Julien De Smedt was interviewed for an article on desiring sustainably in the new magazine Above, out now in magazine shops worldwide!

Check out the article which also includes interviews with Charles Renfro of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Marc Kushner and Mattias Hollwich of HWKN, and Florian Idenburg of SO-IL.

Here’s a little bit about Above:

Responding to the urgent need for sustainable living, Above magazine calls upon the environmentally conscious and everyone else interested in the future by sharpening its focus on the endangered beauty of the world.

It is our firm belief that photography, the plastic arts, fashion, architecture and design can be instrumental in raising awareness about the need to preserve nature and we aim to share our opinionated, yet aesthetic vision, with our readers.

Check out an online preview of the magazine HERE

Click on to find out more about Above

Our team is composed of people who believe that the evolution of our world and the people in it matters deeply; who value respect above all, for themselves, for others and for their surroundings, wherever they may be. Above magazine is made by and for those who recognize that the true appeal of beautiful objects and places derives from their inherent rarity and fragility. For them, desirable often means simple rather than extravagant, and living more responsibly without succumbing to self-righteousness is one of the greatest forms of sophistication.

Above is a new kind of lifestyle magazine. Our inspiration lies in the ever so diverse beauty of men and women, the preciousness of the earth and the challenges and opportunities of the future.

We are committed to promoting an art of living that improves the environment without depriving daily life of its intrinsic pleasures. Our contributors are among the world’s great photographers and writers, who freely showcase here the splendours of a vanishing world and remind us of the immediate, vital, need to safeguard what remains of it.
Because, like Dostoyevsky, we believe that “beauty will save the world”.

JDS released a T-shirt, called Recycled World: ‘The motto for design needs to embrace the idea of the cradle to cradle cycle. The recycled world is a world where all we do and consume is picked up from something and leads to something new. In our work as architects and designers, producers of ‘stuff’, environmental issues are most pressuring… we produce things that end up polluting our world… the idea of production is entirely backwards to environmental concerns… We need to rethink the relevance of everything we do.’

>>> Grab your Tee @ socialdesigner.com

50% of the  sales will benefit Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit design services firm founded in 1999. They are building a more sustainable future through the power of professional design. By tapping a network of more than 40,000 professionals willing to lend time and expertise to help those who would not otherwise be able to afford their services, they bring design, construction and development services where they are most critically needed.