WILLIAM MCDONOUGH

William McDonough is a sustainable design visionary and leader. He is also an architect, advisor, and author. He is co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. McDonough is focused on creating a net-positive footprint in the world (rather than a “less-bad” footprint).

Designbox has been working with William McDonough since 2012 in a design and engineering capacity on the sustainability front. Together, McDonough and Designbox plan to create change in the packaging and consumables worlds through the use of beneficial and Cradle-to-Cradle certified materials, innovative and efficient forms and enhanced functionality and usage factors. This special team is also working with leaders in the waste management industry to revolutionize systems of recycling and materials coding to enable cleaner and more effective methods of sorting recycling streams and safer, healthier usages of materials.

STEFAN SAGMEISTER

Stefan Sagmeister is a visionary in the field of graphic design. Blurring the lines of art and design, Stefan leads with concept and is unphased by challenges of allowing big visions to become reality. He is a believer in finding the right specialist for his groundbreaking projects, and that’s where Designbox comes in to play.

Designbox and Sagmeister have worked together on special projects since 2007. In each case, Sagmeister established the vision and artistic direction and called on Designbox to develop the design into a manufacturable object, source the manufacturing and oversee production. Projects have included a David Byrne limited edition package that was nominated for a Grammy Award, and completely custom trophies for the annual Vilcek Awards. These trophies have garnered many awards in and of themselves and have been exhibited in The Louvre.

CHEROKEE CHALLENGE

The Cherokee Challenge is a startup competition and accelerator designed to identify, fund and develop early-stage, high impact environmental start-ups. Designbox project, Lyf Shoes, was a winner of the award in 2012 and worked with Cherokee to develop the Lyf model.

Lyf Shoes is a revolutionary approach to building shoes, dedicated to making custom fit, locally assembled footwear that is manufactured without the use of glue or toxic adhesives and is capable of collecting foot action and mobility data. The system adds job creation and enables customer service and sustainability as outcomes of these advances in the manufacture of footwear. Lyf Shoes invites consumers to “Love Your Footprint.”

Since the jump start that the Cherokee support provided, Lyf Shoes has gained momentum and made great strides in the production model. Sustainable materials and process relationships are building and it is moving closer and closer to a market launch. Stay tuned.

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