If designers are good, they think in economic terms, says Antonelli.

Question: Is contemporary design green enough?

Antonelli: Designers are always thinking – if they’re good – in economical terms.  So they are always thinking of objects that fit within the balance and the economy of the world.  So I would say that most of the designers that I respect and that I hold in high esteem are thinking in environmentally conscious terms.  The problem is that they are professionals for hire.  And it’s not that they always find clients with the same goals and the same motivations.  So what they are doing is they are educating their clients.  Some are more successful than others.  And they are trying to push from within towards a more environmentally conscious industry altogether.  So some designers already have some work to show for themselves.  Others have less, but I tell you they already think in those terms.  And they were thinking of the whole lifecycle of their objects from the beginning.