Meet the ZiPee, a cute and functional electric scooter and one solution the UK’s pollution problem (ZiPee stands for Zero Input of Pollution from Emissions into the Environment). The ZiPee is a scooter marketed for London commuters, enticing them to trade in their gas guzzling vehicles for their everyday journeys. Hoping to change the outlook of passengers and urging them to make a choice in their commuting habits, the ZiPee is ideal for travel within London and other cities.

Play Rethink: The Eco-Design Game is a brand new board game with an eco-design twist. Players are asked to rethink existing, everyday products through the lens of environmentally friendly design. Redesign a chair using locally sourced materials or come up with new functions for an old shopping trolley — the goal of the game is environmentally friendly thinking and eco-design creativity!

Inspired by London’s heaps of discarded furniture and usable timber, Ryan Frank’s Strata line turns deconstructed old office furniture and FSC wood into new, sleek chairs and tables. Following the success of his other recylcled-chic designs like Inkuku, made from recycled plastic bags, and the Hackney Shelf, Ryan has once again proved that trash can be treasure.

Claire Danthois wowed us with her chair made from a recycled door at the [re]design stand at 100% Design this year- her Once A Door chair turns a reclaimed door into sculptural chaise that is as environmentally friendly as it is thought-provoking. Driven by an interest in people and their relationship with the world around them, Claire is fascinated with the story embedded in reclaimed materials, and custom makes all of her pieces for a specific individuals, using materials found in that person’s life.

One of the more challenging facets of sustainable design is the greening of product design, which involves manufacturing, materials, and methods that can often go against every green designers’ priorities. To coincide with the launch of their book Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories: A Collection of Sustainable Design Essays, Jonathan Chapman and Nick Gant hosted a number of events on the 100% Sustainable stand at 100% Design London last week. One of these discussions focused on Sustainable Product Design and raised some interesting issues regarding how to make products greener and more responsibly manufactured.

On July 3^rd, a group of explorers started an epic 15-month journey in an uber-green solar-powered taxi. Following a route through five continents and 50 countries, they will travel a distance of around 50,000km. The Solar Taxi took 3 years of development and some of the most cutting-edge solar technologies- and has already made its way through Europe and into the Middle East.

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.

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.

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.