Giver Chat: Bart de Vries

Meet One Percent Collective giver, Bart de Vries. Bart spent eight years working as a physiotherapist for high-performance athletes and people suffering from chronic pain. Now, he builds playgrounds for people who use computers to make it easier for them to move and improve their health and wellness in their workspace. 

You’ve donated 1% of your income through One Percent Collective for over four years now. Thanks! What drives you to maintain that regular giving?
Oh, have I? I didn’t even notice. I love seeing the money that is being raised going to epic charities and knowing those charities can focus more on their kaupapa and less on fundraising. 

You’ve worked on Wellington Zero Carbon Challenge, Climathon and many more environmental initiatives. Was there a moment or a person that drove you to get involved?
When I had just stopped practicing physiotherapy and started my journey into preventative healthcare and my mission to get people moving more I met Silvia Zuur and was introduced to Enspiral. This was a community of systems thinkers, tech and people geeks who really made me much more aware of the degradation of our environment, the changing climate and the connection to our physical and mental health. 

My dream is to create a world that is healthier for people and because of the level of urgency to make huge global change I saw (and see) we have a massive opportunity to catalyse more positive change in a generation than ever before. What a time to be alive!

Your latest project is Limber. What is it and how have your environmental beliefs played a part in driving the design and processes involved with bringing it to fruition?
Limber is a space efficient, sit-stand-kneel desk system that makes increasing your workspace movement faster, easier and more attractive than ever before.

My environmental beliefs have motivated me to create a business that will inspire other founders and businesses to look for the many ways their business can positively care for people and the natural environment while delivering whatever they do. 

Making something that is epic is only good if it is good for people and the planet. We build Limber desks to last and make them easy to fix should they ever fail. They’re made from sustainably forested wood, and offset 120%+ of the manufacturing emissions. Our workshop is based at the Remakery in Epuni and we work with charities in our supply chain who serve minorities and the incarcerated. 

Congrats on joining cohort 5 of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF). In a nutshell, what is the EHF and what are you most excited about getting and giving while with EHF?
Thanks! It’s an epic community of global changemakers, inventors, entrepreneurs and investors coming together here in Aotearoa, with Sir Ed as our inspiration, to create a basecamp for a better world. It’s founded on the invitation to solve the world’s greatest challenges here in Aotearoa first, then take them to the rest of the world. An incubation nation, if you will. I am excited to meet all these people and be pushed to think bigger. 

What social initiatives are currently inspiring you?
The Wā Collective’s mahi of getting rid of period poverty, period waste and the period taboo. The Common Unity Project’s 13 organic urban farms and the off-grid container kitchen that turns that food into lunches for local kids and the community. 

What does Being Open mean to you?
To me, being open means patiently listening, being honest and being transparent with my motivations.

– As told to Ben Woodward. Image by Pat Shepherd.

If you’re passionate about sustainability and the environment, check out the charities you can support with your 1% here then join us by hitting the ‘Become a giver’ button, thank you.