The research center of Ford Europe has started the development of liquid wood. The resulting fully mouldable material is based on Lignin and rubber and is recyclable up to five times. Therefore creating a carbon neutral footprint for the base material, but not the manufacturing process. We are keenly awaiting news from this three-year assessment project. It is funded by the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia, the birth place of Jurgen Brand our principal designer. You can find the original announcement here: http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=30715

What is this going to do for industrial design and product development? Product design and the manufacture of consumer goods needs materials which are sustainable and carbon neutral. Not only in the generation of material commodity, such as the Lignin mixed with rubber to make liquid wood. As product designers we look forward to the day when we can specify processes which are fully sustainable.

Sustainable Design Material?

Industrial design and product design – how do they all merge into sustainable product development?

Initially we were not sure whether this little article about sustainability in design would be best suited for Designbrand news or our design blog. In product design we like to encourage dialogue about sustainable design. In the end it does not really matter for a small product design consultancy in Wellington, New Zealand, which part of its product development efforts move towards sustainability as long as the issue weaves itself into design.

Both David Moodie, our senior industrial designer, and Jurgen Brand, our principal designer in charge of product development as design director, have always had a strong affinity for the environment. This comes out of an appreciation for the re-use of resources to make them sustainable by design. We were recently asked to get involved in the product development of two industrial design projects in our consultancy. Both of these design developments are driven by the clients’ wish for increased sustainability in business.

Still under wraps for reasons of commercial design and development sensitivity, the two product design commissions should help thrust our design consultancy beyond the grass roots ground swell of sustainable design. One of the design projects will allow our designers to make better use of design engineering and truly sustainable materials, the other product development will include sustainable design in a different sense.

The teams at Designbrand, the primary product design consultancy in Wellington New Zealand, are now preparing either one of these design developments with research into sustainable design. Where does sustainable design start? Does it start by using sustainable resources only or by investigating the sustainability of industrial design and product development processes? Or, even further, does it include all the design processes and the production processes? Is it going to be a product design and development merely paying lip service to sustainable design, because of the design constraints and design management issues? We invite you to visit our website via these news articles to keep abreast with our interpretation of sustainable design.