We did the bi-coastal conference thing this weekend at Inhabitat. While our intrepid west-coast Inhabitants were staking out the CABoom conference in Santa Monica, I had the opportunity to check out AIGA’s Grow Conference in New York on Saturday.

Being a former graphic designer, and remembering the stale, market-driven approach of the world that I used to inhabit (sorry folks but that was my experience), I was initially confused as to why the American Institute of Graphic Arts had decided to bring in architects, product designers and marketing directors from Walmart to speak on sustainable design. However, after listening to the multi-disciplinary range of speakers at Grow – ranging from Earthpledge’s Leslie Hoffman to IDEO’s Bob Adams, I now understand what the conference’s organizations were trying to do in their attempt to mix things up and expand our ideas of what “sustainability” can mean. Stayed tuned, because I will be writing a lot more on this fascinating event in the next few days.

+ GROW