From Sustainability to Beauty

Talk to company representatives about Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR - and they are likely to see it as an important thing to integrate into their business practices, if that has not already been done. Talk to your neighbours or colleagues, i.e. to "normal" people about CSR, and they are likely to mistrust the whole concept as just another empty promise.

Mistrust is responsible for the seemingly fragile or sometimes nonexisting relationship of companies, brands, institutions or authorities towards their users, consumers, or citizens. Yet, without trust, communities cannot bring about change. We cannot even speak about communities, if there is no trust that knits the players (in CSR terminology: "stakeholders") together.

In terms of sustainability, Michael Braungart, a key proponent of the Cradle-to-Cradle-concept, puts his finger on the shortcomings of sustainability: Sustainability, as it is practiced today, has the empty promise, that people suspect to be there, often built into it. All the talk about reducing carbon footprint or using less toxic material or reducing waste still is about being a little less bad, it is just "guilt management and celebrating mediocrity", as Braungart puts it. More radical approaches are needed: Having a big footprint, but a positive one (like ants). Using no toxic material at all. Eliminating the concept of waste - what we call waste today should be (technical) nutrients. Design that follows these principles is no longer eco design or sustainable design or green design in Braungart's view, but Total Beauty Design ("If it's toxic it is not beautiful.")

Also among designers I noted that Beauty (without quotation marks!) is being charged with new meaning: Beauty stands for natural, unobtrusive design, it is timeless and functional, often biomimetic, it makes you feel connected to the Earth and to your fellow beings.

The great thing is that Total Beauty is a lot easier to communicate than CSR, as it is does not even need words. Beauty can be recognized through the eyes, through touching, tasting and smelling. When people stop trusting glossy PR brochures, they still trust their senses.

Are companies ready to trust their own senses?