Inhabitat

Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

Inhabitat was started by NYC designer Jill Fehrenbacher as a forum in which to investigate emerging trends in product, interior and architectural design. Mike Chino is the Managing Editor; Emily Pilloton, Olivia Chen, Evelyn Lee, Abigail Doan and Jorge Chapa are Senior Editors. The site was designed by Jill Fehrenbacher and runs off the fabulous blogging platform Wordpress.

THE INHABITAT TEAM

JILL FEHRENBACHER – Founder, Editor-in-Chief
Jill is the founder of Inhabitat, as well as a freelance designer, green design consultant, and architecture student. She created Inhabitat in the Spring of 2005 as a way to catalog her endless search for new ways to improve the world through forward-thinking, high-tech, and environmentally conscious design. Educated at Brown University, where she received a B.A. in Art Semiotics, and Central St. Martins, where she received an M.A. in Design Studies, she currently resides in New York City, which so far has been good for her obsession with rooftop gardens and vegan junk food restaurants.

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MIKE CHINO – Managing Editor
Mike is a writer, researcher, and musician based in San Francisco. He left sunny UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in French and Modern literature and delved into publishing through a stint at ReadyMade Magazine. Inspired by the impact that forward thinking can have on the present, he has cultivated a voracious appetite for developments in sustainable architecture, design, and technology. Mike likes to bike, blog, and build things, and in his spare time he also cooks, produces music, and rocks out.

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YUKA YONEDA – Senior Editor
Yuka is a writer and designer from Queens, New York. She received her bachelor’s in Business Management from Stony Brook University, and holds a degree in Exhibition Design from F.I.T. In 2008, Yuka looked in the mirror and didn’t like what she saw. Always feeling like there was something missing from her life, she had turned to excess, amassing a mountain of clothes, shoes, bags and random tchotchkes to fill the void. In an act of desperation, she founded Swyyne.com as a guide for urbanites wanting to change their piggish ways and has been learning and smiling more ever since. When she is not writing about sustainable design, Yuka amuses herself by making trash into treasure, hunting for goodies at her favorite thrift shop, The Family Jewels, and trying to eat every type of food in the world.

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OLIVIA CHEN – New York Editor
Olivia is a writer currently living in New York. She graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s in landscape architecture where she first became curious about the challenge of sustainable (and affordable!) development. In the past, she practiced her prose as an intern at The Architect’s Newspaper and currently spends her days as an Americorps volunteer where she is learning about urban gardening and forestry.

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BETH SHEA – Senior Editor
Beth is the Managing Editor of Inhabitots, and the writer and founder of Petite Planet, a blog which focuses on eco-friendly living for families, and informs parents of the best “green” choices for their children and our planet. After earning her B.A. in Creative Writing from The University of Arizona, she explored the world as a travel and spa writer, reporting for several newspaper and magazine publications. After having her daughter, Beth swapped airline miles and body wraps for long stroller walks and quick showers. She has lived all over the country and she recently moved to Portland, OR, until the next, sunnier adventure beckons. When unglued from her Macbook, Beth likes to do sidewalk chalk drawings with her toddler, take large bites of gluten free pastries, and catch up on movie watching.

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EMILY PILLOTON – Senior Editor
Emily Pilloton is Inhabitat’s senior editor, and Founder of Project H Design, a charitable organization that supports, inspires, and delivers product design initiatives for Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness. She is also a freelance design writer, furniture designer, and nomad “based” in San Francisco. Trained in architecture with degrees from UC Berkeley and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has written for GOOD Magazine, Innovative Home, and ID, and has also taught design theory in Chicago. When she isn’t traveling or emailing, Emily enjoys baking cupcakes and playing trivia board games.
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SARAH RICH – Senior Editor
Sarah Rich is a writer and editor working where sustainability intersects with design, architecture, art, food, urbanism, branding and consumer culture. She is an editor at Dwell magazine and the editor of Dwell Digital. Previously Sarah was the managing editor of Worldchanging and co-authored the book by the same name. She launched and edited the Slow Food Nation blog in 2008 and co-founded the site that emerged from that event, CivilEats.com. She lives in San Francisco.
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EVELYN LEE – Senior Editor
Evelyn is a 2010 MBA candidate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, CA. Trained as an architect, she received her Masters in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture’s (SCI-arc) Metropolitan Research and Design Program. Prior to going back to school, she was program manager for Public Architecture in San Francisco, CA, where she oversaw all aspects of their 1% Program, encouraging architects to give 1% of their time to the public good, pro bono. Evelyn is constantly searching for new avenues to expand her architectural knowledge, and is a freelance writer for a number of written and online publications. When she’s away from the computer, Evelyn enjoys running, playing the piano, driving her Prius, and coaching/playing soccer.

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JORGE CHAPA – News & Transportation Editor
After finishing his architecture degree at the University of Monterrey in 2001, he realized that he wanted to focus on sustainable architecture, and knew nothing about it. Foolishly thinking that it would become important in fifteen years time, he packed up his suitcases, left Mexico and headed for Australia, where he studied a Masters in Design Science at the University of Sydney. During his time in Sydney he worked as an ESD consultant and product assessor, looking at everything from the thermal performance of a building, to the environmental impacts of a particular product. Currently working at the Green Building Council of Australia, he continues in his quest to learn what sustainability is and how to achieve it. He figures that it will take some time, but refuses to make any estimates.

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ABIGAIL DOAN – Senior Editor
Abigail Doan is a fiber and environmental installation artist based in NYC, Sofia, Bulgaria, and Italy. She has worked as a documentary film researcher, an art director for digital media and 3D design projects, and as an outreach coordinator for environmental education initiatives. Educated at Princeton University and Purchase College, she has exhibited her artwork with the United Nations Environment Programme and in art venues worldwide. Abigail is also a featured artist on Greenmuseum.org, the online environmental art museum. When not writing about art, craft, gardening, sustainable textiles and fiber, she is busy restoring a 14th century farmhouse in rural Tuscany with her husband, twin toddlers, and extended family. During 2009 Abigail will be busy helping to a grow a non-profit called the Haemimont Foundation, while also exhibiting her eco textile projects in Finland, the American Southwest, and at the Hunterdon Museum of Art in Clinton, NJ.

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KEVIN DALIAS – Business Development Manager

Kevin completed his studies at NYU in May of 2009 with Honors and immediately signed on with Inhabitat. During his time at NYU, Kevin earned a degree in music business, spending time with companies including eMusic, RCRD LBL, and Downtown Music in both operations and business development. Just as comfortable on third-party ad servers as in his kitchen preparing his specialty Dijon Walnut Stuffed Mushrooms, Kevin is, by all accounts, a renaissance man. He is currently exploring his own path to sustainability at his home in Brooklyn.

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REBECCA PAUL – Communications Manager / Contributing Writer

Rebecca is a designer, portrait painter, installation artist and writer. After receiving her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design – Rebecca moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a resident artist for The Hive Gallery and Studios in the emerging downtown art scene. During her time on the west coast she also acted as a Freelance Curator where she produced several art shows converting raw spaces throughout the city into dynamic backdrops for a variety of mediums. Uninspired by the contemporary art market – Rebecca is currently living in Brooklyn and has shifted her career path to focus on sustainable design and architecture. She plans to pursue her Masters degree in industrial design, so she can further her contribution to the field.

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BRIDGETTE STEFFEN – News Editor

Bridgette is a LEED accredited sustainability consultant based in Park City, UT and helps individuals and companies reduce their environmental impact. With degrees in Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, she has experience in renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building and sustainable development. She is also a contributing writer for LowImpactLiving.com. When she’s not calculating carbon footprints, recycling materials into new things, or writing blog posts, she spends her time with her new puppy hiking in the woods, writing and painting. She recently got married to the man of her dreams, a handsome firefighter/paramedic. And she is currently trying to talk herself into writing her first novel, which will most definitely have something to do with sustainability.

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ARIEL SCHWARTZ- News and Tech Editor

Ariel Schwartz is the editor of Cleantechnica.com, a daily contributor at FastCompany.com, and a former blogger for Greenbiz.com. A graduate of Vassar College, she has previously worked in publishing, organic farming, documentary film, and newspaper journalism. Her interests include permaculture, hiking, skiing, live music, relocalization, and cob (the building material). A New Jersey native, she currently resides in San Francisco, CA.

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DANIEL MENDES – The Intern

Dan is currently pursuing a Business Degree with a Minor in Studio art from Stony Brook University. He spends his time working on his art, music and future plans of starting an organic apparel company focused on Men’s wear. Dan’s four plus years working in the lighting industry has made him an expert in sustainable lighting options, and he is now inspired by the idea that there are ways to better our planet without compromise or sacrifice.  In 2009 Dan started Saints and Sounds – a blog about music, art and our environment – and has been struggling with his passions ever since. A new comer to the Inhabitat and Ecouterre team, Dan is eager to find his footing in the world of eco friendly design, and he can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

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ALEXANDRA KAIN – Contributing Writer

Alex is a freelance writer and social sciences student with interests in linguistics, human and animal rights and, of course, sustainable design. She is a staff writer for The Santa Monica Sun and regular freelancer. She’s also a volunteer translator for Womens Law and PR volunteer for Lotus Outreach, both working to improve conditions for battered, enslaved and trafficked women worldwide. Alex grew up in the Pacific Northwest, spent two years in Barcelona, shorter stints in Vienna, Munich, and Portland and has made LA her home since 2006. She’s planning a big move to St. Petersburg, Russia in January where she’ll be finishing up school, desperately seeking vegan food, and trying to keep warm. Alex has a working knowledge of six languages and is hoping to learn more.

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HAILY ZAKI – Contributing Writer
Lacking the skills or the patience to be a designer herself, Haily Zaki is a PR maven, freelance writer and secret agent in Los Angeles who contents herself by promoting, writing about, and surrounding herself with great design. Besides running Secret Agent PR and working with some of the best architecture and design brands in LA, Haily is a contributing writer for The Architect’s Newspaper, the Epoch Times, and any other publication that likes her story ideas. She’s also a co-organizer of de LaB (design east of La Brea) – part design lab, part social experiment for creative professionals who work, live or play on the Eastside of Los Angeles. She was first turned onto the idea of sustainable living when she worked with the Mapuche people in Southern Chile and hopes one day to move to the end of the earth where she would live happily in a green prefab pod writing torrid romance novels. For now, she focuses her energy on communicating through the media, re-training herself to be a good, green consumer, and not killing her tomato plants.

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MEGHAN BEITIKS – Contributing Writer

Meghan Beitiks (Moe for short) is a writer, artist, gardener and biofuel lackey living in Oakland, California. She was originally turned on to the concept of sustainability while studying site-specific theatre on a Fulbright scholarship in Latvia. She spent the following years immersing herself in the worlds of organic farming and recycled veggie oil fuels by working on a farm in Oklahoma and driving across the country in a grease-powered veggie bus. Since then she’s sought every opportunity to combine her passions for ecology and the arts in a manner that affects daily city life. She is the Blog Editor for greenmuseum.org and a contributing writer on environmental art for the lohasian. A certified Urban Permaculture designer, she daydreams about bioremediative theater and is excited to be part of a sustainable future.

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PIPER KUJAC – Contributing Writer Piper is a LEED accredited designer in San Francisco with architectural experience ranging from project manager at C. David Robinson Architects to design consultant at Origo, Inc., developing the Best House Ever business model. Trained in Architecture at the environmentally-conscious University of Oregon, she admits to an obsession with materials and resources and thrives on finding new means and methods of sustainable design. She is co-chair of the NCC Emerging Green Builders committee of the USGBC and teaches a class in Sustainable Project Development at the UC Berkeley Extension. She enjoys knitting, running marathons, and the occasional design competition, winning first prize in the Green Dollhouse Competition. She also loves trekking through virgin rainforests in Oregon, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil, where she recently fell in love with Ipe trees.

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DANIEL FLAHIFF – Contributing Writer

Daniel is an artist-designer-filmmaker who loves to laugh and share green ideas! Trained in Los Angeles at the Art Center College of Design (MFA, ‘90) and the UCLA Writer’s Studio, Daniel went on to Seattle to co-found Big Fig Design Group, a multi-disciplinary group of artists, designers and roustabouts who like to make things. Daniel also edits, (incli)NATION, named a top 20 design blog by the East Coast Architecture Review, and a top 25 architecture blog by Eikonographia [for about 48 hours]. He is design lead at The Mighty House, creators of small, DIY, off-grid housing, and is soon launching Sparkler, hand-made home furnishings and textiles for the modern, green home—upcycled, downcycled and otherwise repurposed objects from our already overpopulated world of objects.

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KATE ANDREWS – Contributing Writer
Kate Andrews is a designer, writer and researcher based just north of London. Educated at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, she holds a First Class Honours in Graphic Design and a Merit Award from The International Society of Typographic Designers. Kate has worked for The Sunday Times Magazine in London, Synectics Innovation Consultancy, has exhibited at Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida and continues to research for a wealth of social design platforms including; Design21, ThinkPublic, DesignSessions, Roger-Live, and SocialDesignSite.com. As a designer, Kate is passionate for the power that visual communication has to impact social change and in October will start the MA Design Writing Criticism course at London’s College of Communication.

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LEA BOGDAN – Contributing Writer

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GINGER DOLDEN – Contributing Writer
Ginger is a Marketing Director for Excel Builders & Renovators, a Brooklyn based general contracting firm that is taking great strides towards greener building. Prior to working in construction she studied design and worked as an Industrial Designer in Manhattan. Ginger studied political science and music at the University of Minnesota, and outside of work she enjoys cooking, writing, playing the violin, taking photographs and learning about clever and sustainable designs.

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ELISABETH BUECHER – Contributing Writer
Elisabeth Buecher is a French textile designer based in England. She first got involved with sustainability while studying at Central St Martins College of Art in London. Understanding the responsibilities she has as a designer, her creativity started to be more meaningful from then. She considers that the two most important challenges to a sustainable global future are, first to raise awareness by helping people to visualise the excesses and the damages, and secondly to find practical solutions to encourage them to behave well on a daily basis. More specifically, Elisabeth chose to look at the environmental issue of excessive water consumption. As well a being a reporter for Inhabitat at the next Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, She will be presenting her water-saving shower curtains with her collective Puff and Flock at the Designer’s Block show.

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DIANE PHAM – Contributing Writer

A graduate of USC, Diane currently works in real estate investment consulting in Milan. Like so many people out there she too thought she wanted to be an architect when she grew up. While weighing and evaluating the emotional, physical and financial tolls of architecture grad school, she worked for the A+D Museum in Los Angeles, Perkins Eastman Architects and Resoultion4: Architecture taking care of their marketing, PR and graphic work. While never becoming a designer or architect herself (at least not yet), she carries a deep appreciation for all sorts of design. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, music, taking photographs and thinking about learning to the play guitar. Even though she can barely play a tune, she does know how to change a full set of strings.

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TREY FARMER – Contributing Writer
Trey is an inspired writer and aspiring architect, moved by the traditional ideals of simplicity and self-sufficiency. Originally from New Hampshire, he received an English degree in 2007 from Otago University in New Zealand, before relocating to the Bay Area of California. He spends his days working for a prominent green architect in Berkeley, while taking evening classes at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture and helping with Planetshifter.com. Living in a beautiful old house along abundant open space has made him feel at home in these busy city streets. Maintaining a balance between urban and rural life, he tends an organic vegetable garden and raises four laying hens in the sanctuary of a piece of native Bay Area forest. He enjoys biking to work, as well as along the rolling hills of the park behind his house.Taking in ideas for sustainability from all directions, his current project is a simple greywater system that effectively treats the water before it is used to keep the yard and garden happy during the dry
California summers.

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KEVIN GARDNER – Contributing Writer

KG is a seasoned natural, jumping from orchards to ivy and lots of different places in between. Born again and again in Northern CA, he appreciates the power of pruning, weeding, good ideas and a job well-done. He likes to “keep it moving, keep it clean” and tends to attract pollinators, humor and uncanny associations. His favorite color is gold
and he enjoys a clean car, strong coffee, bright food and fresh flowers.

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SARAH PARSONS – Contributing Writer

Sarah Parsons is a freelance writer and editor living in New York City. After learning about deforestation of the rainforest at seven years old, she wrote a strong-worded letter to President H.W. Bush complete with a drawing depicting the plight of homeless gorillas. It was then that her future as an environmentalist became clear. After graduating from Syracuse University’s SI Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in journalism, she moved to New York and began her career as an environmental journalist. Over the past three years, she’s written about everything from endangered golden lion tamarins to the economic costs associated with unabated climate change. In addition to covering energy and technology for Inhabitat, Sarah has also written for Plenty, Popular Science, Audubon and OnEarth.

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