Slow Design and making our art sustainable

OK, After yesterday's teacup fun I am researching the slow design thing more extensively.

A sustainable slow designer will design to:
1. satisfy real needs rather than transient fashionable or market-driven needs.
2. reduce resource flows and environmental pollution by minimizing the ecological footprint of products/service products.
3. harness solar income - sun, wind, water or sea power and renewable materials
4. enable separation of components of products/service products at the end-of-life in order to encourage recycling, reuse and remanufacturing.
5. exclude the use of substances toxic or hazardous to human and other forms of life at all stages of the product life cycle.
6. engender maximum benefits of well-being to the intended audience
7. educate the client and the user by encouraging sustainable literacy and graphicacy.
8. exclude innovation lethargy by re-examining original assumptions behind existing products
9. dematerialise products into service products wherever there is proven benefit in terms of individual, social and/or environmental well-being
10. ensure physically, culturally, emotionally, mentally and spiritually durable products
11. maximise products benefits to socio-cultural communities.
12. encourage modularity: to permit sequential purchases, as needs and funds permit; to facilitate repair/reuse; to improve functionality.
13. foster debate and challenge the status quo surrounding existing products.
14. publish sustainable designs in the public domain for everyone’s benefit, especially those designs which commerce will not manufacture.
15. promote Design for Sustainability as an opportunity not a threat to the status quo
(from www.slowdesign.org)

Wow:
Slow cities. Thirty-two towns and cities in Italy have signed up to the Slow Cities Charter that focuses on maintaining and/or recreating local identity, a sense of community, quality food production and environmental improvements. Closely allied with the Slow Food movement, Slow Cities is a way of thinking about a city’s future, engaging its inhabitants and welcoming its guests.

Slow design links:
Slow Design
Slow Lab
Slow Planet Operated by the wonderfully named World Institute of Slowness. Of course, the site isn't really live yet...I guess we'll have to wait for it.
Slow Food
Sustainable Every Day
Slow Design Blog

Questions for any of you that are familiar with this or are just reading along with me.
- How can these principles apply to "fine artists" and "crafters"? How reliant are we on unsustainable materials, methods, models, and distributions?
- What are the challenges to rebuilding our practices based on sustainable principles? Particularly as artists, who often are so economically unstable? How do we address our economic realities in the short term while becoming healthy and responsible for the economic needs of the long term? How can these things become in concert with each other, not in conflict?
- In other words, how can making the changes required also be sustainable for us in terms of paying next month's rent?

Discuss.

Comments

[Scott Bulger Photography]

Nice read. I'll have to give this some serious thought.

[Joanna]

My first reaction is, boy, that's a tall order. Second reaction: 'Dude. I make jewelry. There's no way.' (I keep writing things then erasing them.). But insofar as art allows for self-expression, not just of the artist but of the art 'consumer', and to the extent that self-expression is truly a human need that, when well-satisfied, also takes care of #s 6, 10, 11...well, maybe it's not as hopeless as it seems at first.

[amy]

It is a tall order, isn't it. I have to think of these kinds of manifestos not as prescription for how one's life should be at this very moment (an thus a directive to feel bad about all the places we aren't living up to the standard, which is totally counter to the whole culture and economic system we are embedded in); but as a description of long-term goals...and the process of reaching these goals are where the really interesting moments of growth and change happen that need to happen all over the place.
i feel the same way about my art ("no way!") - this year I started falling in love with screenprinting, especially print gocco, which uses inks and screens that are manufactured in Japan (and I am in the US), and are surely horrific for the environment. So now I am thinking, can I make a little home-silkscreening system from scratch that does the same thing that I can use water-based inks on? Is there a way to silkscreen without hazardous chemical emulsions on the screens?
In addition to the ecological impact issues, its interesting to think about taking DIY to the next level - what would it mean to then make your own tools and supplies? or buy them from local makers?

[Jen]

Lots to think about there. I really want a print gocco system, but I'm wavering. I read somewhere that the lightbulbs are toxic. Yuck.

I switched from oil paint to acrylics years ago, because I don't have anything resembling proper ventilation in my workspace and hated dealing with turpentine and the long drying time. I guess acrylics are better, but I doubt they are really all that eco-friendly either. I wonder if there are any good options out there. I know that house paint manufacturers are starting to make eco-friendly paint, but I don't know about artist paint.