i.e. my Recycled Magic Wallets and this makes me so happy! Thanks so much!
Oh, I filled my shop but I’ve been busy making bespoke wallets lately… These orders go first, I hope you understand.
Linkt to my online shop on etsy.
Being such a curious girl, there were 3 quite different events/happenings in London I didn’t want to miss:
1. The second UK “carrotmob” in Covent Garden
Carrotmob organizes consumers to make purchases, rewarding companies who make environmentally friendly choices.
2. A “Who wants to be” game show at the Unicorn Theatre
Game show where the audience makes up all the questions and decides how to spend the box office takings.
3. The Swishing at V&A
The Art of Swishing involves getting your friends together to swap gorgeous clothes and party at the same time.
I met Jon, the organizer of the UK carrotmob a few months ago at a meetup somewhere in Hoxton. I remember that he was as much interested in changing the world… ok, ok, making the world more sustainable - step by step… as I am. Besides, I had to go to Covent Garden anyway so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get some sustainability news. I followed his invite to the second carrot mob in London.
Quite disappointingly, there were not so many other people showing up. It hasn’t got the popularity of San Francisco’s original Carrotmob - yet. I learnt that it’s not the idea that makes something popular but very much how it’s communicated and implemented. I also missed a bit the passion. Anyway, how can you make something viral? I think there is no “how to” for that matter leading to success - if there is, I’d be interested to know!
What was good to hear: Jon is now working in a company consulting on how to make business more sustainable (that’s why he had no time for better promoting this carrot mob). I don’t blame him. I can totally understand. My project, the Recycled Magic Wallets were also pretty much on hold while I was working full time. Anyway, I haven’t “officially” launched them - yet…
Then there was the who wants to be game show at the Unicorn Theatre. People gather and democratically decide what their “entrance fee” (this time about £1700) should be spent on. The last time, the money was spent on a part of UK’s woodlands. This time, to be honest, I haven’t found out where my money went yet because of early leaving.
But it was defintitively worth going as it was a very interesting experience. Some people are just not shy. How can you say: “Give the money to me so that I can go shopping - Because I like shopping.” You must be joking, right?! But then there were many other very creative and clever ideas like having a lottery and the winner will have a hotel room in a fancy hotel for a night or giving it to charity or recording a christmas carroll and even vote for a dictator!
One of the first votes was: Spending the money on: A) fun B) charity or C) both. To me, surprisingly, A) won. Personally, I belive you can have fun AND charity. I was kind of disappointed.
Anyway, I found out how difficult it is to get to a conclusion. People’s desires are so diverse! Clearly, doing good/being nice was a hot topic - but HOW to do/be so was a different question. I think, especially in this situation, you think before you speak. You just say what you want people to say/know about you. Which in a way is not bad.
But too bad I couldn’t stay till the end. I would have liked to chat with some of the crowd after the show. They people there all seemed to be very open-minded, young and interesting.
Different place, different crowd. This time, the Swishing event took place in the Sackler Centre of the V&A museum. I was surprised about how many women came to swap their clothes. There must be many nice clothes hanging in woman’s wardrobes that are not really in use anymore and better off at a new home.
This was my second swish and in my opinion, this time, there were too many woman on one spot. Choosing clothes I will wear for a long time, I need more time and especially more space to select my favourite pieces. Otherwise I would just grab something (because it’s free and good quality stuff) that I might not like too much and end up never wearing again. (Or am I too picky?) Besides: I’m new to London and still figuring out how to deal with rather competitive behaviour…
Nevertheless, I like the good idea behind this event very much. Next time, I’d rather join a swish among a smaller circle of friends. Passing things on (locally) is still better than recycling - not to speak of dumping. My mantra remains: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.
It’s very difficult. Go to your nearest supermarket and search for things NOT made in poor countries. How many things are left enlabeled fair trade and eco certified? Not too many things. We are poor in that sense. We can buy stuff because of cheap labour. And we don’t even think as far or feel guilty.
Buying things, we don’t even have to spend real money but a plastic card. How much have we separated ourselves from “real” materia! How can we spend more than we have?! I truely can’t understand this concept!
Here is a work I found on design21
Maybe this card cold help you to think twice before you spend your virtual money on something.
I went to the London 3rd year anniversary Girl Geek Dinner sponsored by google last Thursday. I was a little late since I was working late but just on time to grab delicious salmon and healthy veggies. It’s true, you can get everything for free in the google canteen - at leat at that night.
There was an interesting talk by Karen Groenink about user centred design in mobile service. The pannel discussion about work life balance was also interesting. It would have been more authentic if it was conducted by a woman though.
I was hoping to get to know some other geek girls… (what’s a geek girl anyway?) …but in the end I was chating with some guys. (Why were there guys at a girl geek dinner in the first place?) I did something wrong I guess.
So what did I learn? Next time don’t be late. Don’t get stuck talking to men geeks. I’m not ” local London female” (yet). The Google canteen is a great venue, especially I liked to see the Bodum products everywhere (reminds me of my ex-boss). Google’s Guest WiFi didn’t work! Be prepared to get home late. A career can go from archaelogy to mobile service design.
I got to know Threadless about 1.5 years ago and since then they became more and more successful. To me this is not surprising. I like their business model. (Read more on inc.com - the costumer ist the company.)
Here is what I like most about their concept:
- They integrate “constumers” (producing and selecting designs). Not more and not less. People feel like they have something to say (and some actually do) and feel like being part of something bigger than themselves. They diminish the idea of seller (sometimes regarded as greedy people) and buyer (sometimes regarded as the stupid people) This makes both parties social and clever. At the end of the day it’s still about selling and buying but it feels more democratic.
- They don’t spend money for advertising. As so many people feel involved, they do advertise for Threadless all by themselves. It’s not only word-of-mouth but rather “see-and-touch propaganda” and I feel this is the most effective (and I guess the oldest) way to promote products.
- It’s T-shirts (universal & simple) combined with graphics (very personal): Simple T-shirts serve as a canvas for what you think you may be. Of course you want people to see what graphic you picked eg. what your style is: Threadless T-shirts are highly comfortable and visible.
- Their website is simple and intuitive. It’s a social community but you can only do things that are necessary for their business model. They KISS: Keep-It-Short&Simple.
- They don’t overproduce. They can manage their logistics. I guess they are a flexible, small enough team that can keep an overview on their business and (re)act clever.
In these ways, Threadless is very sustainable.
Finally I just feel like saying: We are all same, same but different. And Threadless respects that. It’s just great.
Green Marketing is good but I think information sharing communities fit more our zeitgeist. Within a community one can have the feeling of being part of something bigger than themselves. A feeling of being involved due to an intrinsic motivation and not being convinced by someone else. Within modern communities there are usually less hierarchies. I believe Individualists don’t like hierarchies but search for like-minded people in order to share and make a statement.
I’m part of One.org, We and Anti-Apathy, Lovepeace.ch by greenpeace, TED ideas woth spreading and Design21 social design network, ebay, etsy, the german version dawanda and instructables (At school I even made a businessplan for a similar community more than one year ago: planbdesigns). I’m also with LinkedIn, studi vz, a small world and of course facebook. Further I’m with Improveverywhere, Ning and Xing, Couchsurfing, Conceptart and the McKinsey Quarterly. Not to mention Google, Netvibes, Flickr, Twitter, Wordpress and Youtube. And probably I forgot some communities where I’m member too. Too many!
I like all these communities or offers but the question is: Where am I active? In some of them I have never been active. I just wanted to be a symbolic member, in others I was active for a while. A few I use very often or even daily. People have to select their favourites because time is limited to 24h a day. What sites, which brands make it to favourites and why? Big question and interesting challenge to find out.
It’s simple and clever I think. Ok, if you don’t know what’s behind this sign, it could be many things like communication, community, products you can share… but I’m optimistic that Al Gore will use this Sign wisely to establish a common picture. Read more about the logo: NYTimes
The campaign’s site www.wecansolveit.org
Another community I joined. But it’s a good feeling to become part of an important project.
Connect2earth is using the modern technology (mobile phones) to make a contribution (video, image, text) in order to draw attention to the problem we are facing e.g. exploiting/distroying our world. It’s an initiative supported by WWF, IUCN and Nokia and participants have the chance to show their contribution at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona this October.