Articles

Eastman soups up design-centric website

The newly revamped Eastman Innovation Lab website takes advantage of changes in video technology and software that did not exist when it first launched in 2004.

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White Leaving Legacy of Design Innovation

As Gaylon White prepares to retire at the end of January, he leaves behind a legacy of design innovation. Robert Grace of Plastics News chronicles White’s sometimes tough journey to build Eastman Chemical Company's credibility within the design community.

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Top Game-Changing Companies

The Innovation Lab’s Design Insights video series is the subject of one of five stories about companies that survived the Great Recession by changing the way they do business. Deborah Asbrand writes in Executive Travel magazine: “The Design Insights videos were born when a smart idea collided with inconsistent execution.” Asbrand goes on to explain how the videos have helped Eastman inspire and surprise the design community: “The three-to-five minute videos feature top industrial designers speaking compellingly of how the creative process fuels their designs. The backstory of a reusable concentrate-filled bottle, for example. How a desert trek evolved into a meditation on sustainability. Building a better bra. Not exactly the stuff you’d expect from a chemical company based in the Appalachians.”

Read the story online at: http://www.executivetravelmagazine.com/articles/top-game-changing-companies

When Worlds Collide

Historically, the material and design worlds have each done their own thing, mostly independently of the other. What would happen if these worlds come together? In this article for the spring 2011 edition of Innovation, the quarterly publication of the Industrial Designers Society of America, Gaylon White tells the story of Eastman’s efforts to bridge the gap between the material and design worlds.”The challenge for all of us in the material and design worlds is to open our eyes to each oher and imagine the great things we can accomplish together,” writes White, director of design programs at Eastman. “How quickly and effectively we respond to future product development opportunities depend on the two worlds bridging the historic gap and acting as one.”

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How KOR Redesigned Its Water Bottles, Using Customer Feedback

KOR Water, the West Coast company that makes reusable water bottles hip, has given Co.Design an exclusive look at its next-gen product: Delta, a $20 container aimed at bringing the KOR brand to the masses.   
 

Read Online at fastcodesign.com

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The KOR ONE Bottle Changes Behavior by Beautifying Water

Eastman collaborated with KOR Water and RKS Design to develop the iconic KOR ONE hydration vessel, which is the subject of a case study titled: “The KOR ONE Changes Behavior by Beautifying Water.”

Read Online at fastcompany.com

Blue...it's the New Green by RKS Design

In 2007, marine biologists discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a massive, continent-sized flotilla of plastic garbage between San Francisco and Hawaii. So when we talk about reducing our footprint for future generations, it’s not just about “green”…it’s about preserving and caring for the blue – the waters of our world upon which our planet thrives. For life, there must be water. Los Angeles-based RKS Design created this case study based on its work on the KOR ONE Hydration Vessel. KOR ONE is the talk of the blogs for good reason – it’s a healthy, sustainable and environmentally sound way to drink water. And KOR ONE looks good, too. 

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www.rksdesign.com

Vessel Targets Status Market

‘Hydration Vessel’ seeks to siphon status market
by Rhonda Miel

KOR ONE is not your average water bottle. That’s why it’s being marketed as a “hydration vessel” and creating such a buzz in the media. A major reason for the success of KOR ONE is its iconic design, which takes full advantage of the performance characteristics of Eastman Tritan™ copolyester. Eric Barnes, founder of KOR Ideas, sees KOR ONE becoming a status symbol that, as Plastics News reports, “will help wean drinkers of status-symbol water off their disposable bottles and into using the same bottle again and again.”

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www.plasticsnews.com

Displayed with Permission of Plastics News, Copyright Crain Communications Inc. Originally published in Plastics News September 29, 2008.