Green Q&A Monday, August 31, 2009 In recent years, Chris Courtemanche and his studio partner Alejandro Rivera noticed themselves incorporating more and more green and sustainable elements in event projects. Last summer, they decided to make the complete jump into the world of green event design, re-branding their business as Green Lab Design Studio, and their team has learned how to incorporate green into every event they handle. We sat down with Courtemanche to chat about how the green design realm is evolving, the secrets of selling clients on sustainable solutions, and where eco-friendly design is headed in the future. EVENT DESIGN: Are you noticing more clients opening up to your green event solutions? CHRIS COURTEMANCHE: They are—some brands live and breathe green, and there are others that are beginning to dabble in the water. They want to learn more about it, but they’re a little timid. They want to do it because they know it’s the right thing, but it comes down to cost. We’ve learned that if green is not being implemented at the corporate level, then it’s probably not going to be implemented at the event level. But the concept ignites an interest for them. The key is teaching and educating the client to let them know it doesn’t need to be more expensive. You can incorporate sustainable elements in every single marketing campaign that you do without changing your brand or spending a ton of money on it. ED: How do you walk clients through your green process? CC: They want real-life examples; you can tell someone all day that it’s not going to cost more, but they want to see it—how it’s been done in the past. They need to see it and you want them to see it, you want them to feel better. We’ve never had anyone come to us and say they wished an event hadn’t been eco-friendly. ED: With all the new supposedly green materials on the market, how do you figure out which may be green-washing, and which are legit? CC: I think it comes down to research. We’re bombarded with new materials and products. There is some new “it” product every day. It’s really a matter of dissecting the product and finding out if it’s truly better than the alternatives. Is it better to get something organically produced in Thailand or something that’s not organically produced here in the U.S.? When there’s a new product, people want to jump on the bandwagon, and we try to avoid that temptation. ED: What will we be talking about in terms of green event design five years from now? CC: I think it’s definitely going to become the industry standard at some level. I don’t believe that everything will be 100-percent green in the next five years—there’s no way. I think that it’s about everyone understanding that every decision you make has an impact, and taking some responsibility for that. I think brands want to be shown in a good light from a green standpoint. Look at Method, they’re doing cool design that’s eco-friendly, and as they start doing it, it almost becomes a trend. I think that in the next couple of years people will start to incorporate it on some level. We don’t expect every company to go out and become green overnight; it takes a lot of time, work, education, learning about what you’re doing, and comparison. ED: What’s your favorite part of your job? CC: The design—nobody likes dealing with budgets or crunching numbers! For us it’s always a challenge, especially in green design. How can we create the best event while making it eco-friendly and incorporating what we have to? We’re always incorporating a unique design sense and it’s very interior design-oriented. We want our event environments to look like a permanent installation. ED: What do you do for fun when you’re not in the studio? CC: During the winter, it’s snowboarding all the way. I just started trying to learn how to skateboard here. There’s too much summer in California, and there’s not much time to hit the mountains!
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