Ecodesign: The Sourcebook [Paperback]

Alastair Fuad-Luke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

Alas, environmentally friendly design hasn t always meant high style. Confronting that challenge head on, ecoDesign lists well over 500 consumer products for those who seek design that s not only beautiful and useful, but also has minimal impact on the earth. Some of these pieces-from clothing to kitchenware, electronics, furniture, and much, much more-have already become classics. But this remarkable sourcebook also guides readers to undiscovered gems and handcrafted objects from artisanal studios. Detailed illustrated entries describe the products themselves, while an extensive reference section defines these new and hybrid materials and provides information on manufacturers, design studios, green organizations, and a further reading list. ecoDesign is the total resource guide for a new generation of contemporary design.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From a solar electric bus to fashions made from recycled inner tubes, EcoDesign: The Sourcebook showcases some of the most innovative, environmentally friendly products and prototypes from around the world. The 700-some designs include furniture, appliances, vehicles and electronics. Each entry in this encyclopedic reference features a photograph and brief description, as well as information about the various components of the product. The book is edited by Alastair Fuad-Luke, who teaches green design at Falmouth College of Arts in England, and includes a resource guide that lists designers, manufacturers, green organizations and "eco strategies."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

There are more than 700 reasons to recommend "Eco Design," a 352-page compendium of environmentally sensible products. That's how many "green" designs are included in this enlightening sourcebook.
Design groupies will recognize artfully recycled furnishings, including Tejo Remy's impromptu chest made of drawers salvaged from junk shops, and Jurgen Bey's garden bench made of compressed dried grass. But the book's universe of products extends to solar-powered cellular highway call boxes, a shatterproof CD case that requires 46 percent less energy in manufacturing than conventional models, and a robotic lawn mower. Innovative building materials include recycled cedar-look shakes, bamboo flooring, water-saving appliances and solar panels.
The book (Chronicle, $35) was compiled by Alastair Fuad-Luke, a professor of ecological design at the Falmouth College of Arts in Britain. The profusion of products on the market today is the prof's way of answering the question: Can we design a sustainable future?
To live the waste-not, want-not dream, memorize the list of contacts at the back of the book. -Washington Post

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811835480
• ISBN-13: 978-0811835480
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,883,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book for designers, January 11, 2003

By 

harry hardbody (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ecodesign: The Sourcebook (Paperback)

this book is cool - lots of pictures, the text is brief. there is a good mix of concepts and production products ( concepts are always more fun to look at and have more pure ideas. production parts show how it all works in the real world). in fact, the best part of the book is that it finds positive things about a lot of products. it isn't demanding that we stop using plastic or batteries - just finds the best examples of products that use them wisely.

One important section is buried in the back. pages 327 - 330 give eco-design strategies. the are brief desicriptions of how to design an "eco" product. for example, one says "self-assembly: designs that are assembled by the consumer, therefore saving valuable space in transport and storage". most writers would take several pages to say the same thing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good starting point, September 17, 2005

By 

global music collector "attitune" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ecodesign: The Sourcebook (Paperback)

This beautifully designed book is a great idea-generator if you're thinking about using sustainable products and materials in your home or office, or if you just like cool, european design that makes you ask, "so where can I get that?" or "who makes that utterly cool thing that I will probably never find in a shop and can't afford, anyway?"

It introduces you to good-looking examples of ecological design for everyday life -- flooring, furniture, transportation, miscellaneous -- and gives a breakdown of the kinds of materials available (biopolymers, textiles, etc.) and who makes them. For me, it would also be helpful to see price tags on some of these options, as well as more easily located--or at least up-to-date--URLs for the companies that produce them. Many examples had no web sites listed and some were defunct.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great fun to browse, August 7, 2002

By 

Mark Asch "notehead" (South Orange, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ecodesign: The Sourcebook (Paperback)

For those of us who appreciate both good design and environmental issues (recyclability, energy used in manufacture, durability, etc.), this book offers a wonderfully wide spectrum of products that will inspire and enlighten... and possibly make you reach for your credit cards, thanks to the lists of manufacturer contact info in the back. However, you should realize that a significant portion of the products shown are "one-offs" or case studies -- they are not available for purchase. I feel that the author's descriptions are inconsistent -- sometimes helpful or interesting, sometimes not. But the vast array of products presented are generally quite well chosen from what must have been a truly dizzying number of possible entries, and nicely organized. I appreciate the inclusion of vehicles, although I have been watching that particular area of product development (EV's, FCV's, etc.) closely enough to wish that the author had opted to include certain other models, and had more complete or current facts about some that were presented, such as the General Motors EV1, which was a brilliantly designed electric car with a massive waiting list, mysteriously pulled out of production by GM for extremely dubious reasons. In summary, Ecodesign is quite enjoyable, with a huge number of fantastic designs for a wide range of products.