It may not be obvious upon first glance, but China is quietly becoming a global leader in green and sustainable design. With an enormous population and geography that makes transporting goods across the country relatively difficult, Chinese businesses and organizations have adapted by becoming more energy-efficient and adopting the use of sustainable and reusable materials. One would think these sorts of changes would be driven by government, but in China, the opposite seems to be happening: the country is leading the way when it comes to green consumerism, spurred in part by smart, sustainable design. Good design plays an enormous role in making things sustainable, and WILDDESIGN is proud to be part of the growing sustainable design movement here in China, including creating sustainable design that’s user and consumer-friendly while still advertising its sustainable qualifications.

China is the largest participant in The EcoChic Design Award 2013, a contest focused on “creating desirable sustainable clothing via zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction sustainable design techniques.” The idea here is not to merely create sustainable products for the marketing benefits they provide; it’s about using sustainable materials and production methods to design products that are superior to the competition, partially by virtue of their sustainable characteristics. WILDDESIGN has many of the same goals and principles in mind!

Designers in China are especially adept at using renewable materials. Bamboo, for instance, is a tremendous resource for sustainable designers in China, in that it grows extremely fast and is adaptable to wide variety of design styles and scales. Take a look at this toy design and manufacturing project in China’s Zhejiang Province. It uses the renewable, sustainable, bamboo forest adjacent to the toy facility and hosts design students from around the world to study the best ways to design and build toys and other products using bamboo.

Many designers in China have discovered that sustainable design that advertised itself as such without sacrificing functionality or aesthetics was a hit with consumers, who were (and are) eager to vote with their wallets when it comes to encouraging sustainable businesses. We put these principles into action with our project for BASF which involved taking a holistic, 360 degree design approach in developing a lightweight plastic solar panel frame that is easy to install and transport, and is durable, lightweight and affordable. It’s the type of product design that consumers would choose over bulkier, “less green” designs and part of the growing movement toward consumer-driven sustainable design here in China and throughout Asia that WILDDESIGN is actively helping to grow.

We’re also presently proud to be doing some pro-bono work on a new website for Green Drinks China, part of the global NGO Green Drinks, which seeks to promote education, awareness and action on environmental and sustainability causes globally – we’ll be sure to share the site when it’s completed!

Further readings:

Tony’s Farm Sustainable Hotel and Office