In The Press: Healthy Materials Lab

July 9, 2015

We are proud to announce that Lindsey Dieter’s essay We Are What We Specify – first published in the launch edition of container – has been featured at Healthy Materials Lab (HML). HML’s mission is to develop, promote, and implement toxin-free building materials whilst simultaneously increasing the transparency of material composition for consumers and professionals alike.

HML is a partnership between Parsons Design Lab, Building Product Ecosystems, Green Science Policy Institute, Healthy Building Network, and Healthy Product Declaration Collaborative.

Read the full essay below:

The number of times you and your fellow American citizens have confidently declared these words at the dawn of a new year are innumerable:

“This year, I will prioritize my health.”

“This year I will eat nutritious foods that are good for my body.”

In reality it is irrelevant whether or not people follow through with their intentions. Why, you might ask? The firmly rooted priority within our resolutions is human health, most often sought through exercise and improved nutrition. Our resolutions do not take into consideration a larger issue — material safety and quality in our built environment. Why not declare that we will furnish our homes with flame-retardant free furniture? Or that we will choose VOC-free paint, eliminate vinyl flooring, wall and window coverings from our homes and acknowledge that a manufacturer’s unbeatable prices for their furniture are saturated with formaldehyde?

Chances are that, regardless of education or socio-economic status, the individual declaring a movement towards better health has no idea that the built environment is affecting their health at an equal if not greater rate than the foods they consume. We spend an average of three hours per day consuming food. Our organs digest and absorb the nutrients (or lack thereof) embedded within each meal. We spend twenty four hours per day in or near a constructed environment and our skin — the most porous organ in the human body — is actively absorbing the chemical composition of every material we encounter. Unfortunately, the rates with which we experience the effects of vinyl flooring or high-gloss paint amplify gradually over long periods of time, whereas a rapidly increasing waistline is tough to ignore. There are a variety of efforts that can be taken in the fight against toxic environments. The manufacturer, consumer and designer all have the power to shift society’s attitude towards holistic health. I will examine this challenge from the role of an interior designer, presenting a cross-examination of the challenges inherent in selecting both nutritious foods and safe furnishings. After all, we are both what we eat and what we specify.

In an attempt to simplify an inherently complicated subject, I will examine the lifecycle of two common items: an apple and household paint. We are likely to come in contact with both of these items on a regular basis and upon first glance, neither suggest a threat to the human body. Although the lifecycle of each varies considerably, there are commonalities in the production and purchasing process of both. The common folk phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is widely disseminated, and largely believed to be true. A quick web search on “how to freshen up a room” will reveal a similarly innumerable and trusted list of paint colors and topical applications with which to do so. Taken at face value, both assumptions are incredibly misleading.

PRODUCTION
The apple harvesting season in New York State runs a brief sixty days (roughly through September and October)¹. How is it, then, that we can enjoy this health enhancing fruit whenever our hearts desire, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year? The answer lies in Controlled Atmospheric Storage. Apples are stored in sealed rooms where oxygen is reduced by an infusion of nitrogen gas, from approximately 21% (the level in the air we breathe) down to 1-2%. Temperatures are kept at a constant 32-36ºF. Humidity is maintained at 95% and CO2 levels are carefully controlled.² Sounds harmless, right? As an independent process, yes. However, the mixture of nitrogen with The US’s most commonly used pesticide is concerning.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that 80% of the apples sold in the United States are coated with diphenylamine, or DPA.³ DPA keeps your prized honeycrisp its picture-perfect pink after months of cold storage. Sorry, you didn’t think that was a miracle of Mother Nature, did you? DPA was banned by the European Union in 2012 which should be more than enough impetus for the USDA to reevaluate the 0.42 parts per million (ppm) — 0.32ppm higher than the allowable concentration — present in the 10 pounds of apples consumed yearly by the average health conscious citizen.

The hazmat suit at the dinner table is starting to sound like a pretty good idea.

Paint production will inherently involve a more extensive list of ten-syllable words than a honeycrisp apple. However, not all of them are toxic (just most of them). Paint is composed of colored pigment, resin, a solvent and additives. Naturally-occurring pigments are readily available in minerals, insects and botanics that can be harvested to color textiles and paint. Reducing a negative health impact is possible through the use of a limited color selection using natural pigments. To achieve a palette of 16 million color varieties, Pantone employs a complicated and potentially toxic chemical recipe. For example, the “King’s Yellow 39” feature wall you are dreaming of contains high levels of arsenic, and the “Cinnabar Red” master bedroom will introduce mercury into your after-hours routine.⁴ Producing a standard batch of paint involves an industrial blending process combining water, titanium dioxide (TiO2), resin and calcium carbonate (CaCO3).⁵ TiO2 is an occupational carcinogen that may cause cancer with prolonged exposure. Paint manufacturers adhere to strict health and safety protocols involving industrial fans for proper ventilation and respiratory masks to ensure none of the toxic chemicals present are inhaled during production. The average consumer’s ventilation protocol is likely much less thorough. Reassuring your client that a coat of paint will freshen up any room seems to lose its validity when the resultant disclaimer includes sporting a hazmat suit prior to enjoying the addition of Pantone 7523 C to the dining room — food for thought…

Figure 1. Pharos results for ECOS Interior Atmosphere Purifying Paint

PURCHASE
Purchasing power is fueled by the informed consumer. An overwhelming array of products are available for the choosing and it is the responsibility of the consumer to use the tools available to them to make an informed decision. This is easier said than done. In the case of an apple, the option to purchase standard or organic produce is likely top of mind. The standard produce is cheaper, but the addition of pesticides is guaranteed. Organic produce may cost more, but in order to be certified as USDA Organic, farmers must produce a history of substances used in the last three years, pay numerous certification fees, pass crop and produce inspections and reapply for certification annually.⁶ Although soil leeching, acid rain and crop cross-contamination can dampen the accuracy of the USDA Organic label, the use of a single third-party certified governing body provides the consumer a high level of confidence.

Unfortunately, the same standard of information does not exist among the plethora of paint colors available at Home Depot. Food products are required to display both an ingredients list and nutritional information chart. Manufacturers of building materials are not required to disclose any of the ingredients in their products. The building material equivalent to a food products ingredient list is a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). The MSDS must be made available upon request; however, the level of accuracy with which these sheets are filled renders the information nearly useless. A manufacturer can wash their hands of any obligation to provide complete product disclosure with a simple “proprietary information” statement. When you are fortunate enough to find a MSDS online, the majority of chemical ingredients are listed as complying with an outdated standard followed by an indecipherable numerical indicator. In an ideal world, the name and packing of a product would be informative enough for you to make an educated decision that is in line with your priorities. For example, ECOS Interior Atmosphere Purifying Paint sounds too good to be true. You mean I can freshen up the aesthetics and air in my living room simultaneously? Hardly. To aid in unlocking the proprietary secrets of our built environment, the highly trained team at Pharos has created an extensive database of both building products and chemicals. A single search can reveal a detailed contents list, hazard summary, lifecycle research and additional documents directly sourced from the manufacturer. Our too-good-to-be-true ECOS Interior Atmosphere Purifying Paint proved to do quite the opposite (Figure 1). The paint is composed with 20% TiO2 and 25.1% Oleic Acid, a compound on the German FEA Restricted Hazards List. The remaining ingredients are associated with gene mutation, developmental toxins, respiratory, eye and skin irritation, and persistent bio-accumulative toxins that will not break down once released back into the environment. The hazmat suit at the dinner table is starting to sound like a pretty good idea.

MOVING FORWARD
So with all of this information, where does the future of not only our good intentions but the health and wellbeing of society at large stand? First and foremost, there is no gain in sugar-coating the seriousness and complexity of this issue. We are facing an epidemic of rapidly decreasing societal health that cannot be taken lightly. Fortunately, the USDA is working in our favor when selecting the foods we put in our body. Who is on our side when determining the fate of the occupants within buildings? There is potential for change at every step of the design process. Manufacturer transparency will establish trust and drive highly toxic products out of production. Designers can implement a zero-tolerance policy for the use of chemical-laden materials into designs. Contractors can verify that all products entering a job site are supporting the health of future occupants. We have the creative capability to innovate in both the specification and design of material systems that are not harmful to the human beings at the core of our work. If the design is lethal, aesthetics are irrelevant. Unless designers everywhere are interested in introducing an occupant waiver form into their design brief, it is of the utmost importance that we do the research, specify accordingly and educate.

TIPS

Look to reputable designers who are creating incredible spaces that are not harmful to the environment. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel; you just need to refine the options available when you spin.
Select no VOC paints in a color palette derived closely from what nature does well already. This doesn’t translate into a granola infused interior, but the vibrant neon-blue is likely out.
Innovate in material applications. Introduce plaster onto vertical surfaces, experiment with textiles for acoustic barriers and engage in the versatility of simple materials.
Use solid wood furniture and water-based paints and stains.
Look to trusted third-party certifiers like Green Guard, Pharos, The Forest Stewardship Council and LEED. Mandate that manufactures provide you with both MSDS and Healthy Product Declaration Act (HPD) information. If the manufacturer doesn’t know what an MSDS or HPD is, educate accordingly.
Avoid products with brominated flame retardants, phthalates, harsh sealants and polyvinylchloride.

Finally, sleep soundly knowing your careful consideration in specifying materials and finishings is not only shifting the market towards the production of healthy building materials but is protecting the health and wellbeing of everyone.

LINDSEY DIETER

NOTES

1 : NEW YORK HARVEST, accessed January 2015, http://www.pickyourown.org/NYharvestcalendar.htm.
2 : Rackley, 35 – 40.
3 : APPLE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, accessed January 2014, http://rt.com/usa/154676-us-appkes-chemical-ban/.
4 : Smulders, et al., 47
5 : PHAROS Project. http://www.pharosproject.net.
6 : USDA, accessed January 2015, http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/welcome.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Smulders, S., K. Luyts, G. Brabants, L. Golanski, J. Martens, J. Vanoirbeek, PH Hoet, “Toxicity of nanoparticles embedded in paints compared to pristine nanoparticles, in vitro study.” Elsevier Ireland Ltd 2014.
Richard Jones, “Soft Machines.” Oxford University Press, 2004.
Rackley, Stephen A., Carbon Capture and Storage. Boston : Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier, 2010.

PLATES

Figure 1: ECOS Interior Atmosphere Purifying Paint, https://www.pharosproject.net/

Bodies in Space

November 10, 2014

n 2002 photographer Jen Davis began a decade-long series of self-portraiture exploring beauty and the body in relation to the interior. The culmination of this project resulted in a monograph and her first solo show in New York – entitled Eleven Years – at ClampArt in the Summer of 2014.

Throughout the series, Davis employs interior architecture as a means of investigating the private and public self. In “Untitled No. 4,” Davis is seen through the building studs of an unfinished interior room. Her body, caged by framing lumber, creates a sense a remoteness that is reflected in her expression. In “Obstruction,” a window frame blocks out Davis’ face. Her identity is obscured, reducing her body to another element within the architecture. In this series, the interior is not always at odds with the body. A green hued bedroom takes on a Vermeer-like quality with Davis as the central figure bathed in a warm light that turns her pale skin a lovely shade of pink.

Not only does light provide universal depth to an image, it connects the external public world to Davis’ internal private world. In “Untitled No. 55,” light enters an otherwise dark room through an unseen window. Davis’ eyes are shut as her body melts into the background; she is caught in a vulnerable moment. As the viewer we are allowed access to this scene, as is the band of light that penetrates this interior space.

This summer I sat down with Jen Davis to talk about the culmination of Eleven Years and her ideas about light, color, and the interior.

Your self-portraits are made primarily in domestic interiors. When you first develop an idea for a photograph, to what degree do you consider interior space?

I think most times the location informs the picture. I don’t draft anything or create a completely new environment. It’s mostly about using what’s available and what I see. Also, it’s about the light that enters into the space. In fact, the light is what guides the photograph; it creates a set, in a way. And I’m using natural light. Artificial light is different, of course, but the natural light is like another character within itself that comes and enters into the space.

There is a photograph I made that was early on when I was living in Chicago. It was a third floor apartment surrounded by two-story buildings, so there was nothing obstructing our windows. I don’t even think I was thinking about light then, at least not so coherently. But I came home and opened the door and there was the most amazing light in the living room and on the kitchen table. And I thought, I have to make a photograph here.

So the photographs are informed by the space?

I think they’re informed by the light more so than the space. For example, I’m thinking about a specific photograph where I’m watering plants. It’s a very banal thing, a woman in her apartment watering plants. But the darkness of the room, the 4 o’clock light coming in, it heightens the tension and psychological drama of the scene.

That photograph was very intuitive for me to make. I put on a shirt that matched the pattern of the couch and there was something interesting that I saw when I was making the photograph with the scale of the couch, how it’s very small versus the body, that went with that matching pattern.

Untitled No 15

Yes! Not only is there the drama of the light, but also a heightened sense of isolation with you inside looking out.

Exactly. I shot film but I scanned the negative and [in doing so] you get all the information in the highlights that are lost in the c-print. Because of that there is all this information in the window of the picture – you can see the tree branches and it looks like veins. It’s like the interior self is reflected in the exterior, which also adds a different kind of interpretation.

It’s interesting to hear that you would change outfits to match your interior. Do you commonly attempt to connect yourself to the interior in that way?

Yeah. I think the palette was always something I was interested in, or searching for. For example, the color of the apartment that the earlier pictures were taken in was a shade of green I was really drawn to, and I painted one of the rooms blue because I liked it. I would purchase clothes at a thrift store thinking about a photograph that could be made in that space. But it was also about perceiving beauty as something that could be based on color and light. Something that’s not conventionally seen as beautiful, like this person, or this body, and trying to shed a beauty onto it. Trying to seduce with color and light.

When you turned the camera on yourself and began your portrait series, did you start out thinking, “I want to photograph interiors?” Was there a conscious decision to shoot yourself in a domestic environment instead of a studio environment?

I think it was just something I responded to: the isolation of this home and domestic space. Maybe because it was my first apartment, when you’re just kind of figuring out your home and what that means. But there was something about being indoors, an emotional interior space that I was interested in, and the idea of the home. I think later on when I began to craft the pictures there was more of a placement on home and making it my own. Like identifying with it or having some kind of individuality with it. But I think I chose to stay inside. Some of my photos take place outside, but for the most part, it’s about channeling or challenging this interior sense of self or privacy. It’s a kind of push and pull between the private and the public. I was doing things for the camera that were really hard or embarrassing, and that was an act of release for me.

As viewers we are granted entry into this private world, and by not always confronting the camera you support that.

The camera is, for the most part, very observational; I’m rarely ever confronting it. And, that’s something I didn’t realize in the beginning. It was just like a third set of eyes or third party. There wasn’t much of a relationship to it, it would just absorb. The camera records what it sees, it’s like the dead honest truth of me. Or seeing me in a way I could never see myself. It doesn’t lie or withhold anything, and it’s not about flattery. So there’s this replica of me that’s transpired on the film.

What are you thinking about when you sit in front of the camera? Do you go into character?

I don’t think it’s necessarily a character, but a lot of times the work is really performative: it’s a side of me where I’m able to ask questions to the camera. It’s this kind of empowerment. When I’m taking the picture there is a point where I shut off. I’m in the moment, feeling the light, feeling the breeze. In every photograph I’ve taken, those moments of making them are all the memories I have. I can remember what the light felt like on my body, the wind on my skin with the window open, or the painful thing that was happening emotionally in the set that I was like trying to convey. Because some of them were very intuitive, like in the moment of what I was experiencing. And those are the harder ones for me to think of, or maybe the harder ones for me to make at the time.

I want to touch on your series, “I Ask in Exchange,” because you capture a similar connection between the body and space. When you were making portraits of men, was it important to place them in the domestic environment as well?

Yes, and it was also important for me to be present in their space. I’m very grateful that these people allowed me into their world and allowed me to watch them in these private, intimate moments. More is suggested in those moments then what actually took place, but that fiction works and it’s what I’m interested in.

Could you talk more about the creative process of working with these men? I imagine it was a different experience than photographing yourself.

It’s all about making decisions at the time and in the space. I go into it and it’s new to me, and it’s just making decisions. Like the guy rubbing his chest with the red bedspread, I put him there because the light was nice. Pictorially it was really beautiful and I responded to that. But with the self-portraits, if the light wasn’t right or if I missed it, I could look at it and come back the next day. I could have an idea, have the camera set up, and wait for everything to be lined up and everything to be perfect, and then make the picture.

Sean

Would you be arranging things? Like folding sheets back or messing up the bed?

Oh yeah, I would definitely arrange things. The one of the couple on the bed with the sheets, that was from their bodies as they rolled around, but I would definitely go into a space and move things around in other scenarios.

What are you looking for when you’re arranging things?

I think I’m just trying to make it neat, to take away the clutter, or just make a better frame. And I will add things – like in the self-portraits there were details and things I would add. There’s a picture of me eating oranges with a painting behind me. I put the painting there and arranged the three shakers. There’s also a curtain up behind me to eliminate the chaos in the other room. It was a pictorial decision I made when making the picture.

When you put the painting of the girl up, were you thinking about the gaze? She’s looking at the viewer, the viewer is looking at you and you are looking away. It makes for a very voyeuristic experience.

I don’t know if I was thinking about the gaze necessarily, but I was definitely thinking about the presence of the painting of the young girl and identifying with her. Those are my roommates and there was a young boy and a young girl and I chose the girl to put there. So there was definitely this younger figure I was interested in. And, I think there was something about the light of that painting, the kind of Dutch soft northern light. With that picture I set up the camera the night before and then I woke up at 7 or 8am and made the picture. The curtain was up, everything was in place, I pre-visualized it and then made it the next day.

gift from grandpa

Now that you finished the series are you going to continue making self-portraits?

I don’t know. I’ve made pictures recently but I haven’t scanned them or done anything with them. The last picture for the book was more about giving myself a deadline and not being able to add anything. But I’m really not that engaged with looking at myself at this point. I think it’s something I’ll come back to, but I feel this pressure to do something else. This also feels like closure, with the book and the show it feels like an ending. I think, though, there is something in me that wants to come back to it. I don’t think I’ll never photograph myself again. If it feels important or if there’s something happening in my life that it feels necessary to. But I want to challenge myself and do other projects.

What other projects do you have planned?

I want to photograph women right now. It’s something I’ve never really done. I’m interested in going to LA and making pictures of women there. I’ve never been to Los Angeles, I want to go someplace I don’t know, that’s foreign to me and that’s also very surface level. I want to get under that surface, look at the beauty, the body. Like beaches, pageants, teenagers, I don’t know, but just to see what comes from it. It’s exciting to me because I’m interested in this process of letting the people I meet inform where the work will go. When I started the “I Ask in Exchange” project, that started with a road trip I went on and one photograph worked from there. That one photograph propelled the project. So, I’m looking for inspiration right now. How it will be shaped is a big question mark still. Which is exciting and fun. And it could totally fail and flop and not be interesting and I could hate it. But that’s the process of working, you know?

More of Jen Davis’s work including Self-Portraits and I Ask in Exchange can be found on her website. She is represented by Lee Marks Fine Art and lives in Brooklyn.

JENNIFER JUNE

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

PLATES
1 (Feature) Jen Davis, “Untitled No. 11,” from the series Eleven Years
2 Jen Davis, “Untitled No. 15,” from the series Eleven Years
3 Jen Davis, “Sean,” from the series I Ask In Exchange
4 Jen Davis, “Gift from Grandpa,” from the series Eleven Years

The Quiet Art

November 3, 2014

Tobias Holden was late. This was his first time submitting work to the NYC Illumination Engineering Society’s Student Lighting Competition. Setup began at 8:00 a.m. and was scheduled to run the entire day, so when he showed up at 9:00 a.m., Holden believed he’d be one of the early arrivals. This was not the case.

Each year, the Illuminated Engineering Society’s New York Section hosts a student lighting design competition. While the range of submissions is vast both in scale and concept, the competition is reined in by oft-esoteric themes, ranging from “Liminal Luminosity” and “IllumiNotes” to this year’s “Light Touch.”

Holden’s submission exemplifies the theme “Light Touch” in a manner at once analogous in presentation and literal in approach. Suspended in space, the only physical body is a single sheet of cold-press watercolor paper with the pattern of Holden’s thumb engraved in positive relief. Holden chose the material expressly for its texture which, reacting to the quality of lighting cast upon it, alternately embellishes or obscures the embedded pattern.

Back in the IESNYC showroom, much of the exhibition space had been occupied by earlier arrivals, forcing Holden to hang his piece from an overhead pipe. This innovation worked in his favor by eliminating any cast-shadow effects which would have been produced against a backdrop. In the darkened showroom, the piece floated as though of its own accord, further amplifying its ephemeral qualities.

Holden continuously returns to an approach which he refers to as “working with two brains.” He is as concerned with light fixtures and their effects (top-down) as with the effects imposed upon the lighting itself by the lit objects (top-up). This is a reciprocal relationship often neglected by traditional approaches to lighting design. Holden’s approach to design reflects a sensibility that is widely lauded yet seldom actualized: good design makes apparent the object rather than its designer. Says Holden,

“I liked the idea that lighting design is this ‘quiet art,’ that if you do it well no one acknowledges it.”

That said, his designs haven’t always tended towards the minimal and reductionist. Holden’s first concept for the project was more elaborate:

“I did lots of hands-on experimentation; I was trying to figure out what a ‘light touch’ meant to me. I thought back to some of my more technical classes, how light can change the appearance of a material or how certain fixtures generate heat inherently in their operation. My initial concept was [to use] a super-hot par-lamp – around 250W – that would give off enough heat to drive a turbine.”

The spinning turbine would in turn influence the light cast by the lamp. Unfortunately, he found that far more energy would be needed to drive the turbine than could be created by the fixture.

“But then,” Holden continues, “I thought of the really simple concept of [how] the incident angle [of light] on a surface reveals or destroys texture. …The lighting mechanics was easy…creating the texture involved lots of experimentation.”

BRANDON PIETRAS