For this Break Some Dishes episode, our guest is the Founding Principal and Chief Design Officer of MASS Design Group, Alan Ricks! MASS stands for Model of Architecture Serving Society and Alan does just that, leading the strategy and design of projects around the globe and advancing the role of design to create a more equitable and just world. In this episode, Alan, Jon, and Verda come together to discuss the importance of creating a balance in the built environment and the impact of design cho...
Sep 08, 2022•42 min•Ep. 62
LIVE from NeoCon part 2 is here! In the last installment of our Live from NeoCon series, we chat with six incredible guests, all with unique backgrounds and experiences, to help us discover new ways of thinking and exploring fresh ideas in the world of design and sustainability. In today's episode, you'll hear from: Paul Shahriari | Founder & Chief Innovation Officer | ecomedes Elizabeth Whelan | Founder and Principal |Elizabeth Whelan Design David Cordell | Senior Technical Coordinator, Sus...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 64
And we're LIVE! Ok, we decided to do something a little different...during NeoCon we managed to do a series of podcasts LIVE from the OFS showroom in Chicago. These conversations were incredible and we are so excited to finally share them with you! In today's episode, you'll hear from: Lauren Perich | Senior Designer | Studio O+A Todd Bracher | Founder & Creative Director | Todd Bracher Studio Carolyn Clark Beedle | Director Audience Development | One Workplace These amazing guests sat down ...
Aug 03, 2022•51 min•Ep. 63
John Cary, currently the President & CEO of Eames Institute, is typically busy working his magic to bring design to the people. John has been a key player in the Pro Bono Design movement for a long time, and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. Everyone deserves good design. Verda tells us that interior designers care a lot about people, the problem is that it has traditionally been for a specific group of people. We want more people to experience good design, so join us as we ta...
Jul 15, 2022•48 min•Ep. 63
The recycling system is broken. Did you know that only 9% of what we put in blue bin programs is actually recycled? Our guest today is on a mission to address this issue. In today's episode, hear how Ashley Gorrie and her company, Unwasted, are taking a stand to clean up recycling by harnessing the power of design and discarded plastics to create functionally beautiful furniture. When asked why she's pursuing this Unwasted vision when the road seems so challenging, Ashley said, "it may be the cr...
Jun 30, 2022•35 min•Ep. 67
Did you know that each year, 17 billion pounds of office furniture ends up in a landfill? This statistic didn't sit well with today's guest, so she decided to do something about it. Today, we welcome Brandi Susewitz - she's the CEO and Founder of Reseat, the first online marketplace for second-life office furniture, and the first step toward a more sustainable, circular industry. In this episode, we explore Brandi's journey to launching Reseat (which is inspiring itself!), as well as explore how...
Jun 02, 2022•36 min•Ep. 72
Are you familiar with sustainable finance? ESG investing? Impact accounting? No? That's ok, neither were we - that is until we met Ken Pucker. Ken is the Advisory Director at Berkshire Partners and a Senior Lecturer at the Fletcher School at Tufts University - he is also the former COO of Timberland. In today's episode, Ken helps pull back the curtain on sustainability reporting, the myth of sustainable fashion, and how accounts just might be the unlikely heroes in giving our world a fighting ch...
May 12, 2022•48 min•Ep. 73
Ginger Krieg Dosier is the co-founder and CEO of Biomason - and they have a goal to help save our Earth, one brick at a time. Taking inspiration from marine ecosystems, Biomason aims to eliminate the need to emit carbon to produce building materials - developing a way to grow cement bricks and tiles with bacteria in order to replace traditional cement, the production of which, she says, generates more carbon dioxide than all but two countries, China and the United States. Ginger Krieg Dosier and...
Apr 13, 2022•31 min•Ep. 68
Our guest today is Jeff Frost - he's a material specialist with Brightworks Sustainability and co-founder of mindful MATERIALS collaborative; an industry-led initiative to make it easier for building professionals to select products with health and environmental attributes. Jeff is recognized as a national subject matter expert on how building material choices affect human health, climate change, and the environment. In today's episode, we learn from Jeff how healthier materials are a pathway to...
Mar 30, 2022•34 min•Ep. 70
Today, we welcome the Founder & CEO of Humanscale, Bob King. During our discussion, Bob reveals how combining sustainable principles with business acumen has led to industry-leading success. We also explore the problems, complexity, and difficult decisions required to create true progress in sustainability as a manufacturer - including the urgent need for all manufacturers to adopt material transparency and eradicate the use of harmful ingredients...all in an effort to ensure a healthier pla...
Mar 16, 2022•32 min•Ep. 66
Porter Fox, author of "The Last Winter,” trekked the world to tell the story of what he’s seen firsthand — a winter that’s shrinking. Fox is a lifelong skier, so he has a personal interest in cold, snowy weather. But less winter and less snow doesn’t only mean less skiing; it could also spell the end of the natural world as we know it. In today's episode, Porter Fox explains what he learned by crisscrossing the globe with scientists and adventurers to better understand the scale of this climate ...
Mar 02, 2022•46 min•Ep. 71
Season 3 of Break Some Dishes is here and we are so excited to be back! In today's episode, we take look into our crystal ball to see what 2022 has in store in the world of sustainability. We also preview our lineup of incredible guests, as we go deep with people who are trying to upend the status quo and find solutions for our planet. But that's not all - we are also BREAKING some news today too! We're so excited to announce that Break Some Dishes is now part of Imagine a Place Productions! Thr...
Feb 17, 2022•28 min•Ep. 69
Verda and Jon gather up some of their favorite people for a fun presentation at NeoCon, a big furniture/interior design show. These guests represent some of our favorite episodes over the past year, and we had a blast putting them all together in the same room - like a fun, amazing person stew! Listen to this group talk about design through a lens of climate change and unique design perspectives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/p...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 12
Are we filling our landfills with furniture? We are so accustomed to buying cheap furniture because it's easy and accessible, but why aren't we investing in pieces that will last our lifetime and get passed down to the next generation? Should we treat furniture like art, or family heirlooms meant to be passed on, each piece carrying its own recorded history of ownership? Dave Bryant and Judd Rosengart think so, and so do we! Judd and Dave are founders of an amazing concept called Heirloom Design...
Nov 21, 2021•41 min•Ep. 11
Finally, the interior design profession has come together and created an amazing pledge to impact climate change! This is long overdue, as the potential for interior designers in every segment of the industry is huge! Listen in as Jon and Verda talk with Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of Metropolis Magazine and Gary Wheeler, CEO of ASID as they explain what they want to achieve with this pledge. We are excited, as we see this as a perfect first step to activate our industry to impact change and ...
Nov 04, 2021•54 min•Ep. 10
In this episode, Jon and Verda talk with Annie Bevan, Executive Director of Mindful Materials. We are all affected by the materials in our built environment. Can Mindful Materials finally be the "Easy Button" to understanding what we're putting in our spaces? Annie thinks so! Mindful Materials is industry owned and led and really wants to be a resource for all designers out there. We need manufacturers to be transparent and work to optimize impacts by reducing harmful effects of product ingredie...
Oct 13, 2021•37 min•Ep. 9
Jon and Verda join Jane Abernethy and Annie Bevan in talking about material transparency on a panel with our host, Mortarr CEO Abby Murray. Jane Abernethy is Chief Sustainability Officer for Humanscale and Annie Bevan is the Executive Director of Mindful Materials. Who better to talk about material transparency than these two? Are we paying attention to what goes into product? Some of us are, but many companies still do not know what their suppliers are using in their product. Should we be sitti...
Sep 23, 2021•57 min•Ep. 8
This episode of Break Some Dishes finds Verda and Jon talking to an amazing activist by the name of Auden Schendler. Auden has been the Vice President of Sustainability at Aspen Ski Company for over 20 years, and his voice carries an amazing message, actually more than one. We love Auden because he truly offers a unique perspective on tackling climate change. While he began speaking primarily about impacting climate change in a corporate setting, Auden speaks with us about "Corporate Complicity"...
Sep 03, 2021•51 min•Ep. 7
Jon and Verda talk with Joey Roth about more than just coffee. Joey is an industrial designer who is focused on vessels, crafted from materials that get better with age. Joey wants to design product that people want to fix rather than replace. How long will it last? How long will it be valuable to us? These are important questions. Joey designs better coffee pods that will compost, not sit in landfills. Joey is trying to incorporate positive change in ritualistic behavior, and Verda wants him to...
Aug 23, 2021•46 min•Ep. 6
Jon and Verda talk to a textile designer!! Finally, we get to break dishes with Lori Weitzner, renowned textile designer and environmental activist. Lori introduces us to the idea of "cultural sustainability". How can we preserve the old way of making things while bringing it to scale to serve our industry? Lori tells us to understand what is in abundance, and focusing on that material. She's worked all over the globe, and even activated a small village in the Philippines to apply their craft to...
Aug 06, 2021•40 min•Ep. 5
This episode's special guest is Greg Norris. Currently Chief Scientist for the International Living Future Institute and Director of the Sustainability and Health Initiative for Net Positive Enterprise at MIT, Greg Norris is one of the top LCA experts in the country. Amongst his most impressive projects is the creation of "Hand-Printing", where it's not just about choosing to be less bad, but trying to make things better by fixing what we've broken. While we all would love to do this, Greg's pro...
Jul 09, 2021•46 min•Ep. 4
In this episode, Verda and Jon talk to Marcus Erikson an ex Marine and scientist on a journey to understand what happens with all of our plastic. He has tracked it down the Mississippi, to the world's oceans and finally, into the desert, where it is killing camels. Our plastic trash is everywhere, literally. Join us as we talk with someone who is passionate about exposing it's whereabouts. One part depressing, one part fascinating and one part inspirational, this scientist is going to continue t...
Jun 17, 2021•42 min•Ep. 3
In a departure from our usual science lased, data based episodes, where we chat with environmental engineers, scientists and deep subject matter experts, today we get to chat with one of our own kind! Doug Shapiro, Vice President of Research and Insights at OFS will share his own personal insights and those of OFS. Join us in learning how a company like OFS, who makes furniture, can create harmony outside, a wonderful community and beautiful furniture. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pri...
May 19, 2021•45 min•Ep. 2
Jason McLennan started the International Living Future Institute. He created the Living Building Challenge, followed by the Living Product Challenge, the Living Community Challenge, The Red List, and the Declare Label just to name a few. Oh, and he also has written 7 books, but otherwise he's a bit of a couch potato and needs goals. When he's not creating new green standards, he's running his own architectural firm, McLennan Design, and when he's not doing that, he's breaking dishes with us! And...
Apr 21, 2021•51 min•Ep. 1
Todd Bracher and Tina Cheng are industrial designers in Todd Bracher Studio, but they are so much more than that. They are design strategists, game changers and innovators, and they challenge clients to break some damn dishes. With a multi-disciplinary team, they bring science to design. They are philosophic and thoughtful as well, and their science is not without poetry and art. Todd tells us that a tree is truthful design. It is part of it's eco system. A car or a table are opinions, and we te...
Mar 23, 2021•42 min•Ep. 20
Brian Kelly wants to preserve the legacy of our trees. He is a photographer and archivist. Maybe even a tree whisperer? These silent sentinels are hundreds and even thousands of years old and are dying faster than ever before due to human activity and climate change. He is trying to capture their essence as quickly as he can before they are gone. Their legacy is what Gathering Growth, his foundation, plans to leave our children. Photographs of once great trees. We talked to Brian about the wisdo...
Mar 18, 2021•47 min•Ep. 19
Petrice Jones is a successful actor. In fact, we would say he's officially "made it" in Hollywood. So, now he only needs to sit back and watch the money roll in, right? But Petrice is not that kind of actor. He's an activist, so when he saw something, he did something. Petrice noticed the pile of plastic water bottles that accumulated on set while he worked. So, he set out to change the industry by creating a re-usable water bottle that could be handed out on sets, instead of plastic ones. But w...
Mar 10, 2021•50 min•Ep. 18
Molly Morse is CEO of Mango Materials. She's also an engineer with a PhD. Wanna guess what she's up to? Get a load of Molly- she's making a biodegradable plastic! That's right...a plastic that doesn't last forever in our environment and wind up in our oceans. And as if that isn't amazing enough, she makes it with methane, a greenhouse gas that is even worse than carbon! That's right, she's taking methane out of our environment while she's making a biodegradable plastic. Interested yet? Tune in t...
Feb 19, 2021•51 min•Ep. 17
Algae can be a good thing. It produces more oxygen and captures more carbon than all the forests in the world combined. A rise in global temperatures, excess nutrient runoff and human activities create harmful effects of algae blooms which pop up everywhere as a visible reminder to the invisible issue of water pollution. Enter this episode's resident hero, Ryan Hunt. Ryan's company Bloom, makes foam from this algae and is currently working with over 80 brand partners. By the end of 2020 his comp...
Feb 11, 2021•55 min•Ep. 16
Bryan and Rebecca Pape are co-founders of MIIR, a design forward and generosity driven drinkware company with a social and environmental mission. A certified B Corp and 1% for the planet member, MIIR choses people and planet over the demands of Wall Street. What does that mean? Since 2010, they have partnered with some of the most respected nonprofits in the world to fund long term, sustainable projects in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector. Their coffee mugs and water bottles are beautifu...
Feb 04, 2021•54 min•Ep. 15
