.


On the upper level which is reached by the two staircases with exquisite handrails, is different fruit trees grafted into the cherry trees so the visitor can have a variety of fruits while relaxing in the canopy. Branches are also grafted in for security reasons between the tree trunks.


In about 80 years from now the Politecnico di Milano campus will have a fully grown building and the students will hopefully have proud grandchildren that can tell the story of the project for their friends and family."

How fabulous is that? 

future build

People have been harping on about climate change and how much crap we've been putting in the Earth's atmosphere for a while. That polar caps are melting, polar bears drowning, glaciers dwindling and how of course we should make amends regarding our nasty outputs. What do you think? And will we alter our polluting ways?


I'm one of those people that think the Earth will adapt to us silly humans no matter what, but we may not be able to adapt to her big changes. The good news is that there's always hope. And there's always an Arc to be built.

And man! This is surely one of the coolest Arc's I have ever seen designed. Isn't it amazing?

"Russian architect, Alexander Remizov, is the mastermind behind the project, he believes that his floating “slinky,” which can hold up to 10,000 people can have multiple uses, including a safe house for disaster relief. The prototype’s main materials are timber, steel ,and high-strength ETFE plastic and it is built to handle land and/or water." (from website KNSTRCT)

Perhaps they should consider building this in Christchurch! You can place it anywhere: land or water. Very convenient I'd say.

"The Ark’s central core is a wind power generator which would provide power to the facility. The outer part of the structure is covered with transparent solar panels, and if the ark is built on water, it can also take on thermal water energy. There is even a purpose for the shape of the structure, the form promotes the formation of turbulences of air which in turn strengthens the work of wind generators. The Ark is very well thought out; there is a purpose for every element and each component supports another to enhance performance.

The Ark project makes an attempt to answer these challenges of our Time. The Ark project was designed on the basis of international experience received from the UIA Work Program “Architecture for Disasters Relief” and according to the concept of a bioclimatic house with independent life support sources. In such buildings provision is made for an independent life support system including elements ensuring a closed functioning cycle.

The structural solidity is provided by compression behavior of the timber arches and tension behavior of the steel ropes. The framework is covered by a special foil made of Ethyl TetraFluoroEthylene (ETFE). It is a strong highly transparent foil, self-cleaning, recyclable, more durable, more economical and lighter than glass. The foil itself is fixed to the framework by special metal profiles, which serve at the same time as solar collectors for water heating and as gutters intended for collecting rainwater from the roof surface.

The building makes a single energy system. The form of the cupola assists to create an air-eddy at the outer surface around the central bearing, where the wind power generator and tornado generator are placed. The form of the building is convenient for placing on it the photoelectric cells at a necessary angle to the Sun. (...) The building can produce extra power for supplying adjacent houses and “green” transport means. 

Prefabricated frame permits to erect such buildings quickly.

The structure of the building permits it to float in case of water leveling up in the World Ocean, to keep afloat and exist autonomously on the surface of the water. All the wastes are utilized inside the building by methods of explosion boiling up and oxygen-free pyrolysis."

The building could be constructed in different climatic zones and in seismically dangerous regions, because the structure of the basement represents a shell without any ledges or angles. A stressed structure of arches and ropes permits to distribute load along the whole bulk in case of earthquake." designers: RemiStudio

This project reminds me of the Venus Project that has similar ideologies: website here. Some of Fresco's designs below:

These are quite groovy too. It reminds me of the Jetsons.

From the Venus Project website: "Many people believe that there is too much technology in the world today, and that technology is the major cause of our environmental pollution. This is not the case. It is the abuse and misuse of technology that should be our major concern.

Our only shortage is the lack of creative thought and intelligence in ourselves and our elected leaders to solve these problems. The most valuable, untapped resource today is human ingenuity.

A resource-based world economy would also involve all-out efforts to develop new, clean, and renewable sources of energy: geothermal; controlled fusion; solar; photovoltaic; wind, wave, and tidal power; and even fuel from the oceans. We would eventually be able to have energy in unlimited quantity that could propel civilization for thousands of years. A resource-based economy must also be committed to the redesign of our cities, transportation systems, and industrial plants, allowing them to be energy efficient, clean, and conveniently serve the needs of all people.

With the elimination of debt, the fear of losing one's job will no longer be a threat. This assurance, combined with education on how to relate to one another in a much more meaningful way, could considerably reduce both mental and physical stress and leave us free to explore and develop our abilities."

Gaia what?

Most of us carry on with our regular lives every day with no or little thought to what surrounds us. No wonder Yoda has been telling us there's more going on then meets the eye. “Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”
I have started reading a book called ''Gaia, the human journey from Chaos to Cosmos" by Elisabet Sahtouris PhD and it's both intruiging as it is straightforward.

Usually I'm not overly a greenie in the hippie sense of the word. From being an artist etc to moving into business life and from then into farm life trust me humming Aumm and doing new age courses has not been on my agenda for many a year. My education therefor has come to me in the practical sense, also I suspect because I needed to be grounded more and less fluffy ducked. It worked! Kudos. I guess now it's time for me to absorb some additional knowledge in book form.

Before I started reading Gaia I was reading ''Eat Pray Love" for the sheer fun of it and that too encompassed life (and meditation) and the contemplation of the unseen energy field in which we live. I find it very interesting to read books that are written from various view points.

Life is becoming less and less about stuffing things we can comprehend in boxes with written labels but instead it is now overflowing with out of the boxy stuff, things hanging in mid air, things unseen, things wafting about tantilizing with hints at what more knowledge there may be. I think the whole jazz is best described as a jack in the box. This can be joyous or also topsy turvy, as we have seen with all the earthquakes.

Most of it cannot be grasped with the mind, it's as if we are increasingly being inserted with inner knowing through our other senses. It's a combo mac deal, with added crunchy salad and big fizzy drinks when you think you only had one coupon. And when it's in front of you: you're finding out that you're not so hungry for all that food stuff after all (I think that's why I decided to become vegetarian about 4 weeks ago). It's a funny thing this life. We get notions. We lose notions. We become notion-less and in that space of having lost direction we can pin point ourselves again. What fright and what freedom.

Now back to Gaia, I keep finding new books at the moment, not that they are new but they seem to bring me aspects of topics that increasingly get me excited. Gaia is not just the Earth, it's the sentient being that is Earth also. Many religions have mulled this Gaia stuff over. What is it all about dude? Indeed. Is it all yadda or is it "real". And what is the real deal anyway? How ''actual'' is the daily life?

I think we forget we live on a planet that LIVES. It's not just a chunk of rock in eternal sleep and we can just dig up all the gold, coal and pump all the oil out of it without as some point catching onto the idea that hey! Maybe we are digging into actual flesh here. Maybe this endless gratification for our own selfish needs has stopped making sense. Especially since we know that electrical cars and other propelling methods have been available which were discarded ideas by big oil companies as -get this- they would go out of business and they didn't like that (insert doh here). I mean when does this attitude end huh? Well with us of course. Simple as that. It all boils down to demand. So what if we changed the demand? We can you know. There is such a freebie as free will, I think it's a winner.

So I'm reading Gaia: it's more a statement of saying: you know we have done this crazy sick stuff on the earth for so long. Why are we taking not decades but a century or so to choose something else that is beneficial for all concerned? We use up energies where we can choose something more sensible and at the same time build and maintain the world that we are part of, quite literally I might add.

So if it makes so much sense to amend our ways, why not do it? I don't think most of us are lazy, we have just been sloppy in pointing things out and doing something about it. That tv has been a darn invention for keeping us on the snooz button. So come on, pull your head out and think of a way you can alter how you travel to work. And what work you do. And how you heat your house. And all that greenpeacy stuff while you're at it. Maybe have chickens and grow your own veggies. Put that solar jazz on your roof. Clean your house out. And if you say you can't afford it then join forces with other people and bring out that commune spirit in the name of good ol'd sharing that they still do in tribes in the Amazon and many other places on this planet. It hasn't gone out of style yet.

2012 is not the end of the world, but the way we are mozeying along it might as well be. We shape our world. Everyday. Gaia must be getting sick of us by now. I am too at times. Luckily there are many people and increasingly more so I see who wish to create better more wholesome ways to live. It's encouraging indeed. What are you willing to do?

not just about green

I can spot several today, for example:


Have to versus Want to:

• food: I want to eat meat that has had a great life so I "want to" only eat that, as both Nico and I don't like supporting the meat abattoirs aka animal concentration camps (the horrors that happen in there are beyond belief, it makes me feel sick ). So hence we keep our own cattle and ALSO see them come to their end in our paddock. We care about our animals a lot. They actually die happily, if you can call it that. And we are sad when it happens, but at least we know what we eat.
• vegetable garden: we "want to" eat veggies without pesticides and therefor can enjoy the bounty that comes out of our garden. The carrots are absolutely amazing.
• home: we "want to" have the least impact on the environment so are working towards having a house that is self sustainable, and one that doesn't use diesel to heat the radiators. This choice makes things harder, but also more responsible and less wasteful in future. It makes us feel better!
• work: we actually discovered that we "have to" less then we thought. We're doing our homework regarding what we really "want to" do in order to establish this reality. It is a lot of fun planning that future!
• design-work: I "want to" use GREEN materials for my design products. Therefor I "want to" find them. It's not so much a choice for me as almost a requirement, a necessity. My tea towels at the moment are not eco so I am looking at other options. At least my future cushion designs will be printed on organic cotton, so I would like to find a tea towel material that is green too.

So in short: have you thought about what you have to do versus what you want to do? Do you really have to do or use all that stuff? Do you need to? Are there alternatives? 

And really: isn't it cool how other ways can actually work just as well, if not better?

Read Simon Mainwaring's excellent post too on: "Lessons from BP and bankers: The need for a more Sustainable Future".

freshness

Sometimes I feel I am repeating myself, but let's face it: many ideas or things  seem to come back to us, by reminding us of something we have seen or experienced previously. Nowadays many things get a new jacket and they are out the door.


When was the last time you were genuinely surprised to find anything that made you stop and think, or at least made you realize that indeed this was a rare find! Was it yesterday, last week or a month ago? Then there's the 'eye of the beholder' aspect, so what could be an absolute gem to you could mean worthless crap to another. I'm just saying. Doesn't that make it fun though? I think so. (And no I'm not doing the chocolate box quote that would be SO obvious.)


So what I spotted today made me say: how clever is THAT! Now what is it?

Doesn't it look beautiful? This is how you whip it up: simple recipe! By Yoav Reches, artist.

(With big thanks to Richard of Bitrebels who always has great posts.)

Then I came across another read today, which details how there is now more and more a trend of seeing great design become accessible to those with less big-a-wallets. There are even designs that you as the consumer will need to finish off. The concept makes great sense, is fun and could even be considered "green" for a variety of reasons. (Read about the ins and outs of this post here on Fastcompany.)

And why is this interesting? Because to me this not new as an idea, but it is very current in todays market. What excites me is that the combining of whimsy, finishing it off yourself and the "green" of it has great marketing potential and opportunity. An almost self made unique design, fabricated locally, at low cost to the consumer, easy peasy fun solution. Very Ponoko too. If that doesn't spin your wheels as a creative I don't know what will. 

My brain fizz is already humming away, thinking on how this could be implemented. And that very way of thinking was also described by Gary Vaynerchuk, who's book "Crush it" I finally finished, having only had about 20 pages to go last Wednesday. His book details very well how entrepreneurs have to keep their eyes peeled for things popping up left, right and center, and what snazzy dish you can create from it yourself. Tasty stuff.

Note: Klout who analyse your Twitterness, assessed me as such, which I found amusing: @bonvivantmiriam is a Curator

You highlight the most interesting people and find the best content on the web and share it to a wide audience. You are a critical information source to your network. You have an amazing ability to filter massive amounts of content to surface the nuggets that your audience truly care about. Your hard work is very much appreciated.

green allure

Aside from my goaties I have a passion for everything green, Eco and organic. Today Miranda Brown, a New Zealand fashion and textile designer, popped up on my twitter account and I woke up to the fact that I had come across her work before. I remembered that besides making exquisite work, that she is also very conscious about what she does, and how. Green and bland definitely do not have to go hand in hand, her work is certainly Eco conscious and alluring.

“When I was five, I sewed my Barbie clothes and when I was 12 I made my first three-piece woollen suit. My mum and my grandma sewed. I’ve always had this feeling for textile. I know it.”

Brown studied a degree in consumer and applied sciences and later travelled to Japan, where she learnt shibori – a Japanese tie-dying method. Back home, she worked as the chief dyer for the costumes on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“I am designing here, using New Zealand wool and working close to the market. I’m not interested in manufacturing in China – environmentally it’s just another nail in the coffin.

“Everything is interconnected, when you look around at the biodiversity, we are just a part of this world. It’s obvious that if you want to be connected to this earth, you don’t want to shit in your backyard. Why would you?

(picture from Essenze studio; here)

From her Auckland studio, Brown employs a full time dyer, a pattern-cutter and a team of contract machinists. She could presumably get a whole lot more ping in her profit margin if she dropped a few principles.

“The Antarctic is melting so much faster than scientists thought. We are killing species and we are killing ourselves. So that’s why I’m motivated. If you look at resources, how designers make things is really important.”

(All quotes and text above from The Listener, full article here)

The integrity of MBCC is in sustainable design with a focus on merino wool (up to 70% of MBCC brand is made from merino wool sourced in NZ), organic cottons and natural fibres. Collected by Te Papa, Miranda Brown is recognized for her creative innovation of New Zealand wool

(text info from Greenlist here)

Miranda's website show beautiful photographs of her work, and the dyeing process that I wasn't able to showcase on my blog well enough, have a look here. So inspiring and wonderful to see that green is indeed as strong and appealing as ever!


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genuine

Today is a day of kind, sweet and decent people. They come and see me, they email me, they facebook post me, they tweet, and they text. (Funny enough they haven't phoned.) I, in turn, send messages to these wonderful beings bless them. 


All these happy folk have in common that they are genuine, love to be genuine and want to have friends who are equally 'genuine'. How straightforward is that? I'm loving it. So I proclaim today to be Genuine Day from henceforth just for the sake of it. 


While we are on the subject, there is a New Zealand organisation called "Forest and Bird". They protect wildlife and are currently on a mission to prevent chunks of precious native land to be turned into mining harvesting dead lands. I wholeheartedly support their initiative and have designed 3 T-Shirts for them that can support their cause. (see below)

"The 7000 hectares at immediate threat have all received 'schedule 4' protection from mining because of their special features – the plants and animals, the habitats and their special landscapes. Forest & Bird wants to see the ongoing protection of these special areas.

Mining in any of these presently protected areas will further imperil our threatened species, destroy important habitat and leave us with contaminated waterways, scarred landscapes, erosion problems and  - in the worse case scenario - an almighty clean-up bill from 'orphaned mines'.

Moreover, it will severely tarnish our 'clean, green' image.Mining inevitably damages or destroys habitat, and the native plants, birds, bats, insects and frogs they contain."

Always groovy to support a green campaign, empowering "genuine" goals and people. If all of us think other people will do the good work for us, then it doesn't happen. Get out there and help others who need a hand. What free time have you given to someone recently just to make them grow?

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the art sense of nonsense

At the moment I'm working on new textile designs for Hemptech (and myself too). It's the putting together of that which doesn't make sense and also does make sense, at the same time. It's a controversial process. I tried to team up clover with various items, have filed away pics of pelicans, and suddenly have a brainwave about implementing knives, forks and spoons. Where that came from, nobody knows. Least of all me, my brain associates the craziest things.


Today I came across a designer, who also finds the 'outside life' helpful in keeping her ideas "fresh". I don't have to tell you that reading about a designer who has a farming background (or someone who still IS a farmer) is a joyous occasion for me. It's the moooo aspect that rocks the kazba. In this case, designer Matali Crasset spoke to Fastcompany about the benefits and all enticing aspects about the quirky in art. (The quirky can be so under valuated. I mean what can be more hilarious then murky quirky? Exactly.) 

This lady has right handedly come up with a domestic UFO (always handy those), a coat hanger that transforms in a bed (good to hang around in) and some goofy interiors. No wonder she is French and well known throughout the quadrant. 


Recently she has produced kitchen utensils for Alessi (pic above). She says about these: 
" I start by giving intention to an object and I start drawing only at the end. I don't draw to shapes; the shapes are coming from themselves. For example, with the bowl, I just had a vision of one bowl and I wanted to make it more practical. To be two bowls. And I combined them." 
So what does the farming life mean to her?
"You know I come from a small village of 80 farmers. I am kind of an ET. I had nothing to do with this kind of culture when I was growing up. For me it's easier to break codes because I'm still not inside. The best you can have in a collaboration is to have this outside look. And that's my position."
(Read the whole post later here. Source: Fastcompany) 


I also read about a Canadian pigfarmer lady, who like me, has to look after animals by herself usually. She got inventive (thats' what you do if you have to tend to animals and not be pummeled to the ground, have them dash out the fields or see you poking yourself with the drench gun.) What did she do? She invented a roller that dispenses a swath of red cloth--a sort of farm version of the retractable "lane guides" that movie theaters use. 

She had noticed that the hogs didn't like a red material moving about and she could use this idea instead of electric prodding to move them where she wanted them to go. This is industrial genius. And very self sufficient I must say.
(Source Core77, whole post here)


So: the outdoorsy life can inspire us in various forms! Whether you own a green pasture or not, thinking outside of the concrete box is groovy. So if you like to have a bit of zesty farm design right at home, to uplift you, try these:

Japanese artist Koshi Kawachi takes old Japanese graphic novels and carefully adds a few radish seeds to create miniature indoor farms.
(source: greenmuze)
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So who says oddball-ism doesn't pay off? It turns out that it can be very practical indeed.
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free marketing

so what's the story here?
Goats can be useful. They munch, they are fully eco operational and they provide free cuddles when interested. On top of that: you have yourself a weeds clearing operation. Why didn't I think of this? RENTAGOAT: now available in various breeds to suit your lifestyle... Nico we might have a more sensible use for our fluffy flowers after all (aside from the Angoran wool and the future milking.)

and what's the free marketing? Seeing is believing people.