According to the dictionary, an ecolect is ” a language variety unique to a household” - a term Matt Grigsby ‘05 ID finds appropo to describe the company he co-founded with that name. Ecolect is the worlds largest online database of ecological products and provides, in Matt’s words, a “new, ecologically intelligent language for designers”. Incoming freshman and returning students turned out earlier this week to hear Matt, the first in a series of Alumni Lecturers,  talk about his experiences at RISD - an environment in which he could learn by his mistakes as well as successes, and where he found cross pollination with Brown, MIT, and sponsored studios - and, since his graduation, his search for a better way to bring ecologically sound products to artists and designers.  Matt brought along some samples of those products, part of his traveling “petting zoo” (see photo above), and you can see them and more at the Ecolect website he and his partner Joe Gebbia ‘05 ID have been building over the last few years. Thanks, Matt, for sharing your personal journey with us!