The project hinged on the presence of young NZ designer Josh Astill based in Holland. A project was hatched where Josh would seek to spend five to six months at TU Delft, the recognised leader in the field of sustainable product development internationally and five to six months back in New Zealand looking at the NZ context.

This research provided a clear picture of the academic, political and industrial history and position of eco-design and sustainable product design within the EU. It illustrated that rather than re-inventing the wheel in NZ we should learn from the successes and mistakes of other countries and then synthesize our own direction.

The D4S faculty within Delft kindly donated their

time and desk space for Josh to do the background research. Without this it would not have been possible and it was a real enabler. Big thanks to Dr. J.C Diehl and Professor Han Brezet for their time and support over the course of the project. Another key supporter was John Gifford at Scion, who provided funding to support Josh during his time in Europe.

The research report was commissioned from our research for the Ministry for the Environment and is available for research and interest in New Zealand and further abroad.