PLASTICFREE GLOBAL LAUNCH IN NEW YORK
Last night new global platform PlasticFree held their global launch in New York.
Last night, at Parsons School of Design in New York City, PlasticFree hosted ‘Our Incredible Future Now’ following the launch of PlasticFree's database of plastic alternatives earlier this month. See here to download images from the event.
A series of fast-paced talks were delivered from creatives across multiple disciplines who all seek to move from words, pledges and pacts to actual change, kicked off by Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder of A Plastic Planet and Founder of PlasticFree.
Speakers at the event ranged from:
- Global Head of Brand Experience and Design at hygiene, health and nutrition company Reckitt Benckiser Group Jos Harrison
- Chief Innovation Officer at fashion brand Pangaia Amanda Parkes
- Co-founder of design studio Birsel + Seck Ayse Birsel
- Founder of consumer packaging media brand The Dieline Andrew Gibbs
- Founder of climate innovation hub The Slow Factory Celine Semaan
- CEO of agricultural consultancy FAI Farms Oistein Thorsen and
- Founder and CEO of plant-based textile company Natural Fiber Welding Luke Haverhals.
Talks were also delivered by co-founder and CEO of plant-based clothing company UNLESS Collective, Eric Liedtke, founding partner and creative director of creative studio Made Thought Ben Parker, co-founder of creative agency PENGARNA Tom Arden.
The event brought together leading creative professionals to interrogate the question: "Why are we still talking about the problem when we have so many answers?"
Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder of PlasticFree and global solutions organisation A Plastic Planet:
“Our creative industries have a new role, they are now all in the business of change”
“It’s not just about how we make materials that is the problem, it’s the fact that we take too much from nature. We need to change the way we see the world. We need to look with new eyes.”
“It’s easy for us to think that the future will just happen, it doesn’t. We make our future and we have extraordinary power, yet we are still only talking about the problems. We need to think about what is our new future going to look like and how are we going to create that vision.”
Jos Harrison, Reckitt Benckiser:
“The culture of mindless consumption is in the past. The world of FMCG that we've all contributed to, doesn't have a future in its current state. We have to reimagine what the future will look and feel like.”
“We’ve contributed to a culture that expects everything now, with upmost convenience and minimal concern about waste, but this is a culture that is rapidly eroding and it will soon disappear. This is why industries like ours must change and adapt because it will soon be unacceptable.”
Brian Collins, COLLINS:
“Nature is the best, most intelligent designer there is. But we have overwhelmed it to the point where it cannot recover. So it's time to stop designing apart from nature and start designing as a PART of nature, which we are”.
The PlasicFree platform has a singular aim: To ignite, inspire and re-channel creative vigour into designing entirely new systems and ideas to tackle the problems of the climate crisis.