Greg O'Neal

Green Expectations... here to stay?
September 29, 2007

Is it for real? Or is it faux $$$? For me, that’s the big question -- are you buying into something that’s really GREEN, or is it a case of someone capitalizing on “a movement.” I hope that environmentally-friendly products become so common and that we see obvious change in our products and through our actions that we no longer have to identify every GREEN thing with banners, brands, tag lines and verbiage.
 
As a designer, I’ve always been one of those people who will go so far as to dig through the garbage to see what I can re-use. When working in a factory, I always make a visit to the trash pile to see what is being consistently thrown away; if there’s anything I can make into something else. This October I’m introducing an occasional table group for Revco International called TERRA, the top surface of which is made from the leftovers that occur in the general processing phase of lumber (TERRA table in photo at right taken by Home Accents Today staff Sunday afternoon, 10/1/07, while Greg was making his final "tweaks" to Revco's High Point showroom ). 

I also repaint and re-use things that most would toss or never envision as a home accent or merchandising tool, like vintage photos, discarded light bulbs and dead limbs from my neighbor’s lawn. For commercial and residential interiors, I’ll re-upholster old dilapidated chairs, and drop off old mirrors, bad 70's sculptures and unusual junk store finds at my local car painter for a nice coat of high gloss paint. Above all else, I appreciate that as a designer, I am allowed and encouraged to push the GREEN design envelope as far as I can and with no constraints. Having that kind of freedom, I personally think, is how real change can begin.

Posted by Greg O'Neal on September 29, 2007 | Comments (0)