ISSUES | 113
co tion
Educa
E
Universities and colleges are increasingly
offering eco-design to environmentally
conscious students, either as modules or as
entire courses. But what does this actually
mean for the students on these courses –
and what should employers expect from them?
WORDS KAY HILL
E co design used to be firmly on the
fringe of an industry better known for
courses to appeal to tomorrow’s
eco-warriors; while some of the first
promoting conspicuous consumption venues to offer such courses are now
than saving the planet. But times have striking out the ‘sustainable’ tag on the
changed, and it is now unusual to find grounds that all design should now fall
someone who doesn’t care about into that category.
sustainability and product life cycle. The UK’s first eco-design degree
Those who have been in the design was launched at Goldsmiths in the mid-
industry for years might find themselves 1990s, as a four-year course running
taken aback by this new frugal streak – alongside its regular BA in design. But
LIGHTEN UP
but it seems that the next generation of the last Eco-design students graduated
Right: Chandelier designers are being prepared (some last year, and since then, all the students
made from recycled might even say indoctrinated) into the have studied simply a BA in design.
PET plastic bottles, by reduce/reuse/recycle mantra. ‘We were seen as forward thinking at
Joanna Riddle and
Ondrej Lewis from All over the country, higher education the time for setting up the eco-design
University of Teesside institutions are rebranding their design course,’ says senior workshop tutor
www.idfxmagazine.com | September 2008