Found wood: South African ecological furniture design as seen in the work of Philip Oosthuizen

Abstract

Victor Papanek ( 1995: 17), in his book The green imperative, raises the ecological problems of the world today as a matter of urgency, and proposes that each person in their day-to-day activities is able to minimise the wasteful use of earth's limited resources. Papanek ( 1995: I 0) has pointed out that through technology and human development ' . . . we have now truly attained the power to change the natural order of the earth and throw it out of harmony'. He also suggests that designers have a more direct and measurable effect on the environment than the average person, which is reflected in the materials they choose to work with or the sustainability of their products and the interventions of their designs with nature and humanity.