Greengaged is a not for profit organisation founded in 2008 by Sophie Thomas from thomas.matthews, Sarah Johnson from Re Design and Anne Chick from The Sustainable Design Research Centre at Kingston University.
Greengaged aims to advance the design industry’s capacity to respond positively to key environmental challenges such as climate change. This is done by offering thought leadership, creating spaces for dialogue, and opportunities for knowledge sharing - within the industry and beyond.
Sophie runs the communication design agency thomas.matthews, a trail-blazer in innovative sustainable design, which she co-founded in 1998. She is an ambassador for the cause through her lecturing and in her role as trustee to the Design Council and has co-founded the designer’s resource Three Trees Don’t Make A Forest.
Sarah runs the social enterprise [re]design an organisation that propagates sustainable actions through design. [re]design promote products and projects that are friendly to people and planet, and partner with a wide range of organisations to pioneer sustainable innovation.
Anne is Director of the Sustainable Design Research Centre and heads up the new MA on Design for Development at Kingston University. She has been an academic pioneer in sustainability for over fifteen years and her sustainable design research, knowledge transfer and educational work are acknowledged worldwide.
With an array of socially focused clients under her belt, Kate is an independent communications designer and consultant. In 2008, Kate set up and led the digital communications for greengaged and has since joined the team to assist its invaluable online presence. Kate is currently studying an MA in Design Writing Criticism at London College of Communication.
Posted by Bonnie Alter on Sep 30, 2009 at 05:13 PM | 0 comments
photo by: Rhea Daley-Serieux
On Wednesday, Greengaged warmly welcomed Michael Pawlyn, founder of Exploration Architecture to the curatorial stand. Before being joined by his speakers Melissa Sterry, Belina Raffy, Julian Vincent and Andy Middleton, Pawlyn began his day entitled "Biomimicry in Design: Learning from Nature" with his definition; "Biomimcry is looking at nature as a source of new sustainable solutions.”
Posted by Kate Andrews on Sep 29, 2009 at 04:00 PM | 0 comments
photos by Travis Drever
Showcasing great examples of award-winning British design, the "Window on Design" at the Design Council offices in Covent Garden had a green inspired project on display during the Greengaged 2009 week! For those of you who didn't get the chance to see the display, we wanted to share the project with you.
Founded by Richard Sabin and Mark Laurence, BioTecture Ltd is dedicated to designing and implementing green wall systems for buildings and the built environment. BioTecture’s modular green wall system* have enabled sphagnum moss, spider plants and salad leaves to be grown up the sides of office blocks and schools and even inside shops. The green walls can help keep spaces cooler in summer and warm in winter.
Posted by Kate Andrews on Sep 22, 2009 at 04:47 PM | 0 comments
Is biomimicry at the core of your design process? Join Michael Pawlyn tomorrow at Greengaged to find out how it could be! All those in attendance tomorrow will be given the opportunity to win a place on a small group tour around The Economic Botany Collection at Kew Gardens, with Collections Manager Mark Nesbitt. Register here for the last few places at Biomimicry in Design: Learning from Nature.
Posted by Kate Andrews on Sep 14, 2009 at 10:44 PM | 0 comments
On Wednesday, 23rd September, Michael Pawlyn, founder of Exploration Architecture, will host day three of this years greengaged hub, Biomimicry in Design: Learning from Nature. Join Michael Pawlyn, a pioneer of biomimetic architecture, and other prominent thinkers in this rapidly emerging area of design for this day of astounding talks and inspiring workshops. If ants can make zero waste, solar powered, sustainable architecture; how can we apply their ‘intelligence’ and 3.5 billion years of research and development to human focused, sustainable design?
Read more about the day after the jump... and click here to book your place now!
Posted by Kate Andrews on Jul 22, 2009 at 08:26 PM | 0 comments
During a TED Talks binge earlier this month, I found myself watching 'Yann Arthus Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle'. As GoodPlanet Fundation President, and the brains behind both The Earth from Above and the socially insightful project 6 Billion Others, Yann Arthus Bertrand is someone I am continually inspired by. Self-described as "an ode to the planet's beauty and its delicate harmony" his latest project is a documentary film called HOME, in which you are taken on a unique journey around the planet, through the landscapes of 54 countries - all captured from above.
Posted by Kate Andrews on Jun 26, 2009 at 02:30 PM | 0 comments
photo by: Kate Andrews
During last September, Greengaged '08 was pleased to unveil the exclusive news of Professor Michael Braungart's revised introduction to the UK edition of ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things’. We were then lucky enough, on Monday 22nd September, to have Braungart close the penultimate day of Greengaged '08, with a lecture at London's Royal Society of Arts, where he discussed material assessments, waste and energy balances, and life-cycle design. Following his engaging lecture, Braungart was joined in conversation with science and culture of materials writer Philip Ball, and to launch the first of our weekly podcasts from last years events we are pleased to offer you access to hear that very conversation...
(Click here to download the MP3 file directly. You may need to Cntrl/Right-click and save as a file.)
Posted by Kate Andrews on Jun 22, 2009 at 07:32 AM | 0 comments
Bringing together key figures since the 1960s who have created utopian works and inspiring solutions for our ever-changing planet, Radical Nature–Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet (1969–2009) is the current art and design exhibition open until 18 Oct 2009 at London's Barbican Centre. "The beauty and wonder of nature have provided inspiration for artists and architects for centuries. Since the 1960s, the increasingly evident degradation of the natural world and the effects of climate change have brought a new urgency to their responses."
Radical Nature draws on ideas that have emerged out of Land Art, environmental activism, experimental architecture and utopianism. The exhibition is designed as one fantastical landscape, with each piece introducing into the gallery space a dramatic portion of nature. Work by pioneering figures such as the architectural collective Ant Farm and visionary architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, artists Joseph Beuys, Agnes Denes, Hans Haacke and Robert Smithson are shown alongside pieces by a younger generation of practitioners including Heather and Ivan Morison, R&Sie(n), Philippe Rahm architects and Simon Starling. Radical Nature also features specially commissioned and restaged historical installations, some of which are located in the outdoor spaces around the Barbican while a satellite project by the architectural collective EXYZT is situated off site.
The RSA Art & Ecology network have offered a sneak insight into this must see environmental exhibition. If you have been to the show already or are planning on attending any of the forthcoming talks and events do let us know your thoughts!
Posted by Kate Andrews on Jun 17, 2009 at 04:26 PM | 0 comments
photo by: Kate Andrews
Welcome everyone to the new and improved Greengaged website! After an energetic ten days at London Design Festival 2008, the Greengaged hub is taking brand new directions for 2009 and beyond! We have gained international recognition for the events of last summer and the discussions and debates we raised are far too important for us to leave in the past. So, we have been working hard to build a better digital presence, that will allow for more accessible information and knowledge to this years events, and the future of the Greengaged hub!
For live news, updates, new events, new posts and commentary you can follow us on Twitter @Greengaged. To get involved with discussions add #Greengaged to your tweets!
—posted by Sophie Thomas, Jul 27, 2010 at 02:04 PM
—posted by Laura Snell, Mar 26, 2010 at 04:52 PM
—posted by Mark Beever, Oct 17, 2009 at 05:33 PM
—posted by Kate Andrews, Oct 12, 2009 at 03:35 PM
—posted by Kate Andrews, Oct 04, 2009 at 05:10 PM
—posted by Kate Andrews, Sep 19, 2008 at 07:49 PM
—posted by Bonnie Alter, Sep 29, 2009 at 12:01 PM
—posted by Kate Andrews, Sep 23, 2009 at 03:20 PM
—posted by Sophie Thomas, Jun 22, 2009 at 07:13 PM
—posted by Kate Andrews, Sep 21, 2008 at 07:41 PM
The podcast is now available to subscribe to on, and download from, iTunes.
