TRACY LEIGH
easygoinggreen@gmail.com
949.923-.9081
With more than fifteen years of design experience, Ms. Leigh successfully combines her creative expertise with sound business judgment and sustainable research and advice. Recently, Ms. Leigh founded Easy Going Green, LLC to assist furniture buyers like Walmart, Office Max and Best Buy with their sustainability decisions at a time when material, marketing and state/federal regulations are all reaching critical mass. Her unique background spanning multiple channels like retail, interiors, architecture, furniture, materials, and of course sustainable practices combined with perspectives as a Buyer, Researcher, Writer, Designer, Product Marketing, Business Entrepreneur and Manager has helped give Ms. Leigh’s Blog an edge, making it the fastest growing furniture industry Blog with over 100 subscribers and testimonials that the Buyers mention Blog posts during meetings with their suppliers.
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Ms. Leigh became a textile designer for Milliken and Company, a leading international textile and chemical firm located in Grand Rapids, M.I. and Abbeville, S.C. In that position, she managed design and account projects from concept to production, launched seven successful new products, designed a variety of fabrics, including the first recycled fiber product, and collaborated with customers in vertical markets like office, automotive and home furnishing.
In 1995, Ms. Leigh collaborated with Chameleon Studio, Inc., a Michigan-based design firm and later operating as Hazz Design in New York. There, she was responsible for concept and design direction. Along with a team of artists and designers, and through extensive research and analysis, Ms. Leigh produced consumer products that met functional and manufacturing needs for clients like Herman Miller, Phoenix Designs (Miller SQA), Bissell, Inc, Milliken & Co., Crate & Barrel, Ameriwood, all the office superstores, Discovery Channel (Trading Spaces license), Bush Industries, Steelcase, Home Tech, and Clark American.
Also in 1995, Ms. Leigh served as a research, design and development program manager at Herman Miller, Inc., a leading multinational provider of office, healthcare and residential furniture and furniture management services. In this position, she advised industrial designers and architectural firms on manufacturing, material and aesthetics issues. While at Herman Miller, Ms. Leigh developed a focus group that collected quantitative and qualitative data and direct feedback from architects, interior designers and dealers. She also established and led a cross-industry research team that studied the relationship between color, pattern and texture (design aesthetics) and people in their physical environments. Ms. Leigh chaired the first cross-company “Green Team” at Herman Miller and also was an original member of the Western Michigan Environmental Action Council.
As an expert in design theory, Ms. Leigh has lectured for various trade associations such as International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) as well as her alma mater, RISD. She lectured on Bionomic Design and Green Building Benefits at Environ Design 3, a conference sponsored by Interiors & Sources, a magazine for architects and interior designers. She has co-written two articles on the subject, one for Archi-Tech Magazine and one for Icon. Her product, her expertise, or her business has been profiled in various magazines like Buildings, Interiors, Wired, Working Woman and Fortune Small Business.
Ms. Leigh was honored by the American Craft Council in 1992 for her first place textile design, was the Northeastern Regional Winner of the Working Woman Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards 2000 for Original Product and was the Best of the Best by three publications for her Retail store concept in 2006. She is also the co-developer of nine issued design and utility patents for furniture, consumer products and packaging and three issued active trademarks.
Recent Comments