“Green” leader to present ID symposium, Distinguished Lecture Oct. 16
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
David Oakey, a leader in sustainable design, will present the keynote address for the Interior Design Student Symposium on Friday, Oct. 16.
His presentation doubles as a University Distinguished Lecture at 1:30 p.m. in the K-State Union Forum Hall. The Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design and the Interior Design advisory board sponsor the annual symposium.
Oakey, owner of David Oakey Designs in La Grange, Ga., emphasizes that designers and manufacturers must respect the future; they must recognize how their work impacts the world during and after its life cycle.
Sustainability is defined as the capacity of people to provide for their own needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to provide for theirs. Green design and manufacturing also benefits businesses and individuals, he says.
Oakey consults on sustainable business practices.
“Waste is our biggest problem,” Oakey says. “I often try to guide big business to look at sustainable practices that will improve their bottom line. That’s one thing they jump on very quickly. If the waste becomes a profit stream itself, and then the idea of ‘waste’ goes away entirely.”
Oakey is the premier designer for Interface Flooring, the largest manufacturer of modular commercial carpet systems in the world. Since the mid-1990s, Interface has committed itself to reducing waste and negative environmental impacts in their entire manufacturing process.
The University Distinguished Lecture is free and open to the public. Lecture sponsors are the College of Human Ecology, the College of Business Administration, the College of Architecture, Planning and Design, the College of Engineering and the K-State University Distinguished Lecture Committee.
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 and is filed under Events.