The benefits of craft production
Moving from fast, quantity production to slow, quality production Industrial production in the beginning meant that goods were cheaper and more available to everyone. This was … Read more
Design
The two keys to business sustainability
Sustainability and well-being have a lot to do with what people consume. What people consume has a lot to do with what businesses produce. What businesses … Read more
Bad advertising, Good advertising
The 2015 “Are You Beach Body Ready?” campaign highlights the depths bad advertising will plunge to. The UK banned the campaign (but not the US!) for it’s callous … Read more
Slow Design for Cultural Sustainability
by Michael Lockhart | 7 August, 2017 I was honoured to give a talk today at the International Cultural Sustainability Symposium run by Victoria University of … Read more
Craft technology for the future
When we think of technology we usually think of high-tech and big-tech, like robots and automated factories. However, hand tools and craft processes are technologies too. In a … Read more
Handmade for good
My partner Anna is a contemporary jeweller. Everything she makes is handmade. Apart from a few power tools and a gas torch Anna only uses hand tools. What … Read more
Seven of the worst inventions
The following ‘inventions’ provide seven good reasons why society needs to use the precautionary principle. Invention throughout human history has been a process of trial and error. … Read more
Should there be an automation tax?
An article entitled “Robots could threaten up to half New Zealand’s jobs in next 20 years” highlights yet another problem with our economies. The problem is that … Read more
The benefits of round houses
In the past, round houses were much more common. Traditional circular shelters include igloos, tipis, African mud brick huts, yurts and British and European roundhouses. They … Read more