There are more than 1300 endangered species within the borders of the city of Oslo. These patterns try to capture a few of them and prove that my neighbourhood is a lot more exotic than most of us would believe. At the same time this project is environmentally conscious all the way through. Materials used are organic cotton, silk and hemp. There has been no use of dyestuffs with heavy-metals. Some fabrics are screen-printed by me, some are ink-jet printed to use minimal ink. Several fabrics are hand-dyed cold-water process with plant dyes that grow in the northern climate. The entire collection is so clean it can be composted and go back into the nature's cycle.

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New visions (2009)

Different approaches to act sustainable in small, medium and large companies.

We all want to take measures to decrease the environmental impact that the fashion and textile industry has on our planet. But how? Everyone knows there is no one single ”fix-it-all” solution to the sustainability issues facing our industry. So, what can we do?

There are multiple ways of approaching this issue, and there are a vast number of solutions out there. I will strongly argue that we have to look at sustainability as a core issue for our design processes and business structures. We can not allow sustainability to be something that only the CSR department takes care of. We all need to look at the various ways of solving problems and finding new solutions that enables us to implement the strategies appropriate for our different businesses. Small companies will have to choose different solutions than large brands. We have to think about change where we are, and to mix as many strategies as possible.

I will present some very different ways of implementing sustainable design. To tease the minds of designers and company leaders alike, the visions I present include material changes, take-back systems, in-house-redesign concepts, repair-services, change of production methods, cradle to cradle systems and more. I will show examples of work and companies who have been developing new ways to work with sustainability. The main point is that it is not enough to implement one solution; only with an open mind and a will to reorganize the way we think about design can we achieve the goals we have to change the industry.

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Model in most photos: Ann, Divamodels.dk Photo of model: J. Chr. Hansen. Photo of insects: K. Sund, University of Oslo, NHM. Photo of plants: T. Røberg, Norsk Naturarv.

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