Mike Lenhart (bio)

Compostmodern is all about the way we use the gifts of the Earth that we're given, and how we spit them out again. Are there ways to intelligently use these gifts we're given, design solutions that use this intelligence,  and recycle, reuse, and/or educate the audiences to do the same? As Joel Makower, the MC for the day said, "Energy is in Abundance, not Energy in Scarcity." He also philosophized that we, the world, has 5,000 days to figure this whole waste and use out - until it's too late and all over for us. Overall, Makower was a pretty dry speaker and MC, but he said some interesting stuff. They needed a more animated and effervescent host. I'm just sayin'.

Eames Demetrios came out as the first speaker. The grandson of Charles Eames, Demetrios showed us one of the film versions of "Powers of 10". Quite an astounding commentary on the immense of scale of the universe and the importance of designing in scale these days. His thought on sustainability is that we need to "harvest enough to sustain us." That's all - we don't have to be all consumeristic and have the buy-buy-buy attitude that so many have.

Allan Chochinov of core77 spoke at the conference as well. He talked about serendipity and the convergence of all things in the related universe and gave us some ideas on how to design with this in mind. Chochinov outlined his "Denting an Impossible Design Problem in 10 Sustainable Ways." These ways included to acknowledge the priviledge of working as a designer and with the client, don't be afraid to use the word "consequence" with the client on the impact of their project, and question authority. Nothing is always as those in power say it is.
Chochinov used an example of the problem of the design of the prosthetic arm to bring his 10 ways to life for us. Quite an astounding example.

Other speakers included John Bielenberg, Dawn Danby, and Nathan Shedroff.

The AIGA put on quite a show. There was a large room of vendors including, Stacy's Books, a local favorite, Academy of Art University, New Leaf Paper, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I wish the business and corporate world would sit-in on a conference such as Compostmodern. They may just learn a thing or two on how to think in new ways about such things as their packaging and products and how, through intelligent design, their ROI and revenues can still increase in significant ways. They may just capture a new market or two in the process.

Compostmodern is one of those cutting-edge conferences that couldn't come about at a better time. There are so many ways to design and produce in sustainable ways. We need to adjust our old ways of thinking and begin to think in intelligent ways to achieve effective design solutions in our last 5,000 days. That's only about 13 years, folks. 

 

Remember, if you couldn't be there, the entire thing will be on the Web for about 45 days. Just go to compostmodern.org to get all the information.