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" ELLE DECOR: What design trends do you see having lasting value?  Paulette Cole: Everyone wants to jump on the green bandwagon, but it&amp;#039;s much more than a trend. It&amp;#039;s a complete shift in human consciousness that is going to trigger so much innovation in design. People want better-quality products, not throwaways, and they want things that will nurture and sustain them.  ED: How have these educated consumers affected your business?  PC: Five years ago people didn&amp;#039;t know much about unhealthy chemicals in household cleaners and weren&amp;#039;t so concerned about off-gases being emitted by carpets. Now they recognize these things are bad. At ABC Home we&amp;#039;ve done lots of homework on making functional furniture and art that doesn&amp;#039;t hurt the planet. We have 650 pieces of furniture composed of reclaimed or naturally fallen wood whose harvesting doesn&amp;#039;t endanger old-growth forests. You can invest in something that is good for the planet but is also beautiful.  ED: What are your three must-haves?  PC: Just one\u2014I must have love!  ED: What is the last place you saw that made you think, I wish I&amp;#039;d done that?  PC: Ashes and Snow, a photography installation by Gregory Colbert displayed in a pavilion by Shigeru Ban. I saw it in New York in 2005.  ED: What&amp;#039;s the smartest business decision you ever made? And the worst?  PC: The smartest was coming back to ABC Home in 2003, after being away for three years. And I&amp;#039;ve learned from all my mistakes, even the biggest ones. Mistakes create who you are.  ED: What is the most essential part of any space you design?  PC: Along with the displays in the New York store, I design stages for lectures, sacred gatherings, and nonprofit benefits for the causes I&amp;#039;m passionate about. They are like the mandala sandpaintings that Buddhist monks put so much energy into making and which blow away in the wind; they&amp;#039;re temporary. It&amp;#039;s critical to capture and express the essence of the person or the cause you&amp;#039;re working for. Click here to see more of our Women in Design. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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