As part of London Design Festival 2021, Planted will launch its flagship outdoor London show at one of the UK’s most sustainable urban regeneration sites, King’s Cross, with the stated aim of being the first zero-waste design event.
Planted, the first contemporary design show aimed at reconnecting people and spaces with nature, announces an impressive line-up of sustainable brands to sit alongside a thought-leading talks programme this September.
Following last year’s pop event at King’s Cross, which included a three-part talks programme in a living outdoor television studio, Planted’s experienced events team has pulled together a list of partners and exhibitors who place nature and sustainability at the core of their organisations.
“As we deepen our understanding of the pressure our planet is under, in large part due to human activity, we recognise the urgent need to change consumption habits and drive cultural change, ultimately leading us to consider the environment in every decision we make,” said Planted co-founder Deborah Spencer.
“Every sector needs to take responsibility and the events industry is no exception. Historically we have been part of a wasteful system and not paid enough attention to our environmental impact.
“By working only with brands who place the environment, nature and sustainable practice at the heart of everything they do and ensuring every part of the show production is repurposed, reused or recycled can we help shift the dial towards more circular systems and achieving best practice. This is a huge challenge but we are excited, energised and focused on changing the way events are delivered.”
A botanical market selling seasonal and locally sourced food, run in-conjunction with the Real Food Festival, as well as beauty and health products and a plant market curated by the Green Rooms will form the third section of this year’s Planted event. The Glasshouse, a social enterprise working with ex-offenders, will have their own display of indoor plants grown in disused glasshouses at UK prisons.
An exhibition entitled the Green Grads curated by design critic and Design Exchange good friend Barbara Chandler will be shown in Coal Drops Yard, presenting 30 designers from the lost classes of 20/21 whose work focuses on nature, sustainability, and greener designs for the future. BA, MA and postgraduate design courses from across the UK will be represented.
The event will be centred around a six-part talks programme exploring greening cities in a post-pandemic world, scheduled across two days, and will focus on the most important issues facing humankind today including the future of waste, can food save the world and how to rewild our cities to halt the catastrophic loss of biodiversity and reverse the effects of climate change.
The talks, led by biophilic design expert Oliver Heath and former Sunday Times journalist Sam Peters, will draw on a diverse group of speakers with expertise ranging from manufacturing to rewilding as Planted brings together some of the most progressive thinkers from the worlds of design, sustainability, architecture, food production and nature.
“Partly as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic but also due to the accelerating and undeniable changes to our climate which we are now witness to, there is an urgent need for our society to unite around environmental issues in order to reverse the damaging effects of excessive consumption and restore the natural systems we have destroyed. Planted’s platform will enable those of us in the design industry and beyond, who understand the delicate balance we are putting at risk, to effect change and identify solutions to an enormous problem,” said Oliver Heath, Planted’s biophilic design advisor
“We hope that everyone who attends Planted will go away feeling educated, inspired and optimistic that we can still make a difference but we need action on all levels of society.”
