The Interior Design Shows’ inaugural Conversations in Design launched on January 21, 2010. Leading designers from around the globe were invited to imagine A World Without Oil at an all-day symposium in Toronto. They shared their practical experiences in sustainable design, and dare to dream of a society that is no longer dependent on oil. The symposium provided critical insight to new and alternative practices, materials, technologies and products. It challenged its audience to think outside the box, and ultimately illuminate and inspire on the provocative subject of A World Without Oil. 

The all-day symposium was overwhelmingly received by over 300 architects, business executives, interior and industrial designers in attendance. The talks will be posted on the site shortly.

Conversations in Design will return next year on January 27 2011. The topic, list of speakers and location will be announced in Fall 2010.
 

The symposium is recognized by the Interior Design Continuing Education Council (IDCEC) and attendees can claim 0.6 CEUs for full day and 0.3 CEUs for half day.

8:00 – 8:45 BREAKFAST

Symposium moderator, Jesse Ashlock is a journalist specializing in design, technology, culture, and innovation. He has been the editor of I.D., V Man, and RES magazines, TribecaFilm.com, and Epitonic.com. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, BusinessWeek, I.D., Print, V, V Man, RES, Paper, and other publications.

Mirko Zardini is the Director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), in Montréal, a post which he has occupied since 2005. Mirko’s writings and design projects engage the transformation of contemporary architecture and its relationship with the city and landscape. Mirko opened the symposium by looking at the 1973 oil crisis as a period, which revealed a rich diversity of possible design responses to energy scarcity.

Fritz Haeg is an architect, artist and landscape designer based in Los Angeles who transforms domestic landscapes into productive, connecting spaces for urban food production. He discussed the possibilities for integrating wild elements back into our cities, as evidenced in his on-going series of projects, including the front yard gardens of Edible Estates, and the urban wildlife homes of Animal Estates. Showing images of the eight regional prototype gardens planted so far, and the six city editions of animal homes, Fritz questioned how we live in the cities, neighborhoods, and homes that we inherit from previous generations. Collectively the projects serve as modest models, prototypes, and strategies that anyone can pick up and make their own, customized for their location and tastes. Fritz is author of Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn and has produced projects and work for the Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum of American Art and Mass MoCa.

10:15 – 10:30 COFFEE BREAK

MODERATED BY NELDA RODGER, AZURE

Dutch born and currently residing in France, industrial designer Tord Boontje is credited for renewing romanticism and ornament in product design. He was in conversation with architect engineer Enrico Bressan, co-founder of the innovative housewares company Artecnica, about global sustainable sourcing and collaboration with artisans to transform new and recycled materials into concrete objects. Tord and Enrico’s vision to “design with conscious” reflects their significant endeavour to infuse social and environmental responsibility into design. Nelda Rodger, editor-in-chief of Azure, moderated the session.
 

Sheila Kennedy is a principal of Kennedy & Violich Architecture Ltd. (KVA) and a Professor of the Practice of Architecture at MIT. Designated as one of Fast Company's Masters of Design, Sheila is described as an "insightful and original thinker who is designing new ways of working, innovating and leading." Winner of the 2009 Energy Globe Award and Tech Museum Laureate Award (for high impact innovators who are benefiting humanity), she presented KVA's ground breaking work on the design of new materials that are transforming the use, form and experience of clean energy--from mobile, energy harvesting textiles for the developing world, to smart, zero energy housing for the international IBA in Hamburg, and the SOFT CITIES project in Portugal.



In his talk, visionary and innovator designer Bruce Mau shared his optimism by painting a picture with ideas of a future civilization that does not rely on oil, but instead thrives on alternative energy sources. His look into a flourishing 21st century explored exciting developments in urban planning, social philanthropy, material science, radical economics, architecture, and social networking to demonstrate that change in energy is within reach.

LUNCH ON SITE 12:30 –1:30

Trained as a process Engineer, Thomas Auer is a managing director of Transsolar, a leading climate-engineering firm based in Stuttgart, Munich and New York. He collaborates with KPMB, Behnisch Architekten, Greg Lynn and others in designing buildings and urban developments with high comfort and low impact. Thomas Auer discussed how Transsolar develops and validates innovative climate and energy concepts through the recognition all aspects and stages of design that influence environmental conditions. He showed that the application of a future “world without oil” in design can provide better environments.



Ted Howes is IDEO’s Energy Domain Global Lead. IDEO, located in Palo Alto is a global design consultancy, ranked by Fast Company as one of the top ten most innovative companies of 2009. The world of energy is in flux- how we generate, transmit, distribute, store, use and share energy is changing. With these shifts come new relationships and new ways for people to connect around energy. Ted argued that if we are to change how we use energy as well as what we use for energy, then we need to redesign energy to make it experiential, tangible and connective.

Todd Wood is the Vice President of Industrial Design at Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the BlackBerry wireless devices, systems and services. He has primary responsibility for the look and feel of BlackBerry branded products. Todd discussed some of the challenges and paradoxes that he, as a designer, faces when trying to integrate sustainability into practice.

3:00 – 3:15 COFFEE BREAK

Tucker Viemeister, designer of the widely-acclaimed Oxo "GoodGrips" kitchen tool, and currently head of the Lab at Rockwell Group in New York City, and David Quan, Senior Designer of Umbra, a leading manufacturer of stylish plastic housewares, had a candid conversation about the use of plastic in product design. They discussed the issues of recycling, toxicity and biodegradability as well as organic plastic alternatives. With filmmaker Ian Connacher, director of the controversial documentary "Addicted to Plastic," as moderator.

Biomimicry is a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies that are well-adapted to life on earth long into the future. Biomimics around the world are learning to grow food like a prairie, harness energy like a leaf, create color like a peacock, find cures like a chimp, compute like a cell, and run a business like a redwood forest. Bio-inspired designs are elegant, functional, and, not surprisingly, sustainable as well. After all, our models are organisms that manufacture without "heat, beat, and treat" methods, and ecosystems that run on sunlight and feedback, creating opportunities rather than waste. Dr. Dayna Baumeister, co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild, described what's new in the field, described deep patterns of biological design, and engaged us in a discussion of what's possible when we invite nature to the design table.

5:00 – 6:00 COCKTAILS

Supported by:

For further inquiries please contact:

Rachel Gotlieb
prototype@interiordesignshow.com
416.960.4509