Collette Swindells meets the founder of Eco Innovators.
March 3rd, 2010
With a little bit of initiative, and a lot of hard work, Melbourne eco design company Eco Innovators have transformed a Melbourne icon into an edgy, urban outlet.
Taking a disused CBD newspaper stand, and filling it with a ‘Showcase’ of locally made eco design items, company director Leyla Acaroglu says she wanted to raise the awareness of eco design in both consumers and designers.
Having studied Product Design and Development at the Enmore Design Centre in Sydney, Acaroglu moved south to integrate sustainability into her design practice, through a Social Science course at RMIT.
This led her to a job at RMIT’s Centre for Design, as a sustainable products and packaging consultant, developing a number of projects including an online LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) tool, and a ‘how to design’ kit for Design Victoria.
“I ran lots of seminars on eco design, but I still felt like there was still not a lot of opportunities for designers to actually engage with sustainability from an educational perspective.”
So Acaragolu set off to Europe to meet with some of world’s leading eco design practitioners.
But after three months working with various organisations including the Polytechnic University of Milan, TU Delft (Delft University of Technology), and the Eco Design Centre of Wales, she was disheartened to realise that sustainability was not yet a core principle of design in most places.
Returning to Melbourne, she launched herself into the ‘Showcase’ project, and various other pilot initiatives, including an upcoming CD swap meet, and an educational resource pack for Australian Higher Education students, that she hopes will educate people into making more lifecycle-based decisions in design.
The Showcase runs until late April, Monday to Friday 11-3pm, on the corner of Little Collins and Swanston Streets.
For more information on Acaroglu’s other projects, check out CD Swap Meet and the Secret Life of Things.
Eco Innovators
ecoinnovators.com.au
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
Suitable for applications ranging from schools and retail outlets to computer rooms and X-ray suites, Palettone comes in two varieties and a choice of more than fifty colours.
The Sub-Zero Wolf showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne provide a creative experience unlike any other. Now showcasing all-new product ranges, the showrooms present a unique perspective on the future of kitchens, homes and lifestyles.
Marylou Cafaro’s first trendjournal sparked a powerful, decades-long movement in joinery designs and finishes which eventually saw Australian design develop its independence and characteristic style. Now, polytec offers all-new insights into the future of Australian design.
Presenting another successful furniture solution from Blok Furniture with Bracton Chambers’ Brisbane offices.
Milliken-Ontera has been bringing a uniquely customisable brand of creativity to Australian and New Zealand flooring design for over three decades. Having always designed and supplied from their manufacturing facility in Sydney, it has also been renowned for its impressive speed to market. This year, however, the brand boosts its already advanced personalisation capabilities by introducing a mass customisation concept that makes it even easier to create distinct flooring solutions in just three weeks.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
In our series spotlighting aficionados across the design industry, we spoke with Alexandra Guglielmino, who leads the Art Advisory team at Bluethumb Art Gallery.
Salone del Mobile 2024 is only a few weeks away, so we’re highlighting here seven special events, spaces and installations that we’re certainly planning to check out.