On May 14, 2009, Cooper-Hewitt opens Design for a Living World, an exhibition developed by The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s leading conservation organizations.

As part of our partnership with TNC, Cooper-Hewitt met the challenge of publishing a companion book that would emphasize the exhibition’s principal themes: sustainable design and materials, and responsible conservation of our environment. After researching more than a dozen printers, we chose Engelhardt und Bauer, a printer in Karlsruhe, near Baden-Baden, Germany, to help us accomplish our goal.

E&B’s printing processes are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which ensures that E&B’s practices contribute to conservation, responsible management, and community-level benefits for people who live near the forests that provide their paper. For this book, we chose soy-based, rather than oil-based, inks, with no real loss of color quality in any of the 326 images, many of which are lush landscape photos by award-winning photographer Ami Vitale. E&B’s printing plant is powered entirely by solar and wind energy. And to make our project “carbon-neutral,” we purchased carbon credits equivalent to a total of 16.6 tons of CO2 emissions. Finally, E&B helped the Museum research and source an eco-friendly, 100% recyclable shrinkwrapping for our books.

Design for a Living World
Edited by Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller
Designed by Abbott Miller and Kristen Spilman, Pentagram
Text and images © The Nature Conservancy, all rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-910503-88-4, 200 pages, 326 illustrations, $40.00

Download a sample PDF of the book (14 MBs).
Available May 14 at The Shop at Cooper-Hewitt.

Check out nature.org/design for more information about the exhibition.

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