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".

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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