Less talk, more walk

Walk the walk. Those were the closing words from Lindsey Parnell, regional CEO of Interface Flor, during a recent talk on sustainability.

Cliched perhaps, but essentially stark, straight-down-the line advice from a company that is putting its money where its mouth is in the sustainability stakes.

We all know that there's plenty of the ‘talk' going on. There's scarcely a supplier or designer in the land that isn't enthusing about their great green plans. In certain circles, LEED has near overtaken the weather and Dubai traffic when it comes to hollow conversational fillers.

With so much admirable intent around, you can imagine our surprise to find, when sorting through this year's entries for the CID Awards, that the sustainable design category was the most glaringly undersubscribed of the lot.

Not to put too fine a point on it but ‘almost depressing' was how one of our judges summed up the state of affairs. Hats off to the companies who put forward projects that are genuinely addressing sustainability principles - there just wasn't enough of them.

Now, Parnell came across a pretty understanding type of fellow, probably prone to giving the benefit of the doubt. And he made a point that should be noted.

It is too simplistic to write off the discrepancy between what is being said and what is being done as pure marketing-driven manipulation, he maintained. In many cases it is still a case of naivety and of inadequate understanding of the issues at hand.

After all, sustainability is a complex issue - a point perhaps lost on those that throw the word around so liberally.

You can plant a tree to save the planet and find out a month later that sequestration outside the tropical zone actually has a negative impact. You can recycle a product only to find that you have wasted three times more energy than if you had just let it be. As Parnell pointed out "a little knowledge is sometimes a dangerous thing".

As a result, this issue of CID takes an extended look at what sustainability actually means to designers in this region. We are also highlighting a number of sustainable trends and products, and look forward to seeing some of them in your projects - and in next year's sustainable design of the year entries.

Selina Denman is the editor of Commerical Interior Design.

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