“Design for a Living World,” Sustainability Meets Aesthetics

Fast Company recently provided a sneak peek at 10 sustainable products created as part of The Nature Conservancy‘s “Design for a Living World,” an exhibition on display at the Cooper-Hewitt now through January 2010. The show features work from top designers from the worlds of fashion, textiles, furniture and packaging in order to highlight that good design and sustainability are no longer mutually exclusive practices. In an effort to get consumers to rethink the ways their buying decisions impact the world, the project sets out to tell the stories behind these products, giving viewers a glimpse into the entire life-cycle.

On first glance, we are most impressed by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi‘s offering, an elegant cocktail dress and heels made from Alaskan Salmon skin, a by-product that is normally discarded by fisheries. Ezri Tarazi‘s home furnishings constructed from sustainable bamboo groves located in the Yunnan Province of China beautifully synthesize urban modernity with nature’s simplicity.

Additional information that explores the full scope of the exhibit can be viewed here.