In cooperation with the City of Cologne, the ECO DESIGN FORUM international 2016 was successfully launched in Cologne’s sister cities of Bethlehem and Tel Aviv. Thanks to renewed support by Engagement Global with funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2017, we have invited not only select designers and artists from these two cities to come to the ökoRAUSCH Festival in Cologne, but also from Cologne’s sister cities Barcelona and Istanbul.
On May 15th designers, artists, creative thinkers and cultural protagonists were meeting up with sustainability experts to exchange thoughts about the relevance of design and art in the fields of economy and society and learned from each other.
Three inspiring, stimulating lectures, a discussion panel with all our international experts as well as three workshops on the key issues of “culture & creative economy”, “ecological production” & environmental psychology” made the ECO DESIGN FORUM CGN quite a success!
Serkan
Designer / Istanbul, Türkei
What appealed me most was the encounter with other designers/artists and see how they approach to the issues in the field of ecology and sustainability. I came back with theoretical information through lectures as well as practical ideas through workshops and visits to local ateliers.
Ettie
Upcycling / Tel Aviv, Israel
Participating in ökoRAUSCH Festival was a real treat for me. An illuminating and inspiring experience.
It was wonderful to get to know the projects that are happening right now in the world concerning sustainable living, and was double wonderful to meet other people from around the world that share the passion to the subject.
The event inspired me to take my own intuitive and implement sustainable approach in my creative work.
In the festival I made 2 partnership, one with a woman from Barcelona and one from Istanbul , to continue to work together on creative projects.
Ever since I got back I’m working very intensively on new products created from recycled materials from my near surrounding.
Britta
Designerin / Bad Bodenteich, Deutschland
Ökobaumwolle ist nicht immer sinnvoll! Wie komplex das Thema der nachhaltigen Materialauswahl ist, hat Susanne Volz in ihrem Vortrag wunderbar dargestellt. Selbst wir Designer wünschen uns ja, dass wir uns auf die Ökolabel und Zertifizierungen verlassen können, nur um dann festzustellen, dass das nicht gleichbedeutend ist, mit einer wirklich nachhaltigen Lösung.
Das Thema der sinnvollen Materialwahl und des nachhaltigen Materialeinsatzes noch intensiver im Team zu diskutieren und bei der Produktentwicklung wesentlich stärker zu berücksichtigen.
Yasemin
Designerin / Istanbul, Türkei
We visited a wood carpenter atelier that orginized by you with the exhibitors. The owner of the atelier showed us a city plan and explained the green circle around Cologne. Planning a forest around the city in circle shape is really a good design. Easly accessible from whole the city and just leaving as forest not park.
I rent a bike and visited that green circle area in my last day in Cologne 🙂
All the people from the ökoRAUSCH team was working and enjoying at the same time. They were personally interest and close to the subject. They were not doing their job as a job only 🙂 It was just great to feel it. And it was such a great to met and be together during the festival with people from different locations focused on same subject from different angles.
My motivation is definately increased after the festival for creating sustainable projects and products. I spare more time and try to make documantation during development process.
Ghadeer
Designerin / Jerusalem, Israel
I really appreciated all the work that has been placed and the planning that was done in order to make this a successful gathering! Well done to all the team members!
I also wanted to say that the choice of place, the invited participants and the panel speakers was a very good choice,
also the program was rich one covering a wide range of ecological initiatives and creative ideas which me personally knew little about but after the festival was happily overwhelmed with all the information I received!
It was a great opportunity to get to network and meet all these creative people all together under one roof, and even have a chance to talk to them more afterwords during the dinners and informal gatherings.
What I took home is lots of positive ecologically driven energy which I try since to use each time I’m thinking of designing items!
Annelys
Designer / Sint Pieters Leeuwm, Belgien
I liked the intimacy of the group of people. With shared agenda’s there were many points of meeting, and since the festival took some days, there were many encounters. Also what was good was the international background of people, and that you (the organizers) really knew those people and visited them. So there was a strong connection already.
It made me more concious about several aspects of sustainable design. I was very exited to look at design clearly from that angle and see the different aspects of it. Also for Disarming Design it’s something important to discuss it from that angle. It definitely made me more aware of sustainability and helped me to develop my own tools for dealing with it.
You missed ökoRAUSCH Festival 2017? Find out more in our blog
