Showcasing in-depth interviews with intellectual leaders across disciplines, the book provides evidence of human ingenuity and distributed problem-solving the world over.

Now at IDEO in California, she works on a diversity projects. Her tools are research and writing; her craft is content creation and communication.

Goals for '07: to pioneer a sustainable vision for the future of food (at IDEO) and, personally, kick-start "designeradio" (working title), a podcast about the world of design and the design of the world; it will explore the notion of interview as performance art, and conversation as a way to play with the building blocks of form.

While in Tokyo in January 2007, I met with a macrobiotic chef named Eiichiro Yamada, who since the early 70s has been cooking and operating a restaurant in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, called Mominoki House. I sat down with him and discussed his food philosophy. He is a big proponent of "natural farming", which is beyond organic and relies only on healthy soil by water and sunlight. He uses only food grown by
natural methods, and supplied by a network of 20 local farms. He also went into macrobiotic philosophy and its connection to the development of "good taste" for food and peaceful conduct in the world. (See pics of him and plate of his elegantly prepared macro-veggies.)

I also met several people who run a co-op around the corner from Mominoki in Tokyo called Kurkku (which is apparently a Finnish word for cucumber!). Kurkky is made up of five shops - each one showcasing products and foods with unique stories. They believe the stories will help stir up
eco-consciousness , and subsequently changed behaviors. The Kurkku concept embodies an organic restaurant (all open-fire cooked); a retail store selling enviro-friendly products and designs; a bookstore full of eco-lifestyle books, a café and a nursery where potted plants are sold to "enliven your living space."

Project details

About the Author:

Jennifer Leonard (San Francisco, USA)
IDEO / Renegade Media / Designeradio (working title)