Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Gala
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (C2C) and Make it Right celebrated manufacturers of everything from clothing and furniture to carpets and cleaning products last month at the IAC building in New York. Leading global brands were honored for their leadership and achievement in innovation and design for the circular economy, including Jan Berman of MechoSystems, Susan Lobal of Bella-Dura, and Susan Lyons of Designtex, who were co-hosted by Susan Sarandon, Rosario Dawson, Chuck Leavell, and MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts.
The event revealed the winner of the first-ever Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Challenge, sponsored by the Schmidt Family Foundation and the Dutch Postcode Lottery. Ginger Dosier of bioMason won the challenge for her company’s Biobrick, which is “grown” using natural microorganisms and chemical processes. Make it Right and C2C inaugurated the Product Innovation Challenge in November 2012, asking manufacturers to create a building product that is safe, healthy, affordable, effective, and designed to be returned safely to nature or industry after use.
Challenge finalists comprised Evocative’s Mushroom Insulation (2nd place winner), ECOR’s Universal Construction Panels (3rd place tied winner), ROMA’s Domus Mineral Paints (3rd place tied winner), Bellwether Materials for its Softbatts Sheep’s Wool Insulation, StormWall Industries’ StormWall panels, GR GreenBuilding Products’ GR Green Roofing and Siding, Ecococon’s Straw Panels, and HaploBuilt’s HaploBlocks.
Jury members who selected the winners include executives from Make It Right, The U.S. Green Building Council, Google, First Community Housing, The Honest Company, Schmidt Family Foundation, Delta Development Group in the Netherlands, and GIGA in China.