Modern Trends - Going Back To Nature

Plastics, once seemed chic and beautiful, but will be out of fashion soon, writes Financial Times columnist Clive Aslet in his December 6, 2008 article. He argues that plastics will become like smoking and fatty foods; they will go out of fashion big time and will be replaced by wooden office furniture products. This movement, as he calls it, is a "modern metamorphosis" emphasizing environmental correctness and consciousness. And in this quest, the new trend is recycled furniture.

William McDonough and Michael Braungart, however, do not agree with this statement. McDonough, an architect and his co-author, Braungart, a chemist, in their highly acclaimed book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, argues for a concept of design that gives products extra lifecycles. The book can be read as a manifesto calling for the transformation of human industry through ecologically intelligent design. According to the authors, the conflict between industry and the environment is a product of purely opportunistic design, certainly not an indictment of commerce. They also argue that the Industrial Revolution created the design of products and manufacturing systems whose consequences were not known at the time, and turned out to be tragic in the end (http://www.mcdonough.com).

Thus, the new design paradigm that they introduce offers practical steps on innovation in today`s highly volatile economic environment such as the effectiveness of nutrient cycling, the abundance of the sun`s energy. They believe that we can create products, industrial systems, and buildings, even regional plans that allow nature and industry to co-exist and co-habitate (http://www.mcdonough.com).

The authors argue that they are influenced by Chinese culture and agriculture which has its foundations in the idea that human beings can coexist and have a mutually beneficial relationship with the biological world. Chinese civilization owes its success to the fundamental understanding of the regenerative, cradle-to-cradle nutrient flows that enrich the soil.

What they call a new design for human enterprise is based on the principles that seek social benefits, ecological intelligence and economic value simultaneously. As such, they are guided by the Hannover Principles, a set of design guidelines developed in 1992 by the authors, which introduces a framework for intelligent design:

* Insist on the rights of humanity and nature to coexist in a healthy, supportive, diverse and sustainable condition.

* Recognize interdependence by recognizing even distant effects.

* Respect relationships between spirit and matter.

* Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems and their right to coexist.

* Create safe objects of long-term value.

* Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems, in which there is no waste.

* Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.

* Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not as an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.

* Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long-term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.

MAiSPACE, the leader in the contract furniture industry, is also a manufacturer, one that is able to recover its valuable materials and reuse them in safely and profitably in new products, as the authors suggest. We also take pride in our office system furniture products that come from recycled materials. Unlike most office systems, which are filled with fiberglass that doesn`t break down in landfills and is a source of airborne glass, our office furniture products are made from post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from ground up soda bottles. Much of the steel and aluminum in products have also been recycled. With the huge number of plastic containers being discarded, we are happy to find a use for much of this material.