A two-part gallery exhibition of affordable water technologies and artwork from developing countries where Denver-based IDE works to cultivate prosperity, The Art of Dirt opens August 6 at the EventGallery 910 Arts, running through September 25. The show allows visitors to experience how simple, affordable technology design can improve the incomes and lives of the millions of people at the base of the economic pyramid through The Art of Dirt. The exhibition includes photographs, videos and a tomato garden growing in the gallery that is irrigated using IDE water technology.

IDE is dedicated to creating income opportunities for poor, rural households in the developing world. “The Art of Dirt” showcases some of the simple technologies, such as the foot-powered treadle pump, low-pressure micro-sprinkler and affordable drip irrigation that IDE has made available to poor, rural families, allowing them control over their water supply and opening up a new world of income-generating possibilities.

Many of the technologies in the show were selected by the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum for its recent Design for the Other 90% exhibition; this is the first time that they have been exhibited in the Denver area. The Art of Dirt incorporates photographs and videos of farms, farmers and irrigation in some the countries where IDE works; after Sept. 1, the exhibit will also include artwork by artists in these areas, which will be available for purchase through a silent auction benefiting IDE’s programs.

During the show’s run, IDE and 910Arts will host a number of special events, including First Friday open houses, film nights, and a gala event honoring IDE founder Paul Polak. For more information on these events, please visit www.artofdirt.org.

EventGallery 910 Arts is located in the heart of Denver’s art district at 910 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, 80204.

Users and schematics for the award-winning IDE Easy Latrine. Photos courtesy Jeff Chapin and IDE Cambodia.

What do a consumer technology product, an ecologically responsible laundry detergent, and a simple design innovation for an age old product have in common? They were all selected as winners of the prestigious Best in Show Award at the 2010 IDEA Awards for international design excellence.

Latrines are a decidedly unsexy topic, more likely to induce uncomfortable giggles than provoke innovative thinking. People in the developed world take access to sanitation for granted. Yet in most of rural Cambodia, lack of adequate sanitation causes more deaths than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Despite this fact, many villagers view purchasing sanitation equipment as an unnecessary luxury, partly because of the expense and difficulty of installing traditional latrines.

Jeff Chapin, a designer on sabbatical from IDEO worked with our IDE Cambodia team to tackle the problem. The solution? A low-cost sanitation system that villagers could build themselves using cheap, locally available materials. Each latrine costs about $25, and more than 2,500 have already been purchased and installed by villagers.

2010 IDEA Awards Gallery

Fast Company story

Best in Show judges video at fastcodesign.com

Photo courtesy Jeff Chapin (wanderingjefe.blogspot.com)

Though most of our projects are focused on the agricultural value chain, even seemingly unrelated projects like our water and sanitation project in Vietnam can create new, sustainable sources of income for poor rural families.

The Dutch organization IRC – International Water and Sanitation Centre tells the story of Thuy Thanh Ky, a 43 year-old mason in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Unable to support his family through farming alone, Thuy started a successful business as a toilet mason, helping meet the increased demand for affordable, effective sanitation in rural Vietnam.

It’s interesting to note that Thuy was not initially chosen by his commune to be part of the group trained by IDE’s project. Not to be deterred, he was able to train himself after coming across IDE’s training manual. What a great example of the way IDE projects often spark rural entrepreneurship even outside of those we are able to directly impact within the original project itself.

Learn more at IRC’s website.

“Human-centered design has always been IDEO’s approach to creating innovation,” says HCD Toolkit project lead Tatyana Mamut. But it was the Gates Foundation’s work in developing nations where IDEO saw an opportunity to apply their three core values for sustainable design: human desirability, technical feasibility and technical viability. “What we’ve done with this toolkit is taken the basic structure of that methodology and turned it into a process that makes it applicable to the developing world.”

Read article at FastCompany.com

–What We’re Learning, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

At IDE, we often talk about the necessity of listening to our customers–small-plot farmers in developing countries–in order to develop income generating products which are useful and affordable. As part of our Rural Prosperity Initiative, we collaborated with the design firm IDEO (no relation) to develop the Human Centered Design Toolkit, a set of tools that can be used by organizations to better listen and respond to farmers and translate their experience and expertise into new design solutions.

Read more about it at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s website.

Download the Human Centered Design toolkit at IDEO’s website.