Audrey Dalton: Sustainable Designer and Pioneer
LOCATION
Brooklyn, NY
FAVORITE VEGETARIAN MEAL
Deluxe rice and beans. It’s simple and humble, but when you add tons of toppings – it’s so good and so cheap!
“I love making things out of found materials, but hiding that it’s “trash”. All materials have potential, you just have to let them show you what they want to become.”
The photos above are of a lamp created by Audrey. It’s made of a recycled lampshade and wood shavings that were saved by carpenters on a construction site!
CATALYST
The book The Cat and the Hat Comes Back had a profound effect on me as a child. In the book, the cat eats cake while taking a bath, and the pink icing leaves a stain on the tub. Then you follow the journey of the stain. It hammered home this idea that materials and substances never go “away”.
CAREER
I’ve been creative all my life, before I studied design in college, I was always making things in my spare time. I’ve never understood why we constantly extract new materials when there are so many interesting things we could create out of things that already exist! It seemed so wasteful.
My first job out of college was for an event design firm. There is also a lot of waste in that industry because parties are short lived by nature, so to combat that, you have to design by thinking about what happens at the end of every project. You have to be resourceful and think about how something can be easily taken apart and made into something else again later. We would make huge installations out of shoes or canned goods and then find ways to donate them and the end of the event.
During covid, the event world shut down and I had a moment to pause. I decided that I wanted to focus more on sustainability. I ended up getting a job as an interior stylist, but the company where I got hired didn’t have a sustainability presence, so I put myself out there and asked if I could help spearhead that work for them. It’s been quite a puzzle but I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to tackle this challenge.
Currently, I’ve been working on finding and sourcing sustainable materials. The Interior design process is long and complex. We work with hundreds of different vendors all over the world to source materials. Some manufacturers are trying to address sustainability, but mostly just through one product line, so there is not a lot of choice. It comes down to who you source from and how much material you use. Lately, I’ve been working on building resources focused on local, or “vernacular”, materials according to the region where the project is located. For example, the Middle East does not have a lot of local timber available to it, so how do we make spaces that celebrate what is available there, like beautiful rammed earth patterns on walls or natural stone.
My goal is to influence the decision-makers. The people who are executing the project need to understand the decisions that they’re making and the environmental impact that those decisions have. Also that “limiting” ourselves to more responsible, lower carbon, and local materials doesn’t mean the project is going to be ugly. I think the most creative and beautiful design solutions come from constraint.
WHAT KEEPS HER GOING
Taking time to talk to others working in climate/sustainable design is always so energizing. I try to make time every month to go to events in the city to meet people tackling environmental problems. We need each other!
Right now, I’m also a caregiver for my mom who has Alzheimer's. This has impacted my career and what I have been able to accomplish in a big way. I feel the urgency about climate work, but have to be gentle with myself. There is so much that needs to be done in regards to sustainability. We feel the weight of it in our jobs, but you still have to have a life. Doing all this in my early 30's is weird and challenging. I’ve had to learn to relax and be calm amongst the crazy.
ADVICE FOR OTHERS
It can be so overwhelming, thinking about changing the way an industry works, and it’s easy to feel discouraged by how quickly climate change is moving, and other peoples’ unwillingness to change. Remember that you are not alone in this work and life is long. The small shifts you make over time compound and create lasting impact. It’s the cumulative steps we take.”
KEEP FOLLOWING AUDREY!
As you now know, Audrey is doing incredible, creative work for the environment, so continue to follow and support her on Instagram @pond.work and through her website https://pond.work/
- As told by Molly Bombonato
Posterity Collective is a blog that shares research-backed actions for fighting climate change and stories from individuals conquering them. If you want to learn more about what you can do for climate change, then download the free ebook below.