The loneliness of Americans keeps surfacing in the media. At first glance, this seems odd. But, dig a little deeper and it’s easy to see why the noise of our society can be overwhelming – drowning out the one-to-one human contact that has served people well, world-wide for centuries. It is time to raise our heads, take a look around and to act.

Let’s consider just one aspect of this condition – food and infinite waste.

Magnitude of the Problem

The world produces enough food for 12 billion people according to FAO (www.fao.org) and there are currently only 6 billion of us. And yet, each year hunger and related illnesses cause some 8,760,000 people (including 5 Million children) to die. Add to that figure the 852 million people who do not have enough to eat, including people in the developed nations of this planet.

In Italy, which is renowned for its food, every Italian family according to a study conducted by ADOC (www.adoc.it) throws away an average of 584 euros a year of groceries. That equals approximately 800 U.S. dollars. The national total would run up to 4 billion euros or more than 5 billion U.S. dollars!

According to the BBC program, “Costing the Earth,” the English throw away 30-40% of the groceries they purchase for a total of 30 billion euros, which is equivalent to 40 plus billion U.S. dollars. This is enough money, according to the UN, to adequately feed 150 million Africans.

In the United States, we throw away 40-50% of the food we purchase. Evidently, it is not true that the Earth is not capable of feeding all of its inhabitants; the problem is a case of poor resource management.

Throw-Away Mindset

It seems “a basic component of food waste is our attitude toward throwing things away,” according to Guido Viale, author of a book called the Throw Away Culture.

“We are really not very careful at all about what we throw away. We are often not even interested in knowing where our food comes from or where it ends up, nor are we particularly concerned about the amount of resources and energy required to produce it. This sort of indifference tends to go hand in hand with our lack of interest in healthy food. When one loses all sense of the intrinsic nutritional value of food, one begins to shop in a compulsive manner, basing choices on superficial, potentially misleading factors like packaging and advertising. Another consideration is the reduction in conviviality associated with the meal ritual and, by extension, the reduction in food preparation times. Family members tend to come to the table at different times, often eating separately causing a breakdown in the social structure of the meal. Everyone spends a lot of time working outside the home and less and less attention is paid to the meal.”

What Mr. Viale is explaining is how we are marginalizing food, our most fundamental social link, leading to a disconnection from our planet and the people who live on it.

Dumpster Dive

Let’s dive deeper. In the real world according to ADOC, here’s what winds up in the garbage:

• 39% of all fresh products like milk, eggs, meat and cheese
• 19% of the bread purchased
• 17% of the fruit and vegetables
• 10% of prepared meats
• 4% of packaged products (salad) and pasta
• 3% of canned products
• 2% of frozen products

We all know that these realities have snuck up on us and accelerated like so many things within the last 30 years. The drivers are clear and all around us. We can be seduced by special offers and by deals. We are increasingly time compressed and will look for easy solutions. We rely on tools that extend our reach while dampening down communication where it counts – live and engaging inter-personal exchange.

Road to Renewal

We must resist and reorganize our priorities to accommodate a world that will no longer be denied. Increasingly, people around the world are educating themselves, taking back their lives and reconnecting with planet Earth. They are buying food produced locally at farmer’s markets and cooperatives, and getting to the know their neighbors in the process. More importantly, many are beginning to take back the dinner hour and talk to each other. Live. Unrehearsed. Unedited. A magical shift is starting to happen and I, for one, am glad to join the parade.

Abito is a lifestyle brand dedicated to the enhancement of living by taking an active/optimistic position with respect to our community-based, designed products. We look for the connection points – of people – within and outside of their homes. We are committed to the journey ahead and to sharing what we learn along the path. Loneliness be gone! We shed the possibility of loneliness when we reach into ourselves and choose connectivity.

—Steve Robertson, President, Abito

4/24 > Abito leaders retreated to nearby Sunriver for a review of progress year to date and to look forward. Everyone’s creative energy was fueled by the resort’s Chef Dingle who put on a feast for the senses and spirit. The theme was sustainability and the process that was encouraged was “Slow Food” – an international movement that was initiated in 1986 by Carlo Petrini when a McDonald’s opened a branch beside the famous Spanish Steps in Rome.

Slow Food stands for sustainable farming, leisurely dining with family and friends. It brings forward the notion that eating well can, and should, go hand in hand with protecting the environment. It puts small producers in touch with each other and promotes their wares to chefs, shops and gourmets around the world. It seeks artisanal foods that are on their way to extinction and helps them gain a foothold in the global market. At its heart, the movement is about pleasure.

By 2003, 87,000 members in 50 different countries had found their way to this modern approach to living. In America membership is over 8,000 and rising. One example of what Slow Food has accomplished in the U.S. is a successful campaign to resurrect the tasty rare breed turkeys – Naragansett, Jersey Buff, Standard Bronze, Bourbon Red – that were the centerpiece of every American Thanksgiving until bland factory-farmed birds took over.

Slow Food fights for bio-diversity, opposes the genetic modification of food stuffs and promotes organic farming.

Chef Dingle involved us directly in his menu and cooking techniques. The aromatic quality of the experience had us in the READY TO EAT position long before we sat down to the table. The evening began with Russian, sustainably harvested, diver scallops that were absolutely incredible. Oregon bred, bone-in pork shank…braised over 9 hours earlier that day was the main course. Vegetables and greens were all organically grown. And a blue cheese from Rogue River Creamery in Southern Oregon was carefully folded into a French, stone ground polenta to accompany the fall-off-the-bone pork shank. We finished off our Slow Food feast with a rhubarb crisp over which Julie’s organic ice cream from Eugene provided a sweet, silky smooth counter-point. Oregon wines were well matched to the food.

*Check out Citta Slow (Slow Cities) which is a spin-off of the Slow Food world-wide movement…it is limited to towns under 50,000 inhabitants. Pretty restrictive, but very interesting as a trend source.

—Steve Robertson, President, Abito

Salone Internazionale del Mobile, 5-10 April, 2006; plus Eurocucina and Salone Internazionale del Bagno
Fiera Milano, Rho-Pero, Italia

I was really excited to attend my first international furniture design exhibition just outside Milan recently. The design world looks to this show for what is new in material uses, technology, and where design is going in the world. The show is the world’s largest (over 200,000 people attended the show) with 2006 marking the 45th national and 28th international exhibit. On the even-numbered years, the kitchen/bath exhibitors are included so we hit it just right!

With two major new projects to launch and an Abito brand that seeks smart solutions for a hopeful, healthy home and everything that fits in it… we had to go to the design vortex.

This year was the first year for the event to be held at the recently completed venue in Rho-Pero Milano. It is striking architecture, with multiple buildings connected by a covered spine that bridges and connects the exhibit halls. Restaurants and all kinds of organized space once you arrive handled the throng quite well. There was not a hotel room to be found in Milan that week… fortunately, Milan has an excellent transportation system with a subway coming up right at Rho-Pero and the exhibit hall… some 25 minutes from the heart of Milan near the Duomo where we were happy to have found a room.

With more than three million square feet of exhibit space to cover, we were off and running from Day One. We mapped out what we wanted to see given the three days we had allocated. Unbelievable, but we probably covered only a third of what was being presented. However, we could not have been more impressed. Two of the three of us could speak Italian so there was no language barrier. I was the weak link. The international nature of this show, however, had all the exhibitors switching out languages as quickly as the next person approached them… quite amazing really.

I was particularly impressed with the number of kitchen manufacturers and what they were offering. The quality of their products floored us… no detail left undone. (And, the food they offered to tempt you from their working kitchens within their “stand” wasn’t too shabby either.) We will be including several kitchen and bath design considerations in our two new projects based on what we saw. I was also really pleased to see that our Abito communities were spot-on with the world’s design leaders as to color palette and materials. Our design team of Weinstein A|U, Alchemie Landscape Architects and Mercedes Fernandez Interior Design are truly world-class.

Interestingly to us… there were only two U.S.A. exhibitors. Italy led the pack, not unexpectedly, but the second largest number of exhibitors (and this surprised us) came from Spain. They are the new darling in the design community and seem to be experiencing a renaissance of culture in the last several years… design, food, architecture and art. Did you know that a lot of “Design Within Reach” is sourced out of Spain?

The EuroAsian design communities dominated. On our last day, we visited many downtown showrooms and Casa Armani, which had opened this last fall. You could not deny the strong Asian presence in these showrooms. At Casa Armani, the furniture lines were undeniably influenced by Asian design. Purposeful and tailored were the clear design imperatives.

We are already looking forward to next year! We will be sending two of our leaders to an abridged version of this amazing international exhibit in NYC this May on the heels of a prefab construction gathering… stay tuned.

We believe in the power of design to change the world.

—Steve Robertson, President, Abito

April 10th marked the birth of a new brand with a company name change from Pennbrook Homes to Abito. Special guests of Abito were treated to a celebration of culture and community at the Tower Theatre in Bend by Portland’s own, “Pink Martini.” World music was on tap April 13th, bringing the Sold Out audience to its feet. We chose the Pink Martini concert as the venue to introduce Abito and our next big project, Basic Village in Bend, because of the band’s unique ability to look backwards to different musical eras from around the world and forward at the same time… to create music that is refreshed and expertly executed with passion… to arrive at something quite modern.

This, too, is Abito’s mission… to create built-communities with a strong sense of place… that look to smart, proven design principles, well-executed in the field… fresh and unconventional… utilizing sustainable practices to the extent practical.

We adjourned across the street to Merenda after the concert to enjoy a fantastic array of gourmet offerings. We had several boards up around the restaurant to convey the spirit, ambition and reality of our design vision for this first-of-its-kind modern community at this scale. I was able to thank everyone for their enthusiastic support of our new direction and offer a sneak peek at Basic Village. We stayed late into the night reveling in the metaphor of music and the rhythmic quality of communal connections.

—Steve Robertson, President, Abito

On Monday we issued our press release formally announcing the launch of Abito:

Bend, ORE. – April 10, 2006 – Pennbrook Homes, Inc., announced the company will change its name to Abito, effective April 10.

Pennbrook Homes was formerly a division of The Pennbrook Co., which has served clients for 20 years through real estate development, management and investment services in Oregon, Arizona, Washington and California. In May 2001, when current president and co-owner Steve Robertson became involved, Pennbrook Homes became an independent corporation.

Abito is inspired by an Italian derivative of “to live” or “to inhabit.” The name change reflects the company’s optimistic, forward-looking focus on building and marketing contemporary communities. Its projects are distinguished in concept, modern architectural design, environmental sensitivity and breadth of amenities.

You can read the full press release here (PDF).

Welcome to the Abito Ink weblog! This blog is being launched in tandem with our Abito web site, so please check out that site and then drop back in here for regular updates, news, a chance to leave comments and more.