What is Design for the Environment?
And how can it be used to make pottery more eco-friendly?
Design for the environment is the practice of designing a product or service around what causes the least possible harm to the environment and human health right from the outset and building this into its core design (1). Ninety percent of a product’s environmental impact is determined at the design stage (2). Design for the environment therefore considers the impact across the whole life cycle of the product or service from the ingredients used to make it, how it is made to whether it can be recycled at the end of its useful life.
Pottery-making practice is often led by creativity and aesthetics but there are many different ways that a design for the environment approach can be incorporated into ceramic production. Here are examples of factors potters can consider when they are designing their ceramics;
Three, ‘design for the environment’ factors in pottery:
1.) CO2-emissions
Are Ingredients used in clays and glazes using the smallest levels of energy to extract and process, minimising CO2 emissions.
How far have the ingredients had to travel to the pottery studio? Could they be locally sourced instead of internationally sourced.
Could renewable energy be used in the pottery studio? Minimising the CO2 emissions created by firing work in a kiln powered by renewable energy rather than energy created by burning fossil fuels.
2.) Sustainable procurement
Investigating how pottery ingredients obtained and how much harm they cause to the people who mine and process them, as well as the communities living nearby mines.
Factoring in who is benefiting from the proceeds of mining that material. Are terrorist organisations profiting from its sale, in the case of talc used in clays and glazes.
Are workers paid a fair price for the materials they are producing.
Are children being used to work in mines - in the case of cobalt mining which produces the blue colour in ceramics.
How regulated are the mines used to produce certain pottery ingredients and how protected are the workers who work there.
3.) Harm caused to animals
Is biodiversity reduced in the mining and processing of any of the pottery ingredients.
Are animals harmed in the production of any pottery ingredients or tools such as bone ash used in clays and glazes or leather and Marine Sponge used as pottery tools.
Are habitats destroyed or polluted by the production of any pottery materials.
There are so many positive changes potters can make to improve the environmental impact of their pottery practice. In his book ‘The Green Grocer: One Man’s Manifesto for Corporate Activism’ the Managing Director of Iceland Foods Richard Walker explains that whatever the size of your business you are in a unique and powerful position to effect positive change in the world (2). Walker believes all businesses should take action to know their impacts, favour improvements and share what they learn (2).
He explains that a collaborative approach is more important than a competitive one when it comes to having a positive impact on the environment, as some issues are best solved by sharing knowledge.
More ideas on making a pottery practice more eco-conscious can be found in these ebooks from Oxford Clay:
References
1.) Finkbeiner M., Schneider L., Berger M, 2012. Design for Resource Efficiency. In: Matsumoto M., Umeda Y., Masui K., Fukushige S. (eds) Design for Innovative Value Towards a Sustainable Society. Springer, Dordrecht.
2.) Walker, R. 2021 The Green Grocer: One Man’s Manifesto for Corporate Activism. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited
