Desso has held a hugely successful Cradle to Cradle® event in Istanbul, attended by many of Turkey's leading architects and interior designers and underlining how the Cradle to Cradle® message is being increasingly welcomed internationally.
The event, a joint presentation from Stef Kranendijk, Desso chief executive, and Michael Braungart, founder of the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA), was introduced by Ziya Basibuyuk from PETRA, Desso's distributor in Turkey.
The capacity event, attended by close to 300 architects, designers and end-users, was held in the headquarters auditorium of Vakka, one of Turkey's leading fashion brands, in an architecturally-acclaimed building that only opened earlier this year.
Other delegates to the presentation included representatives from the Istanbul municipal authority and The Turkish Green Building Council (CEDBIK), which is committed to the spread of sustainability in the building industry.
The delegates learned about the principles of Cradle to Cradle® from Michael Braungart who, with the American architect William McDonough, heralded the philosophy with their book 'Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things'.
Desso was the first carpet manufacturer in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to adopt Cradle to Cradle® - which Time Magazine has called "a unified philosophy that - in demonstrable and practical ways - is changing the design of the world."
Stef Kranendijk then outlined how Desso is implementing its Cradle to Cradle® commitments, by sourcing sustainable, positively defined raw materials, introducing new manufacturing methods, designing carpet tiles that are easy to disassemble, and collecting used carpets from customers. The objective is that at the end of Desso carpets' useful lives, their components will be disassembled and reused without being down-cycled or, worse, simply thrown away. The disassembled components become nutrients for new carpet (= up-cycling).
The event was so high-profile that it attracted significant media attention, with both Stef Kranendijk and Michael Braungart being interviewed for Turkish television. Similar events are planned in other parts of Turkey in 2011.
"The huge interest we received underlines how issues of sustainability are becoming increasingly important globally, and how Desso is recognised as being at the forefront in implementing its Cradle to Cradle® commitments to the environment," said Jenny Krijnen, Marketing Manager, Desso.
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