Emily Pilloton, Founder of the nonprofit social design firm Project H, gave “one of the most compelling presentations” at Compostmodern 09 according to Kristin Palm of Metropolis magazine.

Before “deciding to direct her industrial design education toward the greater good” by founding Project H at 26, Pilloton was a designer of $1,800 chairs. Now, Pilloton is responsible for the redesign of the Hippo Roller for South Africa and the design and development of the tire-and-sandlot math Learning Landscape in Southern Uganda.

Full article here.

Treehugger, dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream, recorded and hosted several videos from Compostmodern 09, describing it as “a conference bringing together the best minds in sustainable design to inspire those in the working industry to switch up how they create the products, packaging, architecture and activism that form our world.”

Joel Makower Says We Have Just 5,000 More Days

Eames Demetrios Discusses Looking Beyond Sustainability

Michel Gelobter on Designing Our Way Out Of Global Warming

Saul Griffith Discusses Starting From the Global Warming Finish Line

Saul Griffith and Michel Gelobter Talk Politics and Engineering at Compostmodern

Emily Pilloton on When Sustainability Takes A Back Seat In Design

Pam Dorr Builds Sustainable Homes for $20k

Jonathan Bardelline, assistant editor at Greener World Media, published his review of Compostmodern 09 on GreenBiz.com (http://greenbiz.com/). He pointed out that, while Compostmodern 09 emcee and executive editor for Greener World Joel Makower said “we’re in the middle of a revolution most of us can’t see,” the presenters of Compostmodern 09 were able to “make that revolution visible, with messages challenging the roles of designers and plenty of real and proven examples that show sustainability can be integrated in all realms of design.”

Bardelline’s assessment included a summary of each speaker, featuring Project H Founder Emily Pilloton’s Hippo Water Roller as one of those proven examples. The Water Roller was designed for people in Africa who have to gather water and typically carry it on their heads, causing back strain and possible spine damage.

Full article here.

Sarah Rich posted an excellent summary of Saul Griffith’s presentation at Compostmodern 09 on Dwell’s blog. In response to Griffith’s t-shirt that read “Design won’t save the world. Go volunteer at a soup kitchen, you pretentious f**k” and his survey of our worldwide energy and emissions crisis, Rich said, “Saul Griffith knows how to deliver grim planetary outlooks with irreverent humor.”

Rich outlined Griffith’s lecture for those who could not attend this year’s Compostmodern conference:

1. Get used to numbers. It’s not possible to calculate the impact of a product or building you design without knowing some math.
2. The client is no longer the client, the planet is the client. Always. Designers must work with clients to understand that priorities revolve around doing what’s needed in order to reduce energy consumption and prevent further warming.
3. We need an heirloom culture, meaning that designers should be creating products that last so long they can be handed down from generation to generation.
4. We need to transform into a share economy, in which objects that we only use on occasion are co-owned or borrowed from a central source, reducing the number that need to be produced while benefiting from the service the object provides.

Full article here.

Kirsti Scott, Founder and Creative Director of Scott Design and author of Hot Design blog, said Compostmodern 09 “was a great opportunity to explore the range of design thinking necessary to create a socially and ecologically responsible society…. And, after an energizing day, I’m ready to fire up my passion and do something about it.” Full article here.

Alan Gray, writer for News Blaze and supporter of heirloom design, wrote that “Compostmodern has been running for five years now and it just keeps getting bigger and better. The conference demonstrates how sustainable solutions converge as design, ecology, social activism, business, and economics intersect.”

Of the “diverse” speakers, Gray felt that “they presented a very interesting series of presentations and ideas that had the attendees riveted to their seats and asking questions at the end.” Gray says that the much-needed change from America’s rampant consumerism to heirloom design “will not be easy and it will not be fast, but those who attended Compostmodern 09 and those who watch the webcasts and other videos could easily be the harbingers of change.”

Full article here.

Leading industrial design magazine and resource, Core77, hosted Gelatobaby’s Alissa Walker’s liveblog posts of Compostmodern 09. Walker, leading design writer, described Compostmodern 09 as “one of the best-curated conferences around.” Full posts below:

How We Already Know This Compostmodern Conference Is Different

Compostmodern 09: Why We’re Here

Compostmodern 09: Eames Demetrios and the Power of Scale

Compostmodern 09: Allan Chochinov’s 10-Step Program

Compostmodern 09: Michel Gelobter Is the Coolest

Compostmodern 09: Saul Griffith Runs the Numbers

Compostmodern 09: John Bielenberg and Pam Dorr Think Wrong To Do Right

Compostmodern 09: Emily Pilloton’s Very Good Year

Dawn Danby Is Throwing a Sustainability Party and Everyone’s Invited

Compostmodern 09: Nathan Shedroff Has Monday’s Homework Assignment

Compostmodern 09: Urgent Reflections and All Posts In One Place

Before Compostmodern 09, the San Francisco Examiner spoke with Executive Director of Redefining Progress and Founder of Cooler, Michel Gelobter.

On the reduction of urban sprawl and the effect this would have on San Francisco, Gelobter commented that “cities are the best way for lots of people to live together and share resources, like transportation… San Francisco is already fairly dense, but should benefit by increasing its density and increasing its housing stock by decreasing the amount of people who have to commute a long way to get there.” Full article here.

Jaymi Heimbuch of Treehugger has written a great piece about John Bielenberg and Project M. Read the full text here. Can’t wait to see John speak with Pam Dorr tomorrow…

Do you have your Compostmodern tickets yet?? There’s still time!

It started innocently enough: last summer, Compostmodern 09 speaker Emily Pilloton (Project H Design) engaged in the romantic, time-honored tradition of taking the train cross-country. The reality was not what she imagined.

“I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse, but I can never take off my ‘designer’ hat. We were sitting on this Amtrak train, and I was thinking wow, this is the most poorly designed space. There’s nothing joyful about it. The seat is really uncomfortable, the interiors are ugly…and then their systems – the food, dining car, kiosks…it was terrible. I got off the train, signed my book contract the next day, and lo and behold, my first draft had a 500-word rant on Amtrak.”

The book, Design Revolution: 100 Products and Solutions that Empower People, showcases Pilloton’s perspective on the future of social design – with a 60-page essay that she describes as “one part call to action, one part critique and one part cheerleading for a cause.”  We’ll have to wait until September to read it, but in the meantime, she has some advice for young designers.

“Don’t work for a design firm. Go work for the government or a non-profit. Or Amtrak! They might never think to hire a designer, but if they did, and they started doing things right, it could have a huge impact on the way the public views mobility and transportation. Maybe your job title won’t be ‘Designer,’ but you are one, and they need one. These are the places where we can make the biggest difference.”

—Natalie Linden (www.someonemightcare.com)