Forget solar powered backpacks and panels - Ermenegildo Zegna’s Solar-Powered Jacket is hands down the most practical and best-looking way to charge your mobile gadgets that we have seen in a while. The jacket is slated to hit stores in November, but one New Yorker gave it a test drive and appeared to become a little obsessed with charging every small gadget he could find… including a mini refrigerator.
Following the successful launch of their 100% organic line this spring, we are excited to announce that H&M is expanding its organic cotton range this fall! We frequently receive comments about ’sustainable style’ not being stylish, affordable or easy to find, so we are hoping this news will please the thrifty eco-fashionistas out there. Additionally, we are happy to see a fashion retailer as big as H&M making a real commitment to organic cotton. To support this initiative and help kickstart the organic fashion movement, get yourself to an H&M and bundle up in cozy organic cotton this fall.
C.L.A.S.S., which stands for creativity, lifestyle and sustainable synergey, is a new platform for the textile industry. A C.L.A.S.S. show is being held this weekend at WHITE, the cool new fashion trade show in Milan, and is dedicated to showing eco-friendly textiles.
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Known for their exquisite wallpaper and collaborations with well known designers, Graham & Brown have taken wallpaper one step further with their eco-chic range of sustainable wallpaper. The 60-year old wallpaper company is turning walls green thanks to their collaboration with students from Central St. Martins University in London, sustainable materials and production processes.
One of the most popular stands within the 100% Futures exhibition at 100% Design London this year was the [re]design Sit Up exhibition which displayed an array of sustainable seating that were as green as they were gorgeous. Expanding on last year’s installation, the [re]design collaborative design crew returned with sixteen items that epitomized good seating design- comfort, quality, style, and of course, sustainability.
Last year we highlighted HansaCanyon bathroom fixtures, sleekly designed faucets whose “canyons” are lined with LEDs that change color according to the temperature of the water (blue=cold, pink=warm and red=hot). It’s a pretty neat functional feature, and a safety measure as well- the colors can help prevent you from scalding yourself while washing your hands or stepping into a really cold bath. And now, the German-made Hansa Canyon is available in the U.S.! Until now, despite the Hansa hype, many American buyers were left to settle for alternatives like Equa’s Light Delight or ThinkGeek’s budget LED faucet. But now, just check out the Hansa U.S. website’s Where To Buy” page for further details.
Resolution: 4 Architecture, a pillar in the prefab community, has a new completed project to brag about. It’s called the Swingline- a vacation home in the Hamptons built for a Manhattan-based family with sustainable style on the brain. Though Res4 has been producing prefab concepts for years, from the Dwell Home to their Mountain Retreat, we’ve never been able to see real live photos of real live construction from these architects (save for their brilliant rapid prototype birdhouses) until now, and the Swingline house proves that their prototypes don’t hold empty promises.
Kent Gration’s Wambamboo Costello Seat is a wonderful example of sustainable materials used in an eye-catching way. Made from cross-laminated bamboo ribs, the ergonomically-designed small storage holder puts the focus on the exotic nature of the materiality, creating a vivid mosaic of the bamboo’s colors and layers. The seat has been created as a prototype for future production which will use plywood molding techniques.
Australian Designer Kent Gration’s Wambamboo products make beautiful use of sustainable production methods including recyclable materials, water-based finishes, energy-saving fluorescent lamps, and natural fibers. The Lucille Chaise Lounge showcased at this year’s 100% Design London is a great example of the power of bamboo in its natural form. Gration explains the Chaise as “a marriage between natural unprocessed bamboo poles and modern design.”
In its quest for ‘bigger and better’ technology, mankind is facing a mountain of expanded foam pieces and polystyrene packing material used to protect items during handling. Tom Ballhatchet, a recent graduate from the Central St Martins’ MA in Industrial Design, has come up with a simple and utterly plausible solution. Rather than throw away the packaging and leave nature (and a few hundred years) to deal with it, Ballhatchet’s concept allows the user to slide foam casing apart after delivery and reassemble the parts to form a neat self-contained entertainment stand with built in cable management system.
Static is not a word that describes the Sino-Italian Ecological and Energy-Efficient Building (SIEEB) at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Designed to maximize passive solar capabilities and fitted with state-of-the-art active solar elements, the SIEEB is a dynamic energy-efficient oasis that optimizes its urban location with ecological considerations. Architect Mario Cucinella and the Milan Polytechnic conceptualized the structure to educate and showcase possibilities for energy-efficient building, particularly in regard to CO2 emissions.
The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (iom3) is playing host to a number of events throughout London Design Week through the Materials and Design Exchange (MaDE) which was set up to facilitate the development of design skills to exploit the benefits of new materials and processes. On Wednesday morning, a number of speakers were invited to talk about new advances in lighting, including Chris Williams from UK Displays & Lighting and Ceravision.
Next time you pick up your dry cleaning and think about disposing of the hangers, think again- they may have a second life as a gorgeous light fixture. Lighting Designer Ali Siahvoshi has done exactly that with his blue Cascading Hanger Light. This light was featured at 100% Design London this year and, along with his hanging silverware chandeliers, is another stunning example of the Iranian designer’s approach to contemporary lighting design, exemplifying the beauty of recycling objects for new purposes.
If you happen to have a large number of old fluorescent tubes and don’t know what to do with them, here’s the perfect idea for you! The Toronto based design collective known as Castor Canadensis fashions beautiful ceiling lights out of discarded old fluorescent tubular lightbulbs.
Pounding the pavement in your sneakers requires energy, and unfortunately, all that kinetic energy is mostly lost to the ground…. until now… Smart art students Christian Croft and Kate Harman have devised a scheme to turn regular sneakers into energy generating machines using a mini-generator and a tiny micro-computer.
BMW, the German car manufacturer, wants you to know that they believe hydrogen is the fuel source of the future. In order to do this, they have created the BMW Hydrogen 7, an all hydrogen powered luxury sedan that produces zero emissions. It’s serious business, or so says BMW, which is why they have enlisted the help of comedian and well known car enthusiast Jay Leno.
Last Friday was Park(ing) Day - the day where San Franciscans and sprawl-fighting citizens around the world reclaimed parking spots to turn them into green spaces! What started as a few grassy plots of sod occupying metered parking spots in San Francisco has blossomed into a world-wide event, and this year was a HUGE global success. In San Francisco alone, over 55 parking spaces were occupied by volunteers, government offices, and local businesses. While the parks were a nice divergence from the usual cars that occupy their space, the park that got the most attention was constantly on the move.
During the Alternative Energies seminar as part of 100% Design, we caught up with two of the leading experts within the commercial field of alternative energy. Robert Webb from Quiet Revolution / XC02 and Christoph Behling from Solarlab Research + Design were explaining their design philosophies, latest projects and recent conquests in the world of wind and sun powered energy.
London’s big annual furniture fair,100% Design took place this weekend at Earl’s Court, and the London Inhabitatters spent countless hours walking the trade show floors to try to find the latest green design trends and the best new eco-design picks for you. From green lighting to furniture, Tom Dixon’s installation to the ReDesign exhibit, here are our top finds:
With the goal to bring the lawn indoors, Tokyo based product designer Chiaki Murata of Metaphys has designed a stylish product range of stackable white mod grass planters. The Factory product range brings the natural world indoors in style. The individual planters can be stacked, hung or laid on your coffee table.
British based lighting designer Ali Siahvoshi exhibited work at 100% Design this week, and is the designer behind Fabbian’s line of super-cool chandeliers made from knives and forks. Born and raised in Iran, Siahvoshi has a unique approach to contemporary lighting design. Using previous everyday objects, from table legs, coat hangers and cutlery Siahvoshi has designed a range of light fixtures that exemplify the beauty of recycling objects for new purposes.
The UK’s first fully dimmable energy efficient light bulb was launched today, as part of a Greenpeace initiative at 100% Design London. Greenpeace commissioned top designer Jason Bruges to create an interactive garden of light, which responds to human movement through “touch pads” dotted around the installation. This is the first lighting project of its kind in the world to use fully dimmable, compact fluorescent bulbs.
Much2Much is a playful and engaging line of jewelry fashioned from recycled knick-knacks by Russian designer Katya Bochavar. Combining such disparate objects as pieces of chandeliers, plumbing bolts and joints, coins from all over the world, bullets, broken watches, Soviet military pins and Salvation Army ties, Katya integrates these thrift shop findings into beautiful necklaces, earrings and pins that each tell a unique story.
I don’t know if I can sum this up any better than Australian fashion journalist Patty Huntington did: “Move over Gareth Pugh - there’s a new freak in town.”
London is typically the experimental comma between the more sedate New York and Milan fashion weeks and the appetizer to what might await in Paris. So NOKI did not disappoint at the Fashion East show with a melange of thrift that appeared to be styled by Edward Scissorhands - don’t try this at home kids. Or wait, DO try this at home, seems to have been the message.
Estethica is a sustainable fashion exhibit celebrating its first year anniversary at London Fashion Week. It is a special space inside The Exhibition where designers will display collections founded on ecological and organic principles. Maintaining the highest standards in design and craftsmanship, all the labels here are creating high end fashion without compromise. Some of our favorite designers from home and abroad will be participating. The exhibition will feature Ciel, Davina Hawthorne, Enamore, From Somewhere; Gary Harvey, Katharine Hamnett, Noir, Nature vs Future and Veja to name a few. Stay tuned as we will highlight some of the best of these sustainable designers this fall.
+ Estethica @ London Fashion Week
In a great article titled “Meet the Bloggers,” Architect Magazine gives architectural bloggers credit for their “unorthodox mix of reporting, commentary, and activism,” and features Inhabitat’s own Jill Fehrenbacher. Along with Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG, Bryan Finoki of Subtopia, and Dan Hill of City of Sound, Inhabitat was one of the co-organizers of the recent Postopolis event, which served as a discussion of blogging, design, media, and architecture, and engaged Architect Magazine’s interest in the blogosphere.
England is the land of tea, and as once would expect, there are tons of old, unwanted tea sets in London sitting in charity shops and landfill. Fortunately British product designer Christine Misiak has arrived on the scene to turn old tea sets into new, hip, contemporary products that are as gorgeous as they are eco-friendly. Exhibiting at 100% Futures during at the London Design Festival, Misiak makes tea time greener with this thoughtful form of adaptive reuse.
