In 2005, designers Joe Gebbia and Matt Grigsby, graduates of The Rhode Island School of Design, knew there had to be a better way to track down and obtain sustainable materials. The former RISD classmates had often complained to each other about how tough it was to find the right product or material for their projects. Even if they knew about the maker of a certain kind of material, they sometimes found manufacturer’s website was confusing, dated, or just plain wrong. These aggravating Internet scavenger hunts slowed their work and made it hard to keep deadlines.

Matt, living in Providence, was running a thriving business called Design Awareness. Joe, who lived in San Francisco, had accumulated an impressive client list for his design work, too, and had already successfully launched a product he called CritBuns—a portable seating cushion. Although they lived on opposite sides of the country, Joe and Matt began to talk about solutions, instead of complaining about the problem.

Initially the two agreed to create a shared database of suppliers of sustainable materials as they discovered them, so they wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel with each new project. And that helped—a lot. So much so, that they soon realized it was just too good an idea to keep to themselves. They knew that every designer needs easy, accurate and free information on sustainable materials if the whole green movement was every going to take off. So Joe and Matt decided to create such a place and call it Ecolect, a name derived from the words “ecology” and “intellect”.

Ecolect’s mission has always been simple, yet ambitious: to help designers find sustainable materials, to provide makers of new materials a space to publicize their innovations and create a vibrant forum for designers committed to sustainability to share their inspiration, occasional frustration, new information and everything in between.

The two designers kept their day jobs and enlisted the help of designers at their alma mater, RISD, and a support team in San Francisco, to build an elegant, easy-to-navigate site. In building Ecolect, they consulted other colleagues and relied on a lot of sage advice from their RISD professors. This launch of Ecolect represents two years of work and the collective efforts of dozens of designers. But they know that all this work is just a beginning.

Now it’s up to you, users and fellow designers, to take the site and run with it. That’s how Ecolect can remain a growing, as a relevant resource. Joe and Matt urge you to get engaged, let them know how Ecolect can change and improve. Suggestions can be sent to design@ecolect.net.