Wm. McDonough Profiled as Fast Company "Master of Design" - Shaw Carpet Featured

The cover story of the June 2004 issue of Fast Company magazine, "Masters of Design," profiles "20 visionary men and women who are using design to create not just new products, but new ways of working, leading, and seeing." William McDonough leads the group of four designers identified as "Impact Players." The article features the "Walk in the Garden" carpet tiles from Shaw's William McDonough Design Portfolio.

Read the article at http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/83/mod_mcdonough.html

Shaw Ending Its PVC Carpet Backing Use by Close of Year

The July 2004 issue of Metropolis magazine features a story on Shaw's exit from PVC as a carpet backing material. The article highlights both the significance of the move, and the market factors behind it.

Shaw has seen the market share of its EcoWorx cradle-to-cradle carpet tile backing steadily overtake its PVC-backed products, as designers and specifiers increasingly look for high-quality, environmentally favorable alternatives to vinyl.

Read the Metropolis article in the July 2004 issue on newsstands now. Read about Shaw's exit from PVC online at http://beta.interiordesign.net/id_article/CA428150/id?section=News

Steelcase Introduces New Cradle-to-Cradle Chair

The current issue of Metropolis also features an article on the environmental achievements of Steelcase's new Think office chair. Steelcase introduced the Think chair last week at the trade show NeoCon in Chicago. The company describes it as "a smart, simple and environmentally sustainable seating product."

Steelcase collaborated with designer Glen Oliver Löw, MBDC, and the Institute of Product Development in Copenhagen, Denmark, to create a chair that conforms to the highest environmental standards and raises the bar in cradle-to-cradle design and life-cycle thinking. The result is a product that is 99% recyclable, can be disassembled in 5 minutes, is made of up to 41% recycled material, and assessed by MBDC's Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol for material health.

Read the article in the current issue of Metropolis, or read more about the Think chair at http://www.steelcase.com/servlet/OurCompanyServlet?ACTION=4&SEC_ID=6&
SUB_ID=8&MIN_ID=24&CONTENT_ID=642&NAME=news&NAME2=product

Download the Think Environmental Product Declaration, including its cradle-to-cradle life cycle characterization, at http://www.steelcase.com/en/pdf/brochures/04-0012421ThinkEPD.pdf

You can also view a video clip, featuring MBDC's Jay Bolus, explaining the Think's environmental achievements on Steelcase's Think microsite (look for the "Meet the Environmentalists" clip in the Think Environment section of the site) at http://www.steelcase.com/en/think/default.html

MechoShade Debuts EcoVeil Cradle-to-Cradle Shade Cloth

MechoShade, the leading producer of window shading products, introduced its new shade cloth called EcoVeil at the NeoCon trade show in Chicago last week. Developed with MBDC using the Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol, EcoVeil is a healthy and fully recyclable alternative to standard PVC-polyester shade cloth materials. Made entirely from a new "technical nutrient" material, with a Thermoplastic Olefin (TPO) -based yarn called EarthTex, EcoVeil can be recycled into new shade cloth or other EarthTex based products after use, in a cradle-to-cradle cycle.

Read more about MechoShade's introduction of EcoVeil at http://www.mechoshade.com/site/whatsnew/index.cfm?noteid=8

Thanks for staying in touch with MBDC. We look forward to sharing more exciting news as the summer progresses.

Phil Storey

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Phil Storey
MBDC, Manager of Communications
phil.storey@mbdc.com