Join us for the second event in our Sustainability in Conservation series, where Lorraine Finch and Jaap van der Berg will share insights into the sustainable initiatives they are leading in the field.
Unwrapping Sustainable Packaging: Rethinking Our Approach – Lorraine Finch
What exactly is sustainable packaging? Do we really understand what this means? As the global crises intensify, we must shift our mindset and innovate beyond traditional materials, designs and accepted ways of thinking and doing. Incremental change is no longer enough – true transformation is needed to create packaging and storage solutions which minimise climate, environmental and social impacts whilst protecting and preserving our collections. Join us as we unwrap the future and explore innovative approaches, enjoy being challenged to go beyond conventional solutions and discover how we can drive meaningful change.
Rethinking Crating – Jaap van der Berg
Firstly this talk will cover the ‘rules and regulations’ we encounter in transport of Heritage today – the sense and sensibility of these routines, and the ways we can work with them, will be discussed and questioned. After a short introduction of the ‘Eight Step Approach’ the materials we are used to using will be looked at and set in context of our expectations of using them. “Green” alternatives in materials will be given. The second bit of the presentation will be focused on the reuse of packing(material)s. A layered approach to packing will be presented, with a tailor made protection around the object relevant for the expected risks.
Co-organised by the UK Museums and Heritage Sustainable Packing Group and Clare Richardson, Head of Conservation at The Courtauld, as part of her work with the GoGreen project.
Speakers:
Lorraine Finch is director of LFCP, which is accelerating the cultural heritage sector’s climate and environmental actions through research, knowledge sharing and resource creation. Examples include ‘Low Cost/No Cost Tips for Sustainability in Cultural Heritage,’ which provides actionable solutions for implementing sustainable practices, and an open-access sustainability rider, which enables museum, library and archive professionals to embed sustainability into every decision. Lorraine is a sustainability leader who advocates on the international stage for sustainability in cultural heritage participating in conferences, leading workshops and training, publishing books and articles and collaborating with leaders in the field in the USA and Europe. In 2024 she collaborated with The National Archives, UK, to develop Carbon Literacy for Archives, and Carbon Literacy for Conservation and Collections Care – certified courses accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project, and partnered with The Getty Conservation Institute to create a Sustainability Assessment Framework. Lorraine is founder and Chair of the Institute of Conservation’s Sustainability Group. She is a Director of Climate Museum UK and an accredited conservator of archives, photographs, film and sound. In recognition for her dedication and influence in sustainability Lorraine was presented with a David Middleton Sustainability Award, was crowned an fEntrepreneur iAlso100 and is finalist for the inaugural national Green Growth Award.
Jaap van der Berg, finished the ‘Opleiding Restauratoren’ (now University of Amsterdam) in 1985 in ‘Organic Polymers, wood, leather, paper and textiles’. From 1984 till 1992 he worked as the head the collection management department at the Royal Dutch Army and Arms Museum. After this he was project manager of the ‘Delta Plan for Cultural Heritage’ at the Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. All of this culminated in him having the perfect background for what we now call ‘Preventive Conservation’. In the early 90’s he was one of the first recognized conservators in the world within the discipline of Preventive Conservation. In 1996 he started at Gerlach Art Packers & Shippers and developed their ‘Collection Care and Consult’, which in 2000 became Helicon Conservation Support. From 2020 this business was split and he continued the business under the newly named ‘Object Care’ in Belgium. It total he has been involved in nearly 2000 projects of which over 500 were disaster recovery related. Throughout the years he has been involved in a variety of organisations in the field of heritage management such as; Veres, IIC Netherlands, Restorers Netherlands, E.C.C.O., Europa Nostra, C.E.N, and many more. In all these years of experience he has worked on many projects where packing and transport were an issue. In all this he has learned that sharing knowledge is at the core of good preventive conservation. He has put this into practice in setting up a training program for conservation technicians, teaching Preventive conservation at the ICN and through giving workshops.
