Kenn Busch, Publisher, Founder

Madison-based Kenn Busch is a journalist and the founder of Material Intelligence, a sustainability subject matter expert, and the founder of ClimatePositiveNOW.org. He is dedicated to bridging the knowledge gap between materials and sustainability for furniture and interior architecture. He has created and delivered dozens of certified CEUs for architects, designers, and design students and has organized and spoken at industry conferences in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. He has also curated material education exhibits at trade shows like SICAM in Italy, NeoCon in Chicago, and KBIS in Las Vegas.

Since 1990 he has edited and published several magazines in the furniture and materials markets, reaching readers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Bringing an international perspective to regional design challenges has become one of his trademarks, along with introducing materials suppliers to innovative ideas from other materials categories.

For more than a dozen years, Kenn has been creating materials-focused Certified Education Unit articles (CEUs) and presentations for practicing architects and interior designers. Through this experience, Kenn realized that every specifier needs more than just information; they must have opportunities to experience the wide variety of materials available to them.

His curated events provide A&D specifiers with an educational, experiential space to explore and experience materials on their own terms. Over a period of nine years, the Materials Pavilion installation at NeoCon in Chicago, produced in partnership with Interiors and Sources magazine, became the busiest exhibit at the fair. In 2025, the hands-on experience evolved again to provide a Climate Positive Solutions Gallery for Commercial Design attendees.

“I love this place,” said one commercial designer, “because I can get three days of work done in 45 minutes!”

In mid-2016 Kenn began working closely with design educators and students to find more effective ways to reach the next generation of interior designers, creating content and presentations geared to their specific needs. The fruits of this effort inspired the updated website you’re visiting right now, and inspired the launch of Climate Positive NOW, an educational messaging project informed by years of research into the sustainability of architectural materials. Climate Positive NOW promotes building materials that go beyond achieving net-zero carbon emissions by sequestering more carbon than was released in their manufacture and use. Wood-based “Climate Positive” materials benefit the environment by removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as no other building material produced at scale can.

“Learning to connect with young designers is key to the future of smart design and the responsible use and preservation of our resources,” says Busch. “Not only are these students the next generation of materials specifiers; they represent the next generation of consumers.”