Eco Fashion World

There is no disputing that all great contemporary design translates to ‘design for a living world’. Design as a discipline should, by now, be synonymous with ‘good design’ and sustainable design practice, but until this is indeed the norm, we can still count on visionary curators and designers to create waves on the sustainability frontier. Enter renowned graphic designer Abbott Miller and Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and their much-anticipated exhibition, Design for a Living World. Currently on view on Manhattan’s Upper East side, this design showcase demonstrates hope as much as it does master craftsmanship, particularly when it comes to teaching seasoned designers new tricks.

Ten leading designers were commissioned by the museum to develop new uses for sustainably grown and harvested materials in order to explore the life-cycle of these materials via product design that celebrates both conservation and design. The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum also teamed up with The Nature Conservancy to showcase biodiversity in varying locales where the designers did their research and the collaborations occurred.

The exhibition’s featured designers and places include Yves Behar/Costa Rica; Stephen Burks/Australia; Hella Jongerius/Mexico; Maya Lin/Maine; Christien Meindertsma/Idaho; Isaac Mizrahi/Alaska ; Abbott Miller/Bolivia; Ted Muehling/Micronesia; Kate Spade/Bolivia; and Ezri Tarazi/China. The exhibit’s sustainable style designs are the real exotic stand-outs as Mizrahi, Spade, and Muehling craft designs out of recycled salmon leather, indigenous Bolivian fiber and wood, and carved ivory nut palm. One comes away realizing just how homogenous and harmful fashion has been over the years with materials that strip the natural world of its limited resources as well as couture and accessories of real texture and appeal. Design for a Living World, is also a standout in fashion-forward thinking with its green exhibition design, which Lupton writes about in detail on the Cooper Hewitt’s Design Blog http://blog.cooperhewitt.org/.  

Design for a Living World is on view in NYC until January 4, 2010.

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