This year’s IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) Northeast Conference celebrating the top minds in Industrial Design was inspiring, enlightening and hopeful. World-renowned artist, graphic designer, computer scientist and President of RISD, John Maeda kicked off the event with an unconventional key note speech where he opened up the floor to eight current RISD students from a variety of disciplines while he served as stenographer for their panel discussion. The focus of the discussion explored how the learning process has changed and they have molded their own education experience inside and outside of the classroom.

It’s clear that the way we learn has changed immensely in the last decade. It used to be that lectures, discussions and labs formulated the bulk of a formal education, but as all of the students on the panel would attest, their educational experiences have been greatly enriched by the collaborations with other students, exploring the design process through collaborations on Quirky.com, branching out across multiple disciplines to enhance learning, engaging with the community and online instruction through You-Tube and RISD’s own quickies – student taught and organized workshops, a peer to peer learning experience.

What was interesting to note was that only one initial introductions to President John Maeda were made face to face, the rest were as a result of social media or technology. Either through Twitter, You-Tube, Facebook, and e-mail, which is truly as sign that the times have changed particularly in such a small school setting as RISD.

Students included in the panel discussion were: Carly Ayres – Industrial Design, 2013; Jessica Herron – Film Animation, 2011; Greg Nemes – Masters of Architecture, 2012; Peter Simon – Industrial Design, 2011; Ian Storm-Taylor – Graphic Design; Mackenzie Younger – Painting, 2011; and Jake Zien – Graphic Design 2012.

Chairs from ICFF 2010 (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) Javits Center, NYC:

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Attendance felt a little sparse at the down:2:earth conference this year with not nearly as much foot traffic as years past which is unfortunate because the show is a great platform for getting the word out about local green events, products and organizations and to learn how to make small steps in your life to live greener. Even the main hall even felt a little more vacant even though there were 90 vendors listed. Perhaps that is because the lectures, discussions and workshops took more of a center stage this year.  Regardless, it is a great venue to meet with green business leaders, designers, builders, manufacturers, organizations and, for what clearly was a highlight to many visitors, purveyors of organic food and drink.

The lectures and discussions did fill up, drawing crowds of concerned citizens and students.  We sat in on a conversation with NPR’s Robin Young  and Laury Hammel, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston. He’s  a riot and a tireless ambassador for greening local businesses. If you are a small business looking to find out how to curb your carbon footprint and cut down on your energy bills, I would definitely recommend getting in touch with him to find out what small changes you can make that will really add up. He saved one company an average of $1200/month on utility bills!

Bill Reed’s discussion of the Integrative Design Collaborative discussion of the Living Systems Design concept was quite powerful. His theory of integrated design goes a step beyond the current LEED standards and assesses the relationships of all the components involved instead of separating out and looking at aspects of design individually, as is the case with the LEED system. Each element of the design is assigned a point value that adds up to the whole, but how do those parts interact? Incredibly powerful to watch ecosystems transform when you look at the whole, at what happens above and below, what happens when the river slows, what happens when concrete replaces rock, what happens when beavers move away taking their damns with them and how they affects the landscape. We have gotten away from being stewards of the land and it is really amazing what happens when we start to pay attention to more than just the surface. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his lectures, I definitely recommend it.

Hopefully the show will continue to attract these high caliber lecturers who have dedicated their lives to protecting the planet and spreading the word about how to live a greener life.

Photos from Down:2:Earth 2010:

DIFFA’s Dining by Design exhibit at the 2010 Architectural Digest Home Design Show was definitely an experience. The exhibit featured dozens of dining room creations by designers and design students.  The lights were turned down shining the spotlight on each of the lavish, whimsical and fantastical dining room installations leaving you feeling as if you were walking through a gallery of still lifes.  Each room was a complete escape from the ordinary – several of which would have been perfectly suited for a Mad Hatter style tea party…..

Here are some shots from the exhibit:

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