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April 22, 2014 |
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Happy Earth Day To The Earth And All You Creatures! |
We think that everyone should celebrate the heck out of Earth Day. After all, where would we be without it? That's right, we would be specks of star dust just floating around in space. Yeah, not very exciting. So, here's to the Earth, and here's to doing what we can to protect, preserve and restore it for many generations to come!
Here's a few things we have done to reduce our impacts on the planet:
• Our studio, as well as our home, has run off of renewable wind power via Minnesota's Wind Source program since the program's inception.
• TIF Partner Holly Robbins co-founded what is now the Master of Arts in Sustainable Design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), a program that attracts students from around the country and around the world. We are training the next generation of designers to be more responsible and more innovative. Holly, currently teaches a core course in the program, The Practice of Sustainable Design.
• We work to make our industry the best that it can be. We speak on topics of sustainable design. We also contributed to the criteria for the AIGA MN Green Leaf award and have helped judge the award winners for 2013 and 2014.
• We offer our clients the best practices of our industry. We practice sustainable design principles and offer sustainability consulting services.
• We also do the little things that add up to a lot. We use 100% post-consumer content paper in our printers. We compost, reuse and recycle. We avoid commuting daily. We eat local and organic most of the time, mainly from food co-ops, farmer's markets and CSAs.
And here are some goals we have set for this year to further reduce our impacts going forward:
• We are enrolled in one of the first community solar programs, where we will own our own solar panels which are installed on a commercial building elsewhere in town, powering our studio on the credits. Go solar!
• We are in the process of switching our server hosting to a company that primarily runs on solar power and is in a LEED certified building, so that our server runs on good vibes too.
• We will trade in our larger garbage container for the smaller one that the city offers to further raise our awareness of waste reduction.
• We will switch out our CFLs as they expire over the next few years for the newer, more efficient LED bulbs. |
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October 30-31, 2013 |
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(R)Evolution In Design |
Holly recently traveled to Winston-Salem for an event at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts (SECCA) in conjunction with opening week of the traveling Walker Art Center Graphic Design: Now in Production show. She gave a keynote talk on the role of design and culture in sustainability called "(R)Evolution in Design" following an awards presentation for excellence by The Sustainability Resource Center to local businesses and organizations. Lively and insightful discussions followed both the speech and the intimate round table held in the SECCA the following day. Thanks to all the great folk at SECCA who made Holly's visit to the area so enjoyable and to all those who attended the events with such enthusiasm, passion and interest.
http://secca.org/events/design-talk-series-secca/ |
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October 15, 2015 |
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LOOK HERE: Making Visible the Invisible
in Sustainable Art and Design |
TIF's own Holly Robbins, is featured in the LOOK HERE show at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design). Holly is sharing her work in progress for a book concept, A Taxonony of {Sustainable} Design Strategies. In this work, she catalogs and categorizes the myriad of existing strategies as a tool to help those practicing sustainable design. Learn More.
Opening Reception: Friday, October 16, 6-8 pm, Concourse Gallery
Show Runs: Oct 16 - Nov 8, 2015
Artists' Panel Discussion: Monday, October 26, 6:30pm, Auditorium 140
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December 9, 2014 |
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Currents Brand Launched! |
Currents, a new name and brand This Is Folly created for a Plymouth, Minnesota apartment home complex, went live recently.
Our client wanted to refresh the complex and give it some personality through a theme of the by-gone era of luxury passenger steam ship travel. With faux rusty steel beams, heavy iron straps and rivets, images of turn-of-the-century bathing beauties and other vintage ship and nautical details already underway, This Is Folly jumped onboard to develop a name, logo and brand culture to go with the new décor.
But that, as it turns out, was just the beginning of our journey. View full story here. |
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October 6, 2014 |
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We MiXed it up at the launch event! |
This Is Folly got into the MiX last week at the Minneapolis Idea eXchange launch party in downtown Minneapolis (TIF designed the event invites).
Ideas abounded, as did appearances by noteworthies. The night's festivities included a wonderful presentation on humor and creativity by Barry Kudrowitz who talked about how the part of the brain that processes humor and creativity are the same. So, in short, he told us to lighten up, have fun and just let the good and bad ideas flow. Other speakers, including City of Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges (seen above) and Nate Garvis, challenged the audience to make our ideas festival inclusive, impactful and original. The improv comedy of the Theater of Public Policy added some great comic relief. Their Minneapolis vs. St. Paul idea cage match was hilarious. St. Paul's answer to Minneapolis' idea to build the world's largest skyscraper? They went in a completely other direction, to dig the deepest hole. Nice try, St. Paul!
MiX will need all sorts of ideas and volunteers to make it great. To get in the MiX, check out the website at http://www.minneapolisideaexchange.com
And mark your calendars for MiX 2015 - October 1-3. |
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