Why is everyone asking about “green” design? Architecture and design magazines are brimming with examples. There is hardly a piece of furniture that isn’t made of wood or a house built without energy-saving functions. But is a designer product really “green” just because it is made of wood?
Nikki Frazier, Sam Kragiel and Jesse James Arnold are asking this very same question. They are the members of the Brooklyn, NY-based group Brave Space Design. Their furniture is made of wood, some pieces even out of bamboo, a fast-growing material that is considered particularly ecological.
“No idea, why we are always described in the press as particularly green designers. Only a few of our products are made out of bamboo…” they said in an interview. “Still, our design is highly valued. Just recently we were recognized with an important American design prize… Brave Space Design has now reached a point at which other companies decide to move their production to China. We are really not sure if we should do that. We design and produce here in Brooklyn and sell in the vicinity. We have short transport routes and direct distribution channels that allow us to keep our prices at an acceptable level.”
Although this sympathetic attitude might come across as an off-hand comment in an interview, it is exactly this stance that has aroused so much interest and consistent attention from the press, also for other Brooklyn designers, regardless of the materials of their products. Good design, clean craft and a responsible attitude towards production and distribution are the burgeoning values of the new design market. Seven years after Naomi Klein’s No Logo, end users have finally gotten the message that the conditions of production are an integral part of a product’s value creation chain.
This added value exists in Brave Space Design’s products. What is built in Brooklyn has a quality and worth that demonstrates a thoughtful and future-oriented approach to design. That is why they do not produce disposable products. The furniture of Brave Space Design is positioned to become an icon of its era—with a long, very long life.
In an era of limited resources, that is the most important factor for ecologically sound designer furniture.
Dear Nikki, Sam and Jesse,
That is why everyone is calling you “green.”
