NeoCon News, continued

Whew! NeoCon 2008 is history but it certainly made its mark. Your intrepid but weary reporter is ecstatic to report that never before has green been so predominant.

It was easy, for me at least, to find a recurring theme - let’s use what we have as raw material stock rather than drilling for more oil. Hmm - not too hard to figure out where that’s coming from with oil at $136 a barrel and climbing.

Textile and carpet manufacturers are especially eager to recover existing goods to recycle back into new product. Company after company is implementing reclamation programs and – good news – the design community is responding by sending more of its demolition waste back to the manufacturers. In fact, post-consumer recycled content is the hot new metric.

Also big – efforts to reduce carbon emissions with many companies setting target dates to reach net zero.

Manufacturers are continuing to search for alternative, less toxic materials, with good success.

Finally, as products get greener they are getting more gorgeous. Carnegie, for example has embellished its high-performance product Xorel with eight embroidery patterns that are stunning.

I shared part of my NeoCon experience with interior design students  from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). We visited different exhibitors and together asked the questions that all designers must in order to separate the truly green from the greenwashed. I had a ball!