Inhabitat » VOTE NOW & Judge Student Eco Design Competition!

April 28, 2008

VOTE NOW & Judge Student Eco Design Competition!

by Abigail Doan

Parsons New School Sustainable Design Review, Sustainable Design Competition with Kiehl’s, Parsons New School 2008 Sustainable Design Review semi-finalists, New School SDR Department, sustainable packaging design Kiehl’s, sustainable product design Kiehl’s, Parsons New School student sustainable design competition

We love our design competitions here at Inhabitat, and today we are partnering with The New School Sustainable Design Review (SDR) in NYC, to help judge a student design competition for the much loved NY skincare company Kiehls. This year’s New School SDR design competition is being organized in partnership with Kiehl’s- the old-world apothecary founded in New York’s East Village neighborhood. In this post (below) you will see all of the competing sustainable designs of the 2008 student finalists, and want to hear YOUR feedback on which projects you find to be the most compelling and worthy of the competition’s grand prize award of $2,500!

We really want to hear your thoughts, so please comment, and VOTE HERE >

ABOUT THE DESIGN COMPETITION

As part of Kiehl’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility, it has challenged The New School’s students to creative innovative concepts that encourage its customers to reuse Kiehl’s packaging, in turn reducing waste. The 2008 Sustainable Design Review asked students to examine the retail consumption cycle and develop solutions to decrease customer waste by increasing their awareness of this issue, whether at the point of sale, point of consumption, point of disposal, or throughout the whole system. The first round of judging has just taken place and five final projects have been selected from this year’s pool of talented students.

We encourage you to share your thoughts on these innovative designs and help the competition judges decide which sustainable packaging solution should perhaps go into production, and vote in our online poll >>>

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$Parsons New School Sustainable Design Review, Sustainable Design Competition with Kiehl\’s, Parsons New School 2008 Sustainable Design Review semi-finalists, New School SDR Department, sustainable packaging design Kiehl\’s, sustainable product design Kiehl\’s, Parsons New School student sustainable design competition$

PROJECT 1: Reusable Soapstone Bottles

Description

“The product design I would propose to Kiehl’s as way of encouraging their costumers to behave positively towards the environment would be a set of re-usable bottles made out of soapstone. The re-usable bottles would reduce the waste created by costumers that buy a new bottle every time they need more products, and the use of soap stone would work as a better alternative to the use of plastic because at the same time that plastic fabrication and recycling processes expel toxic fumes that are extremely harmful to the environment, soap stone is ready to be used in its natural state, not having to pass trough chemical processes. Aesthetically, the bottles’ design is shaped by the way the human hand holds objects. Deep imprints were carved where the hands gripped comfortably. The bottle’s handcraft beauty would also work as an appealing element to the costumer that would have his habits shaped by the relation with the product.”

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PROJECT 2: Responsible Consumer Card

Description

“Kiehl’s responsible consumer will return empty containers to Kiehl’s stores, holding 4 or more ounces, and receive a discount on their next purchase of same item (s). They will also gain credit with their “Responsible Consumer Card”. When a certain amount of credit is reached, the customer will receive a gift of equal material exchange. The gift will be made from recycled Kiehl’s materials.”

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PROJECT 3: Pear Tree Graphic - ‘eco-awareness’ branding

Description - see above

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Parsons New School Sustainable Design Review, Sustainable Design Competition with Kiehls, Parsons New School 2008 Sustainable Design Review semi-finalists, New School SDR Department, sustainable packaging design Kiehls, sustainable product design Kiehls, Parsons New School student sustainable design competition

PROJECT 4: Kiehl’s Eco Street Vending Carts

Description

“I propose the design of two carts - one mobile cart for transporting fresh ingredients from the green market to the store and another stationary cart for vending juice. The portable cart utilizes the efficiency of Ferris-wheel technology so that picking out ingredients according to the consumer’s request is convenient. The stationary cart will have a sink for washing produce and basket for organic waste. The stationary cart has a cutting board attached that will connect to the portable cart once it’s brought from the greenmarket. Cups used for vending juice are of biodegradable material. The baskets are clear so the customer is aware of what ingredients are available.”

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PROJECT 5: Reusable Tyvek Shopping Tote

description - see above

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These finalists will now spend the next several weeks refining their concepts, working closely with the team from Kiehl’s, which is providing financial support for the development of prototypes and models. The winning concept will be announced in May, and Kiehl’s may support the development of the winning project for use or display in Kiehl’s stores in New York and nationally. The student whose work is chosen as the winning design will receive an award of $2,500. Good luck everyone!

+ The New School’s Sustainable Design Review (SDR)
+ SDR 2008 Student Competition
+ Kieh’s: Since 1851

9 Responses to “VOTE NOW & Judge Student Eco Design Competition!”

Mike Chino Says:

April 28th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Some great ideas hear - I’m happy to see such varied responses that emphasize different approaches to the packaging reuse problem, from using sustainable materials to incentive programs, to branding and awareness raising. I’m excited to see what develops by the contest’s conclusion!

Jason Sahler Says:

April 28th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

Some cool stuff here, but I have to say that I really like the reusable soapstone bottles. They are kind of raw but really good looking at the same time. We really need to get our consumption under control and I think designing that into the product so that they can be used over and over is very important, part of the solution, to consumption. And the use of the soapstone is a really nice choice for an alternative to plastic.

Abigail Doan Says:

April 28th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

I was so impressed by the thoughtfulness of all of the finalists in this eco-design competition. The proposals were ingenious as well as professionally executed. My first pick was Sergio Sayeg’s ‘Reuseable Soapstone Bottles’, as I love the cradle-to-cradle nature of his solution. Sergio’s design is wonderfully user-friendly with its carved imprints and is also quite beautiful as an organic object. In addition to this, the bottles’ reusability is completely inline with how we should be thinking about sustainable product design and packaging - that is, one supports the other and together leaves behind no trace in the environment.

I was genuinely impressed by all of the finalist designs, and I look forward to having a winner announced in May!

Again, good luck everyone, and a special thanks to The New School and Kiehl’s for helping to support for sustainable design and future-forward thinking!

- Abigail @ Inhabitat

Ali Kriscenski Says:

April 28th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

These are all wonderful projects, each unique in its approach to creating consumer-friendly packaging reuse incentives. Looking forward to following along with the competition, as all of these these ideas are well-deserved finalists.

CynthiaVasconcellos Says:

April 29th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

For me, the best design project is the number 1- Reusable Soapstone Bottles.
The others are very good as well, but this particularly has a lot of elegance.

Michaelangelo Design Studios Says:

April 29th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

Great to see creative and innovative expression applied to everyday common objects. I do like Sergio\’s soapstone bottles for a number of reasons. Firstly they they express the opposing nature of Rock and Fluid; the soapstone itself passionately tactile and therefore heightens the anticipation of what gifts lie within. The remarkable aesthetic and reusable nature of the external package also allows for future changes to the ingredients without devaluing the total package. It would be a total pleasure to have these items luxuriating in my bathroom. A future collectors item like the carved Chinese bottles - perhaps!

I would like to see however, the shipping/wrapping packaging and how the refills will be distributed and packaged.
Congratulations to all - keep going…

Michael

LMagalnick Says:

April 30th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

Great contest and great job!

chemical.free Says:

May 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm

I find it ironic that this is Kiehl’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility, when they use harmful cancer-linked parabens in many of their products (even the BABY products)! If they were really trying to clean up their act, the first step should be to address the harm caused by the products IN the packaging, not the containers themselves.

Jill Fehrenbacher Says:

May 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm

Hi Chemical.Free-

I totally agree with your point here - I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. Green packaging is all well and good and Kiehls should definitely strive to make their packaging more green, but the first task should be cleaning up the products themselves and making them more ‘organic’. Aveda has the same issue. Very few of these beauty products trying to brand themselves as green are actually ‘natural’ in terms of the chemical makeup of the products.

-Jill

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