“Design For a Living World” – High Fashion and Design Meet Conservation in New Photo Exhibit

Photograph courtesy of Ami Vitale

Photographer Ami Vitale has motored the highest pass in Kashmir, dodged rampaging elephants in India, and photographed the spirit lions of Tanzania. She has tracked snow leopard in Nepal and watched sea lion clubbing in Oregon. But until recently Vitale, one of our favorite photographers (and ADVENTURE contributors), had never ventured into the high-stakes world of fashion and design. That all changed on Wednesday night, when Vitale’s latest endeavor, “Design for a Living World,” a project conceived and executed by The Nature Conservancy, debuted at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. The initiative paired famous designers with sustainable products from around the world. Fashion designer and TV personality Isaac Mizrahi traveled to Alaska and designed a runway-worthy dress out of salmon leather, a material used by Lewis and Clark (it’s three times stronger than cow leather!). Jewelry designer Muehling transformed Micronesian vegetable ivory and ocean-harvested black and Keishi pearls into a series of bracelets and necklaces. Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Memorial, worked with Maine timber. Yves Béhar went to Costa Rica. And Ami was there to capture it all. The project, a year in the making, will run in New York until January 2010, before traveling the country.