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See why author and designer Danny Seo incorporates environmental awareness into home design |
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I t’s not easy being green. Unlike many of his environmentalist peers, however, author, designer and soon-to-be
television host Danny Seo manages to do it with flair.
Born, believe it or not, on Earth Day, Seo founded a group called Earth 2000 at the tender age of 12. By the time he retired as CEO
in 1997, it had become the largest environmental group for teens in the world, with over 20,000 members. But as he got older, Seo
discovered that he was becoming less strident in his political views and increasingly interested in the world of fashion and
interior design. After writing two books on how eco-activism could be seamlessly integrated into a daily routine, he decided to
marry his social and artistic passions into a philosophy for living well while thinking green.
“If people can change their everyday lives, in what they wear and eat, that has a far greater impact on environmental sustainability than me standing on a soapbox and protesting about something.”—Danny Seo
“Design was something I had always enjoyed doing, but I didn’t want to become a lifestyle expert, because I’ve always felt that
there was something creepy about that,” Seo says with a laugh. “But I wanted to stay true to my beliefs and pursue activism. Then
what occurred to me was, if people can change their everyday lives, in what they wear and eat, that has a far greater impact on
environmental sustainability than me standing on a soapbox and protesting about something.” The result was last fall’s
Conscious Style Home (St. Martin’s), the story of Seo’s chic soup-to-nuts renovation of his parents’ Reading, Pennsylvania,
home. Seo made “green” equal “groovy” by utilizing environmentally friendly materials, like bamboo blinds, recycled paint, heart
maple procured from responsible logging companies, comforters stuffed with surprisingly soft EcoSpun (made from recycled bottles),
canvas and hemp slipcovers, glass tiles and organic cotton sheets.
To his mock-horror and readily apparent delight, Conscious Style Home indelibly stamped Seo as a bona-fide lifestyle expert,
an image further bolstered by his recent work as brand manager of the fashion label Imitation of Christ. Created by
actresses/designers Tara Subkoff and Chloë Sevigny, IOC takes Salvation Army castoffs and reconstructs them as downtown duds, an
idea Seo found easy to get behind. For their recent New York fashion week show, IOC embraced their ethos of the reusable while
thumbing their collective nose at couture convention. Cheekily touting the display as a “retrospective” (IOC has only existed for
two years), the show featured hotpants-clad models pushing around vacuum cleaners made by James Dyson—a design maverick who
Seo claims as a major inspiration—while videos of previous IOC shows played on the walls. “I had wanted to get involved with
fashion for a while,” says the still-young Seo, “but every fashion brand that was ‘eco’ in focus is so crunchy, and everything’s so
baggy and unstructured. For me, fashion has to come from a design viewpoint, and then you can incorporate your social and political
views into the line.”
Seo is practicing what he preaches, silkscreening and embroidering old military neckties, which have been worn by the Backstreet
Boys, among others, and are in increasing demand with his other celebrity friends. Seo will be rolling out a
line of environmentally friendly products for the home, including hand-cast recycled glasses, bowls and plates, as well as tabletop
grills made of recycled aluminum. “No one likes to be told what to do,” he explains. “But if you can make a project very sensual
and inspirational and aspirational while still making a social point, then you sort of leave it up to the person to pick it up on
their own. And at the same time, if they buy it, you’re planting those seeds for change.”
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