1st Edition

Holistic Sustainability Through Craft-Design Collaboration

By Rebecca Reubens Copyright 2019
276 Pages
by Routledge

276 Pages 130 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

276 Pages 130 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book explores the intersection of craft, design and sustainability in the developing world. It argues that most sustainable design approaches and efforts fall short of implementing holistic sustainability, and in order to reach this goal, design must be underpinned by alternatives to the mainstream, technology-intensive, industrial design paradigm. Renewable materials such as bamboo,... Read more

1. Introduction  2. Sustainability and Development  3. Sustainability by design  4. To craft, by design, for sustainability  5. The Rhizome Framework  6. The Rhizome Approach  7. The Bamboo Space-Making Craft Workshop  8. Feedback on the Rhizome Approach  9. Encouraging the use of the Rhizome Approach  10. The Holistic Sustainability System  11. Insights and Conclusions

Biography

Rebecca Reubens did her Ph.D. on the intersection between craft, design and sustainability at Delft University, the Netherlands. She practices in the same domain through her sustainability design firm Rhizome, and is an ambassador for the World Bamboo Organization.



"This book offers a thoroughly researched, field-tested approach to design for sustainability in grassroots maker enterprises. With its practical framework, design examples and focus on renewable materials, it challenges our current unsustainable trajectory of unbridled growth and waste. It is an important, eminently useful and much-needed contribution to the field."Stuart Walker, Chair of Design for Sustainability, Lancaster University, UK and author of Design Realities: creativity, nature and the human spirit

"This book provides useful insight into sustainable product design practice especially for developing economies. It advocates for a sustainable design system that balances social, economic and cultural factors in production to consumption systems. The recommendations in the book by Dr Reubens, are backed by research and several years of experience in creating quality bamboo products which are sustainable."Lilac Osanjo, Director, School of The Arts and Design, University of Nairobi, Kenya

"Design practitioner Rebecca Reubens succeeds in bringing systematic design to crafts people that employ renewable, abundant materials. Her reflections in this book result in a practical framework for holistic sustainability to protect the environment and grow the economy, and also sustain and nurture the culture, skills and communities of craftsmen. Its application paves the way to craft out of poverty, with valuable and sought-after products, that sustain the planet and the culture and traditions of its people."René Van Berkel, PhD, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Project Manager Greening Handicrafts Value Chains in Vietnam

"The design fraternity talks a lot about design for inclusive sustainability, however, this is rarely put into real practice. Rebecca's tremendous work creates a truly inclusive approach for design for sustai