Designing for Social Equity

Design is a tool. It can be used for good, for bad or indifferent intents and purposes. Fortunately, the national conversation about design is increasingly focusing on the social impact of design.

In our little slice of the world it can be easy to overlook the things that design can address, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues or that we are not using design to address them.

As part of the Bauhaus centennial celebrations we have done a fair amount of looking back. And rightfully so, there is much to learn from the original school’s pedagogy, from the Paepcke’s humanist endeavors and countless other Bauhausish things.

One of the things we can learn from and push forward are the ways in which the Bauhaus confronted their contemporary social challenges through design (and in some cases could have done more).

To do that we will spend the evening looking at what is currently happening in the Roaring Fork Valley that uses design, art and more to create social equity at home and beyond.

We will hear from Lindsy Fortier of the Aspen Skiing Company, Leticia Guzman Ingram from Basalt High School, Jen Odegaard from Community Builders and Lara Whitely from CORE. Each of them will give a quick presentation about work they’ve done or hopes to do that addresses local challenges.

Then we will turn it over to the community, we want to hear from others who are working in these areas or see a problem that needs to be addressed through art or design.

The hope is that this conversation is the beginning of a new design ethos in the Roaring Fork Valley. One that honors the legacy of the Bauhaus, the IDCA and all the other rich design history we have. There is a quiet momentum building around our creative culture that seeks to use design as a tool for good. We hope you can be a part of the conversation.

Please join us on July 9th from 6-7PM at the Limelight in Aspen.

For more info check out bauhaus100aspen.org

Geo-Graphic Atlas by Herbert Bayer

At the 1950 Aspen Design Conference Herbert Bayer said “the artist needs business, and business needs useful art.” This sentiment is perfectly illustrated in the friendship between Bayer and Walter Paepcke. Together they helped to integrate art and industry into a new practice of commercial art during the twentieth century. Their ability to blend commerce and art is clearly evident in the World Geo-graphic Atlas.

That is where the beauty is. Margaret Kilgallen at the Aspen Art Museum

There is a simple truth in Margaret’s work, something that makes it feel very familiar and comforting. The new show at the Aspen Art Museum just furthers that feeling.

CORE Engagement Station

Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty

This is what we’ve been reading.

Community Engagement Kiosk

One of the more enjoyable projects we did last year was this kiosk for the Roaring Fork Branch USGBC’s Climate Action Summit. The event brought together representatives from a variety of communities in the valley to discuss their individual climate action plans.

As a bit of an icebreaker we created an interactive display that showed the region and highlighted the communities participating in the event and some targets that their plans hope to reach. This side of the display also showcase the supporters of the event and gave individuals not represented an opportunity to share their information.

Custom Seed Bomb Favors

Whether you are looking for a private label to carry in your store or gift shop or a one time promotional item for an event, our custom seed bombs are a great option. We’ve created customized promotional and private label seed bombs for a selection of well known brands and retailers.

To have worked with such great companies and organizations as Burt’s Bees, CSX, High Line, Stone Barn Center, Wonderful, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Tryon Farm, Magnolia Market and World Hunger Relief is not only inspiring, but also downright humbling. This is something that we are pretty proud of. It is pretty special when organizations that you admire reach out and want to work with you.

Make Your Own Seed Bombs

We’ve been making and selling seed bombs for almost ten years and it is still fun to introduce people to the simple process so they can make it their own.

Making seed bombs is a fun and easy way to take some direct action to restoring habitat for pollinators wildlife and even for our own gardens. There are countless way to make them and while not all seeds are suitable for seed bombs as a growing medium there are plenty wildflowers, herbs and grasses that do perfectly well. 

Park(ing) Day 2017

We’ve been following Park(ing) Day for almost a decade and it’s fun to see how it’s evolved. If you’re not familiar with this one day event, Park(ing) Day is now a  world-wide event on the third Friday of every September. It is an opportunity for  artists, designers, and community members to create temporary mini public parks in metered on-street parking spaces.

INTRODUCING DEPARTMENT OF EVERYDAY

Welcome to the new digs. We’re still getting set-up, but feel free to look around. Actually we’ve been lurking around for sometime now, but we think it’s time to turn on the lights.We’ve got some great ideas in the works and we’re excited to watch what happens and we hope you join in.

This journal will offer some insights into our process, philosophy and some general ramblings every now and again. And, of course the VisuaLingual archives will be here.