> Educational projects
> The Secret Life of Things Project
Watch the first animation 'Life Pscycle-ology' now >
The Secret Life of Things projectis an award winning series of short animated videos that explore the hidden environmental impacts of everyday things.
The project promotes life cycle thinking and environmentally sustainable decision making in design and product development. The animations are supported by an eco design resource pack which includes a selection of educational materials for design educators and businesses wanting to explore life cycle thinking and eco design.
The Secret Life of Things is a new and innovative approach to communicating and engaging people with sustainability. The resources draw on interactive environmental education and present a solutions based approach to integrating environmental decisions into the design and development of products.
The Secret Life of Things first animated video called Life Psychl-ollogy was launched along with the first educational resources on the 22 July 2010 at the Victorian EPA offices as part of the State of Design festival. Watch the animation here
> Eco Innovators Showcase Shop
Eco Innovators started the showcaseshop inside an old newsstand pillar in Melbournes CBD as a pop-up shop to promote locally designed and made eco-products. The project finished on the 24 December 2010.
The shop was set up to showcase local independent designers and design studios that have been engaging with sustainability in the development of their products and practice. The high profile CBD location meant that many shoppers stopped and started to engage with more sustainable products and consumption.
The showcase shop has been very successful in achieving its goals of promoting locale eco-designers and eco-designed products, encouraging people to reduce their consumption footprint, and generating discussion and advocating eco-design.
Download a copy of the Repair Manifesto
The Repair Workshops is a five day collaborative exploration of the concept of ‘repair’.
In a meeting of minds, the Repair Workshops will pair up select technicians and creatives (artists, designers and craftspeople) to run collaborative workshops at Melbournes renowned State of Design Festival in July 2011. Over five days, chosen participants will embark on a creative exploration of how broken items can be re-invented with sustainability in mind.
The Repair Workshops will be open to the public on the weekend of the 30th & 31st July 2011 – where people can bring in their broken items for interactive repairing with the selected artists, scientists and designers. Follow us on facebook to keep updated.
Drawing on a wealth of broken and un-loved products destined for landfill, participants will kick off with a two-day closed workshop to incubate ideas, discuss solutions, and design items for display. The idea is to explore the notion of repairing an object, not just practically, but also conceptually by thinking about repair as a way to create value, potential and beauty in de-valued broken items.
This exciting project that has received funding support from the City of Melbourne. Check out the website for more infomation
Ever wondered how many litres of water it takes to make a beer or why a cow is so bad for climate change? The Eco Innovators app is a mythbusting quiz designed to see just how much you know about the environmental impacts of design, production and consumption. You will be tested on your eco knowledge through multiple choice questions and rewarded for getting things right!
The app is ready and waiting for you to download it from iTunes!
Its FREE until the end of April 2011 so hurry up and get playing! Download it here
