CFDA meeting January 11 at Corosh - Guest speaker Chris Brandel -Sustainable material

Jan. 11 Chris Brandel will be hosting a presentation of sustainable furniture materials. Chris has assembled a significant collection, but others are encouraged to bring their samples and knowledge of products and sources, so we can pool our knowledge. The hope is that we can identify materials that will be of use to our members in the up coming show, materials we might be able to obtain at little or no cost from the manufacturers.

There are two exhibitions opening this month at the Block Museum, at Northwestern University, that you may be interested in.

January 4 – March 6

How We Might Live: The Arts and Crafts Interior

American furniture maker and designer Gustave Stickley took inspiration from the principles laid down by William Morris yet developed his own Arts and Crafts style. Organized by the Block Museum, this exhibition explores the two Arts and Crafts masters’ unique notions of How We Might Live through original furniture and home decorative objects.

January 21 – March 13

The Beauty of Live: William Morris and the Art of Design

William Morris defined art and beauty as integral to life itself. The Beauty of Life examines the prolific and influential career of the man considered the father of the Arts and Crafts movement with designs for domestic and ecclesiastical decoration and fine art publishing with a selection of rare books from Morris’s Kelmscott Press. This exhibition is organized by The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu

Antanas Abraitis
Chris Brandel
Michael Obrecht
Pete Radecki
Lloyd Natof
Dave Waycie
John Krieghauser
Pete Lamberty
Dan Kowalik
John Sirovatka
Bill First
Tor Faegre
Matthew P. Speer
Matt Hebert
Joso Goreta
Rob Frazier
Ross Fiersten
Curt Vevang

New Visitors

Dan Diewald
Scott Balloch
Kevin Pierce

Announcements

Judy S. Show:
· Dave Waycie has a possible sale of his end table from the Judy S. show.
· This show has been an annual event.
· For next year we need the "mailing list", who has it? The mailing list needs to be located and updated to be used for this and other events.

Interesting clippings that anyone finds that are relevant to the group can be scanned (JPEG Format) and forwarded to Antanas to be included into the newsletter.

Michael Obrecht is still in ongoing discussions with Glenn Adamson via email. If you have any thoughts to pass on to Glenn please email Michael and he will forward it to Glenn.

Chris Brandel will collect all information (materials, vendors, etc...) for the "Sustainability Show". Chris will also broker all vendor/sponsor activities.
Guest Speaker:
Barry Bursak

Barry has been a long time advocate of sustainable furniture for over ten years.
He has organized the sustainable furnishing exhibit at the last CDS Show.

Barry's introduction to our group about the world of "sustainability" began with the foundation of practicality, "You can't always have what you want?" As designers we need to find new materials or design around existing materials. We should respond to the challenge of sustainability!

Sustainability is shifting to a sign of quality (example, new hybrid cars, quiet and quality).

The public needs to be educated the consumer is thirsty for knowledge! We (designers) will benefit from sustainable design in the next couple of years.

The two main issues are:

Sustainability
We need to look deeper into companies that claim to be sustainable.
Is the wood clear cut, for example? When a forest is clear cut (even though the company says that it plants a tree for every tree it cuts down) it will harm the whole eco system of the forest and many animals will die. Some factors are CO2 levels, Air, Water Table, Habitat for Life.

Toxicity of Chemicals

What type and how much gas comes out of the material (out gassing)?

Does the plant that creates the chemical pollute the area? Many chemicals are produced in 3rd world countries that do not have pollution laws in place. Companies actually move to these locations because they save money on the expensive waste treatment systems.

Do these companies poison the people that live in the surrounding area because of the excessive pollution? Just because the final product of a company might be considered sustainable, that doesn't mean that everything leading up to the product was sustainable.

Some materials that Barry talked about:

Cotton- 2% of farmland uses 25% of the world's pesticide. Look into the organic cottons.

Glass- Glass is considered sustainable because sand is a very abundant resource and the heat-energy needed to reprocess new sand vs. recycled glass is about the same.
Water based finishes- AFM (American Formulating and Manufacturing) this company has a sustainable product line, Barry has researched this company.

We appreciate Barry coming out and speaking to use about his experience and knowledge of sustainability. Barry was able to show us the "bigger picture" or "broader view" of the sustainable movement, thank you.

Daniel P. Kowalik

Materials
  Renewable material
  Certified material
  Plantation grown wood
  Recycled material
  Biodegradable material
  Locally obtained material
  Reduced amount of material
  Reduced VOC material
  Easy to recycle material

Manufacturing
  Non polluting processes
  Reduced waste stream
  Reduced energy input
  Reduction of transportation requirement
  Ability to knock down and be easily assembled
  Reduction of packaging requirement

Design
  Collapsible or stackable (reduced space)
  Multifunctional
  Increased service life (durability)
  Adaptable for alternative use
  Easy to recycle components
  Expressive of reduced consumption lifestyle
  Reduced sensitivity to fashion

.Presentation:

Nathan Kipnis, AIA
“Walking the fine line; reconciling aesthetics, consumerism and green design”

Wednesday, January 12, 2005 6-7 p.m.
625 N. Kingsbury (at Ontario Street)

An overview of Mr. Kipnis’ sustainable design practice and the influences that shaped it.

Specific themes encompass why architects should embrace green design opportunities, challenges facing both the architect and client, how sustainable design can be a generator of form, and the importance of how design decisions impact not only the project specifically but also society generally.

Nathan Kipnis, AIA is principal of Nathan Kipnis Architects, Inc., based in Evanston, whose work includes residential, commercial, and renovation/ historic preservation projects in the greater Chicago area. The firm is known for its ability to creatively integrate sustainable forms, materials and techniques within the context of good design.

Please RSVP at 312-867-7254 x13 or www.archeworks.org

The Archeworks Lecture Series is funded in part by a CityArts Program III grant from the City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs and through the support of Archeworks contributors.

All lectures are free and open to the public.