Designer’s Talk, Mats Widbom, Cultural Counselor, Moderator of this seminar
Christina Öhman, with more than 20 years of experience from the Interactive Institute in Stockholm and Craig Provost, Industrial Designer from Boston were invited to come to the House of Sweden to take part in a seminar Designer´s Talk, a popular event at the House of Sweden. The theme for the Sunday afternoon´s discussions was Design and Sustainability. This seminar is a part of an ambitious programme Living Green presently taking place at the House of Sweden till 7 June . The exhibtion Visual Voltage produced by the Interactive Institute greets every visitor at the entrance.
The Designer´s role, consumerism, education, technology and IT were some of the questions Christina and Craig raised during their presentations. The audience could learm from good and bad examples from the business world. It is not always sustainable Design is considered although in new costly projects that involve a major sum.
The audience consisted of some 50 professionals, educators, designers, teachers and persons interested in the issue of design and sustainability. For me coming from Sweden it was interesting to note the immediate feedback, reflecting statements or questions that were made to the speakers by the active audience.
How do we make people more environmentally concerned? How can we have a more holistic approach in the teaching for children in schools in the US were
some of the questions from the audience. The discussions could have gone on for a much longer. Mats Widbom, Councellor for Cultural Relations moderated the seminar which easily could have continued an extra hour. At 17.00 hours the discussions continued at Café Grön a popular meeting place open to the public.
Thank you for an inspiring afternoon on Design and Sustainability!
Birgitta Tennander (Project Manager, Swedish Institute Stockholm)