GreenHouse Effect: Sustainable Concepts for the Home from Orca Design
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03.12.08
In conjunction with the Singapore Design Festival, Orca Design launched an exhibition called GreenHouse Effect, featuring a handful of designs conceived not only for sustainability, but to really change the way we interact with and use our stuff. Taking things we use every day and tweaking them to perform greener, the conceptual collection propagates the idea that the "eco" should be a regular part of everything we do.
"Bottleneck Saver," above, is one part of this equation. The remarkably simple little doodad reminds us that "a little goes a long way" as it wraps around the neck of soap/lotion/other pump bottles, cutting back the volume of each pump. Using as much as before is still possible, but you have to want it twice as bad.
Further proving that "Eco should relate to our ways of life" is "Black-Out Light," a table lamp that doubles as a flashlight. The idea here: products with more function are better than products with less; if you can get double duty out of one object, that's one less object that you need to have in the first place.
They're all just concepts, at this point, but they're all worth looking at, for the ideas driving them, at least. The basic idea behind them all: sustainable design should easily relate to our way of life and manner of living; green for the sake of green isn't enough. Learn more about the exhibition -- it was on display late last year -- and dig deeper into the concepts at ::Orca Design via ::Core77
what about the concept that no products are better than products with multiple functions.
Sure these designs are clever, but they miss the point completely by justifying that the way we do things is fine and to make sure that they are a little better than fine all you have to do is buy something!
I understand where Glenn is coming from. The mindset of most people is a major part of the problem, however that mindset isn't going to simply change overnight. In much the same way that we all know we need to find a "Zero Air Pollution" solution to the transportation and manufacturing problems the problem isn't going to be an easy one to tackle. We have to identify where we want to go with each individual solution and then we have to act upon a plan to get there. Many of those strategies will result in "transitional technologies" that aren't designed as a long-term solution, but rather a way to get to where we want to go. The Plug In Hybrid could easily qualify as one example of a transitional technology. We don't want the gas engine part, but until we have a stable and defined technology and support infrastructure the Hybrid will suffice. These products are great examples of clever thought and engineering. If they do make out into the mass market arena, and gain popularity, than that is one step closer to altering the mindset of the populace at large. That is just my two cents though.
oh my god ... singapore again .... singapore really knows how to act like they really care about the environment .... give me a break ... they will choose $$ instead of environment ....
I think this a nice idea to fusion eco and design and spread it.
I'd just like to know if building and selling things to prevent other things to polluate is really that helpful for environment...
great design, but kind of silly. can't you just push lighter on the pump?
1 or 2 cool ideas, like the lamp or the table with a bin, but they're really stretching the green value of these products. The products ARE silly. Like the stickers or the 2nd-life note pad? Did they really need a design festival to come up with this stuff?! It's just simple ideas we do anyway but re-packaged to be eco-trendy! Oh, and the cup lasso? Read the description for why it's a green product; it's kind of appalling.
The soap-ring-thing is brilliant! It will save you money and helps a little bit. It's those small things that are obviously good, that make people start thinking.
Well, pretty lot critics appeared. But are designers really the ones responsible for actual situation and able to change thought of billions of people at once? I know orca design isn't any wooow , but some of their ideas are really simple and witty and.. I would surely buy them if I could find them here in some shop. I know, I'm designer and my thinking is bit influenced by this fact, but how could people change their way of thinking if they do not even get a chance to buy a bit more "greener". And although I'm sometimes nervous about too often used words such as "sustainable", "green" , "eco" I think products that inspire to such discussion are great way to share opinions and look for good solutions..