Offering a synergy for design, global talent and local materials, downloadable design is a concept TreeHugger can really get behind. We’ve touched on this idea before [www.sundancechannel.com], but it certainly deserves more attention; after all, we live in a download-happy, digital world, so there’s no reason why we can’t extend that beyond downloading pictures from our cameras and messages from our email, to furniture we sit on and clothes we wear. Sound crazy? It’s definitely not; it’s just one of the ways we can see that’ll make for a greener future.

Okay, so, first of all, what the heck is “downloadable design?” Think of it as “an iPod for your whole life.” Rather than using an outdated infrastructure of centralized manufacturing matched with inefficient distribution and shipping and topped off with oversized, overblown retail, which you have to drive to, the design — a table, a chair, a garment — comes directly to you, via your computer. You get to pick exactly what you want, from a world of possibilities.

Once you’ve picked out whatever it is that you need, email the plans down the street to the local craftsperson; they take the plans for what you want, and deliver the pieces for you to assemble a few days later. The slow boat from China is a thing of the past as you can choose local, sustainable alternatives to having pre-assembled, bulky materials shipped from half way across the globe. As with the iPod model (if you don’t want the whole album, don’t buy it — simple as that), your ability to choose and hand-select everything makes for a more efficient process.

Okay, all of this sounds great, but does it really work? (Hint: oh yes, it does.) Above is d e sellers [www.desfurniture.com] “Emergency Stool,” which just needs to a table router and a flat sheet of plywood to go from computer screen to real life. Stay tuned as we delve a bit deeper into the concept (and practice) of downloadable designs.

Each Friday, we point TreeHugger’s green spotlight on a designer practicing sustainability and incorporating green into their designs. Either through materials selection and use, manufacturing practices or finishing techniques (or a combination of the three…or any number of other, smaller — but no less important — considerations), they’re creating beautiful, useful, functional artifacts that leave a smaller footprint on the earth. But doesn’t it just create more stuff that we may or may not need? Isn’t an opiate for people who want to be greener but don’t want to actually do anything? Why is spotlighting (and encouraging) sustainable design important? Read on…

Just about everything we use, consume or see every day has been designed; designers have their hands on all of these things, far before we ever see them on the shelves (or on your computer screen, as with each Friday here at the TreeHugger blog). While there’s a lot — a lot — of “design-for-design’s-sake” out there, we want to encourage designers to take these formally disposable products, keep them beautiful and increase their relative sustainability. While it’s true (for the most part) that we can’t buy our way to sustainability, TreeHugger feels its important not only to showcase as many of the really striking, really modern examples of design as we can, but to use our green voice to encourage designers not yet on board to follow suit. If we can help convince the world (and the designers) that green can look good and is worth doing, there is no product that can’t be made greener by this philosophy. The computer you’re reading this on, the keyboard tray you’re resting your hands on, the light you’re reading by — all exemplified in Herman Miller’s new Be Collection [www.thebecollection.com], pictured above — all can be more beautiful, more functional, and more sustainable.

So, we don’t think you should go out and buy everything that you read about on this site, or at TreeHugger, for that matter. But you should know that it exists, that sustainable, fantastically-designed, thoughtful versions of just about everything you consume on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis can be yours. Come back this week for more musings on product design, plus some advice about where to learn more and (finally) where to buy it when you’re ready. Stay tuned!