Seemingly everywhere we look, “green†— of the environmental variety — is the new black. While it is trendy and uber-relevant in 2010, back in 2000 the term green only really referred to money, and not eco-friendly design. Enter entrepreneur Robin Wilson, who by 2000 had already built her company, Robin Wilson Home, on the principle of having her clients make choices about their environment that moved them closer to a positive state of well being.
Through the years her renovation, project management, and design firm has detoxified homes for cancer patients, sold eco-friendly home décor at www.neststore.com –her online marketplace–and eco-renovated former President Bill Clinton’s office in Harlem.
So, it was no surprise that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. chose Wilson as the interior designer for his re-built LEED certified home in Mount Kisco, New York. After a flood, black mold grew in his 1920s clapboard home, causing his children to develop pneumonia, asthma, and allergies. He demolished the house because no matter how hard the family cleaned the mold always came back.
Wilson, who is in her late 30s, was empathetic to the family’s plight. As a young girl she had been hospitalized multiple times because of asthma. So, while designing for the Kennedys she wanted to reduce their home’s energy output and conserve water, but also eliminate substances that could trigger the family’s allergies. She incorporated renewable linens and textiles, recycled furniture and countertops, energy star appliances, sustainable bath fixtures, and from her own collection, non-toxic kitchen cabinetry by Robin Wilson Home.
Designing the Kennedy home was a welcome distraction because like most designers, the recession hit Wilson hard. She had to lay off an employee and move to a smaller showroom. Although she declines to say by how much her revenues fell in 2009, she credits her survival to a licensing agreement with Holiday Kitchens to sell Robin Wilson Home Kitchen Cabinetry through 500 dealers nationwide.Wilson, the 2008 Black Enterprise Business Innovator of the Year, is also excited about two new endeavors: the May debut of her line of bamboo cotton towels at www.BedBathandBeyond.com and the April publication of her first book “Kennedy Green House: Designing an Eco-Healthy Home from the Foundation to the Furniture,†(Greenleaf Book Group Press, $30) which chronicles the Kennedy home gut renovation and redesign.
Wilson sat down with Black Enterprise in her New York showroom to discuss the book, the benefits of eco-friendly interior design, and affordable ways to go green.
BlackEnterprise.com: How do you feel having worked with such a prestigious family like the Kennedys?
Robin Wilson: I am thrilled that the Kennedy family gave Robin Wilson Home an opportunity to showcase our platform and to educate consumers [that green design] from the foundation to the furniture can be beautiful. I’m excited…Bobby is an environmentalist with Water Keeper Alliance and Riverkeeper, [two organizations that advocate for clean water]. Now he is walking the walk and the talk in his own life.
You design homes and you also bring in the eco-friendly element. How did you get started in both of those areas and decide to make them one?
I have asthma and allergies. I grew up blowing my nose all of the time, wheezing and sneezing. My belief is your home is your ecosystem. Your ecosystem starts with what you put inside of you, where you are living, where you are working, and all of the things that you bring into those spaces. When you talk about design, I don’t think I should just focus on the foundation or the furniture. Because I have [this] health condition, everything I do has to be geared towards how I live [and] how my clients with children that have asthma and allergies will live.
What guidelines do you use to design homes?
I have the four principles, sustainable, recyclable, renewable and non toxic. [Try to] abide by those four principles when you are doing design work or when you are just buying products for your private home.
What are some of the unique design elements that you incorporated in the Kennedy home?
[We added], Eco by Cosentino paper countertops. We love granite, but granite is a finite resource. How many mountain tops are we going to blow up? How many mines are we going to build? We’re throwing away paper every day…but if they could repurpose it the landfills [would] start to go down, because now there is a use for that recycled paper.
All of the mattresses in the Kennedy House are Somnium mattresses. It comes with a hypoallergenic cover and it doesn’t have any of those fire retardants or really bad chemicals that are in mattresses. In some mattresses, there is something called Boric acid. Boric acid kills roaches. You are sleeping next to a pesticide.
We included multigenerational design elements like an access ramp and a curb-less shower. Sen. Edward Kennedy was one of the big sponsors for American’s with disabilities act. He also had a son who was disabled. With a curb-less shower you can just wheel your wheelchair in, take the hand wan, and rinse yourself off. These elements are useful when you are 65 or 70 and you’ve broken your hip or maybe have another health issue.
In the book you talk a lot about off-gassing. Can you explain what that is?
Think about the smell that comes from a shower curtain, a new car, [or paint]. Any chemicals from man-made products [release volatile organic compounds]. They can potentially hurt your family and your children and create chemical sensitivities that contribute to trigger points for asthma and allergies.
What are some incentives to help people start greening their homes and offices?
The incentives for going green aren’t always about saving Mother Earth, but saving money and saving your own ecosystem. It’s [about] your quality of life, your health. It’s going to help your pocketbook. [You can] save more money on your electric bill and your water bill. Right now the government is offering a $3,000 tax credit if you do a renovation that is energy efficient between 2009 and 2010.
Here are five things Wilson says people should avoid to reduce asthma, allergies, chemical sensitivities, and create a healthier environment.
– Volatile organic compounds: Many paints contain VOCs, which can create chemical sensitivities. Paint your walls with low or no VOC paint to reduce off-gas. Wilson recommends Aura or Natura paint by Benjamin Moore, which retail for about $55 a gallon.
– Formaldehyde: Steer clear of cheaper furniture because it is probably glued together with formaldehyde-based glues, which off-gas. High concentrations of formaldehyde emissions may trigger attacks in people with asthma, and cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, fatigue, and cancer.
– Mold: It can cause dermatitis, hay fever, and can produce toxic substances, which depending on the strain may cause liver and nervous system damage or cancer. Mold can grow on any organic substance where oxygen and moisture is present. Once you get it; it is hard to get rid of. Avoid mold infestation by controlling the humidity in your home.
– Vinyl shower curtains: These contain vinyl chloride, which also produce off-gases. At high levels and high temperatures it may cause dizziness, headaches, liver damage and/or cancer. Instead, try a nylon shower curtain, which can be mildew and mold resistant.
– Unwashed pillows and bedding: Unwashed pillows, sheets, and comforters can store the carcasses of dust mites, bed bugs, and other insects that can trigger asthma attacks and allergic reactions.
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