A passion for sustainable design: Foresight Design Initiative
Figure out what you love to do. Then just do it — under a green umbrella. By focusing on the process, rather than the product, Peter Nicholson serves as ecopreneuring inspiration, founding the premiere non-profit organization serving sustainable education in Chicago, Foresight Design Initiative, based around his passion for design. Nicholson is among the Ecopreneur Profiles featured in our ECOpreneuring book.
“For me, design is manipulating variables for a desired outcome, which in this case is improving our urban quality of life without sacrificing the needs of future generations,” explains Peter. “The variables could be anything from words to graphics to economic influences. I’m fascinated with how we could use design to empower people, to improve human conditions holistically, and often dismayed by the abundant examples of how poor design hinders us.” Today, Peter serves as Executive and Creative Director of Foresight Design Initiative, providing him a palette for sustainable design expression. Like many sustainable enterprises, they have plans to operate from a showplace green office building not unlike the Matson and Associates Eco-Building in State College, Pennsylvania.
Peter’s career roots back to a foundation in music, essaying initially to be a concert cellist. “When I realized I didn’t have the talent for professional music, I parlayed my music background into arts administration,” explains Peter. Blending music and entrepreneurship, his first venture included launching a classical orchestra in New York City. “I felt classical music was staid and stuck in the 19th century, losing a whole new potential audience. With this new group, we aimed to blow the lid off same old same old and designed fresh, hip graphics and style for every element.”
Enticed by design, Peter enrolled in a design graduate program but left after a year, realizing he had garnered the tools he needed, and took his education into his own hands. A residency in Europe led him to the o2 Challenge in the Netherlands in 1998, a life-changing, dynamic, hands-on working conference on sustainable design that planted the seeds for Foresight Design Initiative. “I realized that sustainability would not evolve without a broader application of design and found, in the challenge of this pursuit, barriers that were both worthwhile and fulfilling to engage,” explains Peter. “Sustainable design, however, was an emerging field; I knew I needed to create the conditions to practice this vocation.”
