Who Should Sponsor Our Umbrella Contests???
by Kyeann Sayer, Nomad on 04. 5.06
Have you seen non-biodegradable umbrella carcasses littered on the sidewalks after a storm? We have. Soon, TreeHugger and ID Magazine (along with Plenty, The Sustainable Style Foundation, and Earth Pledge) will announce a pair of design competitions called Umbrella Inside Out. The first competition involves designing a sturdy, sustainable umbrella. The second, fashion component asks for outfits made from discarded umbrellas. You get the idea: we want to encourage innovation around both sustainable design and smart re-use. TreeHugger readers will count down the finalists, who will then be judged in real-world venues by prestigious judges, with cool to-dos and a spread in ID to follow. But in order to create eco-fabulous events and generate the kind of attention we’d like, we, of course, need sponsorship dollars! What companies would you like to see supporting the competitions and getting all sorts of cred for making them happen? Tell us and we'll see what they think...
How about Mandarina Duck, the luggage designers? They're definitely innovators design-wise, although, upon inspection of their website, I noticed that PVC finds it's way into some of their designs. But a competition like UIO could lead them to turn a green leaf.
Until you figure out a new umbrella design, my vote is for ShedRain. I have its Jumbo Compact model and it's great. It doesn't go inside out in wind and telescopes to a 54" arc yet closes to only 15".
Looking forward to your improvements in materials.
I would approach Bill McDonough and Michael Braughgart, authors of the book "Cradle to Cradle" and founders of MDBC, a design firm dedicated to revolutionizing the design of products worldwide. Rather than using the traditional "Cradle to grave" concept of production, they are designing products to be made and remade over and over again. To anyone interested in design and pushing their creative juices to the limit, read their book!
I don't think this has made it to production yet, but it is a completely different umbrella design that seems like a more intelligent design.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/3967/
My company is the agency for a wind energy company that operates turbine parks. being eco in nature, i'd love more information on sponsoring this. somebody please contact me directly.
dm
Patagonia would be a great fit.
I'm a full-time student at Virginia Tech, and we have a fashion design program here. Our school is part of a treaty that promotes eco-friendly living, and they really do try to promote ecologically-minded/globally-conscious living. One of their manufacturers for clothing/Hokie gear is American Apparel. All of the intro Chem labs have to do end-of-year projects on an environmental concern of choice. Thus, I think that this university would love to sponsor such an event. It would be a great project for the design students. I think the whole campus would enjoy the fun, inventive, youthful competition as well. We host events/concerts/ etc. all the time, and I'm sure we'd be able to host something like this, too. If the design has anything to do with a VT logo, who knows, it could end up for sale in campus merchandise :D (Even sometimes not, they offer just about anything at those campus stores these days!)