London’s Docklands now feature exhibition venues like the Siemens Crystal, a huge jump forward from the People’s Habitat event I was involved in organizing in Surrey Docks way back in 1976.
Exhibitions have been something of a sideline over the years, but one which I have loved being involved in. Probably the most effective was 1986’s ‘Green Designer‘ exhibition at the Design Centre. Writing the catalogue led me to raise the question whether the products featured (from NASA space-suits to Rolls-Royce key engines) would appeal to business and, critically, to what I dubbed the ‘Green Consumer’. And that led, a couple of years later, to The Green Consumer Guide.
Typically, though, I missed the high-profile launch of the Green Designer exhibition: I was travelling yet again. Such events have been another way of getting our thinking and messages into the minds of ordinary citizens. If a chance to do another of these came along, I would jump at it, despite the extraordinary complexities involved in developing a good exhibition.
Here are some of the exhibitions and similar events we have been involved in:
1992
The Holiday Extravaganza
To launch the book Holiday’s That Don’t Cost the Earth.
1990
Britain’s Greenest School Competition
To build on the success of The Young Green Consumer Guide.
1989
Green Shopping Day
To reinforce the impact of The Green Consumer’s Supermarket Guide.
1989
The Kitchen that Cooks without Roasting the Planet
SustainAbility and Friends of the Earth, at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition.
1988
Green Consumer Week
To launch The Green Consumer Guide and associated campaigns.
Two globes, NASA spacesuit and an EcoSphere at the Green Designer exhibition
1986
The Green Designer
Exhibition at the Design Council, London – the first time the ‘green consumer’ term, which I coined for the purpose, surfaced.
1976
People’s Habitat
Spread across London’s Surrey docks, this was a counter-blast to the UN Habitat Conference of the same year.
