Last year Cloudgate Design brought us the Cardboard Christmas tree, and this year they’ve just launched the all new SMALL Cardboard Christmas Tree, which at 1 ft tall makes a great gift, is easier to transport, and works well as a table centerpiece. Like its larger 3 ft. tall predecessor, the SMALL tree is a nifty extended use of recycled corrugated cardboard and comes ready-made with decorations.
The beautiful thing about upcycled materials is that the end results often bear no resemblance to the original items. Such is the case with sculptor Kris Kuksi’s toy sculptures, which are constructed out of old toys, statues, and mechanical parts.
When it comes to teaching kids to conserve energy, positive reinforcement is the name of the game. Combine that with a cute and fun toy, and you really can’t go wrong. Case in point: Tio, an educational ghost pal and light-switch system for your tot that teaches them how cool turning off lights when we don’t need them can be. When lights are left on for only a short time, Tio smiles and is green. The longer kids leave the lights on, the madder Tio gets! Did we mention that you can use all the money you save on the electricity bill towards your little conservationist’s college education?
What if you could design your own lighting fixture in the time that it takes to unscrew a light bulb? That’s the premise behind Daniel Becker’s Spark system, a series of energy-efficient LED bulbs that can be linked together to form beautiful light sculptures.
A lot of us can recall spending hours upon hours of stacking colorful Legos into shapes and sizes that tickled our imagination as children. While some of us outgrew that phase, thankfully some of us didn’t forget the charm of the little Lego man’s smile or the amazingness contained within every little block. As Parisian designers Simon Pillard and Philippe Rosetti have proved with their chromatic Munchausen Lego Kitchen: you’re never to old to play with Legos!
With so many slick electric motorcycles on the horizon, it’s getting increasingly difficult to justify the use of polluting, petroleum-powered older models. But instead of sending old Vespas to the trash pile, Spanish design studio Bel & Bel has a more creative solution: turn the stylish relics into snazzy pieces of furniture!
Dutch artist Geke Wouters has created a stunning collection of paper-thin bowls made from carrots, peppers, beet root, leeks, tomatoes, and other vegetables. Each delicate piece of edible art is made using a proprietary drying and forming process that converts organic materials into the paper thin layers, giving you the sense of a microscopic view into their intricate cellular structure. True to their natural materials, no two of these vegetable bowls are exactly alike.
It goes without saying that there have been some truly impressive and useful innovations in world of eco-friendly products, but with everyone racing to develop the next big thing there are bound to be a few flops. Here at Inhabitat we applaud every effort to help us reduce our carbon footprint and live greener cleaner lives, but we can’t help but notice that some attempts have missed the mark. This list is comprised of our favorite silly eco inventions, products and ideas. Really, what fun would it be if we only covered the good stuff?
Although they may hold nostalgic value for some, cassette tapes are bulky, have poor sound quality, lack large format album artwork, and a stacked up collection of them just doesn’t have the je ne sais quoi as a crate full of vinyl. To keep this 80’s technology out of the landfill, ooomydesign has used old cassette tapes to create a series of gorgeous glowing lamps.
Did you know you can power a clock with dirt? Dutch designer Marieke Staps has figured out a way to grow time, instead of killing it. Her soil-powered bio-clock (is that like a biological clock?), showcased at Dutch Design Week in 2008 and most recently at Dwell on Design’s Kitchen Ecology Show last week, keeps time by plugging into mud!
We all know that food and water are basic human needs, but what about something as simple as a place to sit? Right now, there is a pressing need for nearly 2 billion basic, low-cost seating units for schools hospitals and houses in underdeveloped countries around the globe. In response to the shortage, students Alon Tal and Fabio Alvarez teamed up with Zilca, a company that specializes in recycled materials, to find a solution. First presented last September at design fair Habitat Valencia in Spain, their senior thesis, the Reverse Project, makes cushions from re-purposed car foam for seating that is easy on the eyes, earth, and the behind!
Inhabitat is happy to report that Dwell on Design, the west coast’s largest modern design event, featured more smart green design than ever before this year. When we walked the floor yesterday with Dwell Publisher and President Michela O’Connor Abrams (and the carpenter and designer from HGTV’s Carter Can show), it was clear to see that the majority of the companies showcasing their products and services at the three-day festival are paying a great deal more attention to sustainability than in the past. We guestimate that about 80% of the companies there were promoting some kind of green story – in a varying shades, of course. Read on for our highlights from the show!
Talk about bringing the outdoors in! This Chaise Lawn Chair is perfect for citydwellers who want that fresh cut grass feeling without the hassle of a full lawn. Designed by Deger Cengiz, the lounger is sure to elicit a chuckle from your friends. And if you really want to show them a good time, cart them around and take full advantage of the human transporter (wheelbarrow) functionality. Note: It is not recommended for use on stairs.
Grey skies got you down? Turn to Simon Enever’s very clever Ella umbrella stand to brighten your home and remedy those rainy day blues. This rather elegant new age umbrella stand uses rainwater from your umbrella to feed thirsty grass and adds a fun spot of green to your foyer.
If you’re looking for unique home accessories that are environmentally friendly and have a clean and elegant design quality, you’ll want to check out Corque’s new collection crafted with – you guessed it – cork! From the fun Rolha candle holder which allows users to turn old bottles into candelabras, to funky Topography placemats, which bring rough terrain to the table, their “Designing Living Objects” line truly showcases the versatility of cork.
Here at Inhabitat we are big botanical architecture fans, but we also love seeing ideas that stand to add an extra bit of foliage to our lives. So, if you are a fan of Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens or even Mass Studies’ Foliage Covered Botanical Building and you fancy your very own extra bit of wall-mounted greenery, the team behind ELT Easy Green …
We’ve all heard of pieces of furniture that act as conversation pieces, but how about a table that not only starts conversations but actually looks like a giant speech bubble? Brilliant! Constructed entirely of scrap pieces of cardboard, Leo Kempf’s conversation table is sturdy, witty, and an excellent option if you’re looking for a coffee table that will get your guests talking every time they come over.
Is your desk drab or boring? Do you need a little extra feng-shui in your home or your office? Why not try a grass square to brighten up your desk and give it a little something extra. These grass squares were designed at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Israel, by Uri Romano and Assaf Yogev of nine99 Design as a way to combine nature and architecture. By bringing some nature indoors like these moss mats, the designers hoped to provide a grounding piece of nature.
Extraordinary green designers Object Interiors unveiled their new Live Earth collection at this year’s BKLYN Designs, and we were particularly struck by their Coup d’Grace Media Console (such a fitting name!). Made from a formaldehyde and VOC-free MDF shell, the console reflects the mission of the collection “to connect all the raw, natural elements that make up the construction of a finished piece” and provide “a sensory connection with live things reflected in the furniture around you.” Dried grasses are embedded into the console’s front sliding doors, which are translucent panels comprised of 3Form eco-resin. The patented material is constructed using 40 percent post-consumer recycled waste and is an increasingly popular, PVC-free alternative to plastic. Even better, eco-resin can be returned to 3Form for recycling at the end of its lifespan.
For those who would love to grow more plants indoors, this new Lightpot by Studio Shulab may be just the thing you need. Half table lamp and half modern plant pot, the Lightpot features a telescoping LED light and shade, which raises up as the plant gets bigger. More fashionable than the Aerogarden, we could actually be proud …
Traditional wall coverings often use PVC, a harmful and toxic material that has been known to leech into the air, so buying toxin-free textiles is an important health consideration that can’t be ignored. Mod Green Pod was founded by Lisa and Nancy Mims as a means to offer safer —and more fashionable— alternatives to conventional textile prints. Their products not just graphically gorgeous, but green in their materiality, completely free of vinyl, and use water-based inks on 100% certified organic cotton-based fabric.
Studio Crank’s Chuck trash basket is a vessel for paper waste, made from paper waste. A waste-less waste paper basket, Chuck is constructed of 100% recycled cardboard, printed with low VOC based inks and is totally recyclable. The eco-ficient design is in perfect keeping with the desires of the environmentally savvy lifestyle that believes and lives the concept of ecological sustainability. What better way to walk the walk than to dispose of your trash in a can made from the same material?
A new West Elm store opened up in Manhattan last week, and the opening gala featured an incredible collection of one-of-a-kind cardboard furnishings crafted by acclaimed designer and event producer David Stark. Constructed from recycled West Elm packaging materials and catalogs, the objects were auctioned off in a silent auction with all the proceeds going to the Cooper Hewitt Museum, a museum devoted to historic and contemporary design.
Chirp chirp! Tweet tweet! As the weather warms up, the birds are coming out to play, and what better way to celebrate than with some stylish modern bird-friendly designs for homes and gardens. Perch! is a collection of bird-friendly ceramics from Amy Adams. Brooklyn-based designer Amy Adams makes her wares out of earthenware and sculpts them into voluminous shapes using a low fire and non-toxic glaze. With little decoration, the design of the wares are very minimalist, however, we think their shapes are extremely expressive and dare we say, adorable? All ceramics can be easily cleaned with mild soap and water. They also come with a leather cord that was tanned with vegetable dyes. So spruce up your garden for spring and befriend some modern birdies today with Perch!
Spring is slowly emerging and we are dreaming of outdoor barbecues and parties on the deck. We have a couple of solar powered lanterns along the pathway, but we have been waiting for some lights with a little more pizazz. Last year we were excited to hear that Ikea would be stocking solar products, and now the first products are about to hit the market! These hip little lights are exactly what you need to brighten your outdoor spaces this summer.
Designer Shinwei Rhoda Yen is turning furniture inside out with her ‘mushrooms ate my furniture’ chair. A contemporary addition to any garden, the seat of natural wood provides an excellent respite to enjoy your surroundings or take a break from your green thumb, while its underside provides the perfect habitat to grow mushrooms. Left exposed to the elements, mushrooms will grow and live within the chair for years, feeding off of the nutrients of the wood. As with all things in nature, the mushroom furniture will eventually degrade, giving way to the life of its inhabitants.
One of fifty top entries in this year’s Greener Gadgets Design Competition, Vincent Gerkens’ Blight offers a brilliant twist on staid venetian blinds. Rather than serving simply to block the sun’s rays, the design re-envisions blinds as sun-soaking solar panels that store energy during the day and illuminate your interiors at night.
Americans demand low prices and giant warehouse stores where they can buy anything they want. We may not like it, but big box retailers are a part of life. But don’t assume that being big is bad. Massive, world-wide retailers can make a difference especially because they are that big. Enter IKEA, a company with stores all over the world. Critics say that IKEA is a landfill-waste generator because they make huge volumes of stuff that doesn’t last. IKEA only started working toward sustainability in 1999, when it published its first set of environmental priorities, but their new slogan is “low price, but not at any price.”
There’s nothing like the feeling of fresh cut grass under the toes, especially when stepping out of the shower. This Moss Carpet by Nguyen La Chanh brings the outside indoors in an unconventionally natural way by placing it underfoot. The lush green lawn thrives in humid environments, which makes your bathroom a perfect place to grow.
If there is an iconic image that represents the natural devastation of global warming, it is the lone polar bear stuck on a melting ice flow. Now eco rug company Nanimarquina has teamed up with NEL artists to create a beautiful ‘Global Warming Rug’ – complete with stranded polar bear floating in the middle of the …
It’s easy to get “wrapped up” in the holiday giving spirit, but why not think bigger than just your immediate family, and consider giving back to humanity and the planet. It’s a big world out there and there are plenty of people and environments in need. Whether you’re supporting global development by purchasing artisan crafts or restoring damaged habitats by planting trees or saving endangered species, these gifts that give back will make the world a better place.
We’re all feeling the pinch of the economic downturn these days, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still enjoy a little green holiday shopping without spending too much green. Despite what some people think, ‘Eco’ can still be ECOnomical. For many of us here at Inhabitat, this is our first holiday season in a recession and boy do we love a challenge. If you liked last year’s $50 and Under Gift Guide, you’ll be delighted to see we’ve lowered the ante. At less than $20, these gifts are designed for maximum usability and minimal impact on both the environment and your wallet.
This Holiday Season you can save a tree (and a box) with a fun, enviro-friendly Cardboard Christmas Tree! With Christmas quickly approaching, many of us would like to engage in the holiday cheer without the use-once-and-toss-in-the-street traditional Christmas tree, and this simple centerpiece may be just the alternative you were looking for.
At first glance Patrick Morris’ Sky Planter is deceptively simple, consisting of a hanging potted houseplant turned upside down. But upon closer inspection we can see that Morris didn’t stop there. The Sky Planter actually uses a ground-breaking internal reservoir system that feeds water directly to the roots without leaks or evaporation, using up to 90% less water than ordinary pots. The system locks in the soil so there’s no mess, and our favorite part is that you only have to water your plant once or twice a month!
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