Letters to the Future, Seaweed "Plastic" and Recycled Styrofoam Tables? (spoiler: they're ick)
So what happened to our sustainable design newsletter? Little Fox has been MIA for a while; what's our new plan?
HEY THERE, IT’S BEEN A WHILE
It’s honestly been a hard year, I bet for everyone. We had grand plans of the email list, and green graphic design course re-launches, and to summarize, I got long covid in February and it really threw a huge wrench in my spring and summer. Not to turn this into a pity-party, but I was barely managing client work for the first half of the year, let alone sending out emails about sustainable design or planning a course re-launch. It’s really disappointing, and guilt-inducing to me, but I’m trying to be kind to myself about my inability to be productive for so long.
I’m feeling better and have been working on a plan for reviving this email list though, something manageable and interesting. I want to take inspiration from my dear friend Laneen who has an incredible Substack on Accessible Design (check it out!). Their Substack shares really interesting resources, cool things, and their thoughts on various aspects of it. It’s simple, short, and I look forward to it every month. I want to turn this Sustainable Design Newsletter into something similar. (P.S. If you’re not interested in being on this list anymore, don’t feel bad; there’s an unsubscribe button at the bottom! It’s no big deal!)
HOUSEKEEPING
Our email list is now on Substack instead of Flodesk.
We switched for a few reasons: Substack allows us to have a public catalogue of the resources we send out in emails, it’s a bit easier to manage/feels more approachable, and honestly price. Inflation is extremely high now and we’ve been taking a hardline approach to business expenses: it’s a “write off” but ultimately, I’m still paying for it! I know design business expenses are often treated as frivolous “BUY THE FONT!!! ITS CUTE!” but it adds up really fast. I’m hoping that this simpler straight-forward approach to a newsletter takes some of the ‘design fatigue’ of Flodesk (let’s be real, everyone’s Flodesk emails look the same anyway, it’s not that special lol).
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
'Letters to the Future,': How Do You Preserve A Letter For A Thousand Years?
“This is how it all started; we asked our friends to write a letter to their great great great grandchildren because we found the way to preserve their letters for a thousand years. This is a prayer to the future.”
I came across this really interesting project done by Vietnamese design studio, Ki Saigon. A blend of design, museum exhibition, and art, individuals across countries and languages were asked to write letters to future generations. On a material that will is guaranteed to withstand the next few centuries. Plastic. A grim look into both the longevity of plastic and the anxiety around the future, I found this book made out of recycled plastic both beautiful and inspiring. Check out the full project here. I love it!
SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING
Sway’s Seaweed-Based Plastic-Free “Plastic”: How’s it Coming?
Honestly, Sway is doing some of the coolest work out there in terms of innovation for true sustainable packaging. Sway’s working on creating a true plastic substitute that has functional moisture-barrier properties, stable shelf life, but that contains no plastic and breaks down naturally into the environment without any micro-plastics. No small feat. Right now, they’re working on end-of-life testing for their packaging. Different types of seaweed can create different types of “plastic” films, even different types of colours! Here’s an excerpt from the founder talking about their product on Dieline’s recent article about Sway:
“Primarily, we work with three species of seaweeds. But there are about 10,000 to choose from, as we’re just scratching the surface of what's possible in seaweed biopolymers,” Julia explained. "We have some perfectly transparent films. And this is working with one type of seaweed feedstock. But if we work with other varieties, we get a frosted film. If we work with different types of algae, we can get different colors and textures. And we're also able to adjust opacity depending on how we treat the seaweed itself,” she added.
I honestly can’t wait to have their product hit the sustainable packaging market. It’s likely a few years off, but it’s one of the most promising plastic-alternatives I know of.
Learn more about their recent advancements in The Dieline’s recent article on them and check out their website! From a design perspective, their brand is jaw-dropping too, so a double-win for us designers!
SOME F*CKING STUPID GREENWASH STUFF
“Up-Cycling” Styrofoam into “Stylish” Tables
Okay, so in typical fashion, I’ll throw in something I think is completely stupid! And I came across this mere minutes after I had the unfortunate experience of watching the Official Music Video for the launch of the new purple M&M that’s “all about diversity and acceptance”. This is an (seemingly somewhat experimental) company called WePlus that makes home furniture from recycled styrofoam…
Like first off, when I look at this I can honestly FEEL the visceral squeaking and horrific texture of touching styrofoam. Like, please, why on EARTH would you ever want to keep styrofoam in your living space for any moment longer than necessary. Just imagine… placing a coffee cup down on it or a book and it just wails as you pick it up (also maybe crumbles a bit, or heaven forbid, MELT from the heat of the coffee cup). Also it’s SUPER ugly. But the real cherry on top, is that this is a real product you can actually buy…. for $10,000 USD.
So that’s… depressing on so many levels. And I could go on a bit of a rant about wealth and privilege for sustainability, but let’s be real. This is an ugly piece of furniture and a fake greenwashed project… (these won’t stay in any showroom or even celebrity house more than the passing fad of the “eco” bragging it’ll provide). And then it’s back to the landfill for this styrofoam. A better solution is to stop producing styrofoam and pack fragile materials and products in more complex cardboard molded sheaths or alternative foams out of mushrooms or crustacean-shell byproduct. But seriously, it gives me the creepy-crawlies just looking at these objects.
I think that’s enough cringe for this email, and I’ll sign off here with another piece I’ll copy from Laneen: what I’m reading/watching right now! I couldn’t focus on reading any novel for months with long covid, but I’m finally back into reading again and recently purchased myself a Kobo E-Reader which I’ve been absolutely loving.
Reading: I recently finished “How High We Go In The Dark” by Sequoia Nagamatsu. It was a moving collection of interwoven short-stories centred around a fictional pandemic caused by the Arctic permafrost melting. It is a biting critique of the government and capitalist response to COVID-19, as well as an insightful look into a grim future. It’s dark. Some of the stories made me cry and I keep thinking about them–I highly recommend checking it out if you’re in the mental state to read about something pretty realistic but it’s not a happy story by any means.
Watching: The second season of the slide-of-life anime SPY X FAMILY. A wholesome balm to the anxiety-inducing state of the world.