Keywords:  Sustainability Guide | Sustainablility Metric |  Sustainability Assessment | Green Design | Handicraft | Circular Economy

Background

The Sustainable Practice Meter + Guide was developed in Limassol, Cyprus and it is proposed as a response to the apparent lack of cost effective and straightforward tools to reflect on handicraft outcomes. Other sustainability assessment tools appear to be too demanding and too complicated to be implemented for small scale production and are usually used to assess factory production. The sustainable practice meter + guide is presented here in the form of an interactive poster.

It was created by makers for makers to evaluate their work’s sustainable qualities, according to local particularities⁸ and it sprung from personal observations while practicing sustainable making. It was developed through a round table discussion at WIP International Festival 2023 (Nicosia, Cyprus) and it was tested by twelve craftspeople from accross Europe ranging from fashion to jewellery or woodwork.

Round Table Discussion Participants:

Moderator: Eva Korae - Designer/ Maker, Assistant Professor

Michail Georgiou - Architect, Associate Professor

Andreas Kyriacou - Architect, Dergon Manufacturing

Dr Panayiota Pyla - Architectural Historian, Theorist, Professor

Konstantina Niina Achilleos - Artist, Craftswoman

Tuomas Venäläinen - Master Craftsman

Questionnaire Participants:

Navid Gholipour and Sahand Gholipour - Lovenlight

Melina Galati - Claroplants

Georgia Moditi - Georgia Moditi

Elsi Hadjipavli - Gaia Olea

Nadir Aydin - Nad patch

Korina Kyriakou

Sami Ásllat Laiti - Samekki

Arnaud Mainardi - Atelier Chatersen

Anni Lipasti - Vätin Verstas & Verhoomo

Konstantina Niina Achilleos & Tuomas Venäläinen - DioDio Collective

The findings were supported by literary research. In addition and to test it’s limits, twenty students from the BA Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology (Product Design, third year elective) were asked to evaluate their projects’ sustainable qualities with it.

It is based on the ‘Wheel of Life’ model, essentially borrowed from contexts of Coaching and 

Psycotherapy, which makes it ideal for honest self reflection on a process or object.⁴ It is another option in the toolbox for anyone eager to explore and acquire knowledge about their own processes, while discovering their needs and challenges.2+9

Restrictions

Though it appears to be a useful tool for self-assessment potentially leading to adaptations of products and processes, it's important to be aware of its limitations. 

Through the experimental implementation process, it became apparent that the less people know about sustainability, the higher they tend to score their products and in cases where they are deeply knowledgable, they become quite strict. It nevertheless still acts as a tool for self-evaluation when 

treated individually and not in comparison to other people’s impression of their work. For the reasons above, it is recommended to be used as a guide rather than a formal metric.

How it Works

It consists of a pie chart which is separated into eight-plus-one themes to help elaborate on each area and follow the steps below:

1.     Identify the project/ object/ process you want to examine.

2.     Use as much time as you see appropriate on each theme, think how it reflects on the case you are examining.

3.     Fill in the sector of each theme on the pie. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the ideal, rate the sustainability of your product. 

4.     Take it one step at a time - choose which issue you can improve this time, to possibly score better next time.

5.     When you have completed the chart, look at the themes where your case scored well, and which issues need improvement.

The ‘add your own metric’ section is for improving the meter to suit your expertise.

The complete sustainable meter + guide in A1 printable poster form can be downloaded from here. 

Sources

1. Aamold, S., Jørgensen, U. A., and Haugdal, E. (ed) (2017). Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives, (Gaski H.,  Indigenous Aesthetics: Add Context to Context - Article p.179) Odder, Denmark: Narayana Press 

2. David, B. (1995). Enhancing Learning Through Self-Assessment. 

3. Dear, C. (2022). 100 ropes: a rope a day, Plants, Thread and Textiles, Highland Archaeology Festival Skye - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_c5PBuBXF0

4. Elsey, E. (2024). How to Use the Wheel of Life in Your Coaching Practice: A Complete Guide: https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/wheel-of-life-complete-guide-everything-you-need-to-know/?srsltid=AfmBOoq7jSNg0zdvHPHXGHxdNjytf515bIzWMkelEWHqHKA3JDo2ZtwW

5. Globocnik, D., Holzmann, P. (2024). Sustainability-related product satisfaction – Development and application of a multi-dimensional measurement instrument, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 448. 

6. Hasling, K. M., Raebild, U. (2016). Fur and Sustainability Cards - Design for Longevity, Design Schoole Koldning with Kopenhagen Fur.

7. Hauschild, M.Z., et al. (2020). Absolute sustainability: Challenges to life cycle engineering, CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology

8. Healthy Materials Lab. (2022). Healthy Materials Method Cards, Parsons School of Design.

9. Mentis, M. (2007). Self-assessment as a lens for learning. The SAGE Handbook of Special.

10. Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Basic Books.

11. Rae, A. (ed) (2022) All Hail the Planet series, Al Jazeera.

12. Räisänen, R. (2021). Luontoystävällisempiä Väriaineita, Ratkaisuja Luonnon Hyväksi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7oLaI2_i0E 

13. Repair Café Organization. (Retreived 2025). Repairing for a Sustainable Future https://www.repaircafe.org/en/about/

14. Sánchez-Carracedo, F. et al. (2020). The Sustainability Matrix: A Tool for Integrating and Assessing Sustainability in the Bachelor and MasterTheses of Engineering Degrees, Sustainability.

15. Westerlund, T. et al. (eds) (2022). Craft Sciences, Sweden: Kriterium

This tool is part of the handicraft and sustainability research conducted at the Cyprus University of Technology in the framework of Serious products Lab and funded by Eva Korae’s Start-Up Research Grant. It was composed by Assistant Professor Eva Korae and Researcher Konstantina Niina Achilleos with Tuomas Venäläinen (Dio Dio Collective). The illustrations were hand drawn by Konstantina Niina Achilleos. 

 Let us know through email if you have tried it and you have some feedback for us!