hospitalitystyle.com

(August 2011) posted on Mon Aug 22, 2011 EDT

Interface, Inc's founder and environmental pioneer shows how much one person can do to change the world for the better.

By Mary Scoviak

If you need some inspiration for this week, or any time, just look to Ray Anderson. Interface, Inc’s  founder and chairman passed away at the age of 77 earlier this month, having made the world a greener, more humane place to live, play and work. His visionary commitment to making all aspects of the carpeting industry proactively environmental and sustainable made him an eco hero. But, his willingness to listen to the people who worked for the company and respect their contributions made him a great human being. He wasn’t afraid to keep learning, to keep exploring and, more importantly, to keep evangelizing whether what he was saying was popular or not.

Anderson’s legend goes back to the 1994 “spear in the chest” epiphany he experienced when he first read Paul Hawken’s “The Ecology of Commerce.” Now, after  seventeen years, he estimated that Interface is more than half-way towards the vision of “Mission Zero.”  The mission's three-part manifesto calls for eco-friendly innovations across the company, including the plants (Interface now boasts six LEED-certified facilities), product lines and corporate culture. “Ray was and continues to be our company’s heart and soul. His iconic spirit and pioneering vision are not only his legacy, but our future. We will honor Ray by keeping his vision alive and the Company on course,” says Dan Hendrix, Interface’s current president and ceo. And, Anderson’s creativity did stop there. Beyond the unique designs that have graced our pages, he was also a speaker, author and, above all, a much loved and missed individual. Many in the industry have expressed their condolences and shared their memories of Anderson’s life and work. Check out the tribute set up by Interface here. The company also set up this blog  for all who knew and worked with Anderson to write their remembrances. One of those is Ralph Nader, whose piece on Anderson is here.