2011NortheastDistrictConferencehp

Because some speakers are still finalizing and polishing their presentations, we will add their presentation information on a continuing basis as it is received. Please check back often for the latest updates.

It is clear to many in the design community that it is time for industrial designers to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their designs and to move towards a sustainable future. The problem is figuring out how to create that change effectively. Speakers will discuss their unique approaches to Design4 A Healthy Planet.

Saturday, April 9: 4:15-5:15 PM

• Puma Vision (individual TBA)

• Making Different: Lessons from the Innovation Studio
  If design is to address the profound environmental challenges of this century, designers cannot simply make better, they must make different.  For the past ten years, the Rhode Island School of Design’s Innovation Studio has been an incubator for making different.  Participate in an inspirational discussion of the studio’s methods as well as the projects that it has launched.
  Charlie Cannon Associate Professor of Industrial Design, Rhode Island School of Design and Co-Founder, LOCAL Architecture Research Design
  
  
• Pratt IDSA Student Chapter Project 2010: Santa Maria de Ostuma farm, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
  One of Pratt IDSA Student Chapter’s objectives is to introduce students to opportunities in which they can be involved and challenged with real world experiences and applications.  This year IDSA’s Student Chapter and Pratt’s Center for Sustainability co-sponsored a research project and field trip to Santa Maria de Ostuma, located in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. A group of 11 Pratt industrial design students, led by adjunct professor Karen Stone, engaged in research and study of the social and cultural characteristics of the Sta Maria de Ostuma community.  Students explored a different natural environment and gained knowledge of a distinctive culture. They learned about the relationship between the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of Sta Maria de Ostuma and found ways they could contribute, as good citizens of the world, to help improve the quality of life and the environment through good design solutions.
  Karen Stone, director of design, Knoll Inc.

Workshops
Friday, April 8, 11 AM - 12:30 PM

• Opportunities for Sustainability
  This workshop will explore how designers' can integrate sustainability into their workflow. We will provide a few case studies as to how design has impacted product footprint, and we will discuss some of the main criteria that are important when it comes to sustainability. We will look at the Ecolect Product Nutrition Label as well as other third party ratings that can help benchmark performance and aid in the honest marketing of a product’s environmental attributes while increasing buyer confidence and inspiring a more efficient way of designing and manufacturing. We will highlight some tools and resources for ecological design as well as describe strategies for integrating environmental performance into products.

Matt Grigsby, principal, Ecolect

2011 IDSA Northeast Conference