Fun
Eco Friendly Reader Suggestions – Green Jewelry and Sustainable Furniture Design
When it comes to green design, there are some really cool eco-friendly artists out there doing some amazing work. Here at The Chic Ecologist, we like to bring to light some of these beautiful sustainable designs. I have had a lot of great ‘reader finds’ and small design shops and artists send me some of their works and designs, so it is time to share!
Nikki Montoya is a jewelry designer that comes to us from Southern California with an eclectic collection of jewelry inspired by the past. Sustainable materials, salvaged rarities and vintage charms are brilliantly combined with a contemporary vision and technique. Each one of these unique and inspired handmade creations are one of a kind. I am a particular fan of the bangles (pictured) and “Sparrows”. Check out her website and find her jewelry sprinkled in a handful of Los Angeles area boutiques.
.jpg "Poj Facundo bamboo furniture")
Miami based Argentinian furniture designer Facundo Poj has a scattering educational and experience background ranging from a master builder and Architecture school to a degree in Urban Affairs and Environmental Problems. His works consist of handcrafted junkyard objects with historic value. He is interested in subjects which contain a soul and have a lasting quality to them. Researching new ways of using materials outside the large scale mainstream manufacturing; he employes materials like salvaged cardboard or engineered bamboo. I particularly enjoy his repurposed bathtub line of furniture including the bathtub chaise lounge.
Related Items:
Simply Wooden Rings – Sustainable Wood Jewelry
Junkyard Tables – Vintage Automobile Hood Tables
Metaform Studio Lighting – Green Lighting Design
Beach Trash Sculptures – Necklaces from Discarded Rubbish
Eco Game of High Low – Green-ish Turntable Record Players for all you Vinyl Lovers
I am starting a little game of High/Low which will bring both the “high-end” expensive items with more reasonably priced counterparts for the rest of us. I’m going to start this game off with something a little old school- turntable record players.
Eco Chic High
The “High” comes to us from German-based company Montegiro, and is quite beautifully built with a very clean design. This bamboo and steel Legno turntable promises chic style and a functional design with a stable steel chassis and resonance vibration dampening bamboo. The price reflects the overall design and build quality more than the audiophillic sound it produces, although, I am sure it is probably one of the best sounding turntables out there. Priced in at $13,240 – you can pick one up through Koetsu.
What makes it Green?
This one may be a bit of a stretch, but it is made from renewable bamboo and paired with recyclable steel.
[via dvice]
Eco Friendly Low
The “Low” is simple- buy used! There are thousands of these out there for sale. By purchasing a used record player, not only are you keeping one more out of a landfill, you are also not using the resources to build a brand new one. You can even find wind up players to be even more green! Cost – anywhere from free on up. Check places like craigslist.org, freecycle.org, pawn shops and ebay for a turntable that suits your needs.
What makes it Green?
Its a reuse!
Link love from Re-Nest
Re-nest, a division of Apartment Therapy, is conducting a Best Green Design Blog of 2008 contest in which this site is a contender! If you really love what you see here, pay a visit over to our friends at Re-Nest and vote me up! You only have until January 5th to vote, so timing is of the essence my friends.
p.s. – Its also got some great posts and other blogs linked up, so it’s a fun little diversion.
Top 5 Strangest Eco-Friendly Solutions
I think its time for a TOP 5 list, just because- so here it is: The TOP 5 Strangest Eco-Friendly Solutions.
You may not have known these were even problems, but somebody somewhere did. I had no idea how to even rank them, but without further delay, here we go!
Recycled Can Lingerie
This sure looks cool and is probably moderately effective against poison arrow dart attacks, but seriously? I would think some heavy chaffing and pinching would be involved. While it probably isn’t so much practical, it is kinda pretty and reminds me of chainmail, why not- right? A work of art, these creations by Ingrid Goldbloom are pretty stunning.
[via makezine]
Treadmill Bike
I wish people could make up their mind, but i guess some people want it all. Or maybe you are a runner that wants to hang out with biker friends. Possibly you have an aversion to bike seats and would like to have kids someday. The treadmill bike allows you to run instead of pedal, you can even up the resistance! This conjures up good memories of the bamboo bike.
[via greendaily]
Potted Plant Speakers
Well, they say that plants grow better when exposed to music don’t they? I don’t think we are going to save much green space with these, but they do give you a good feeling inside. These JVC speakers have a little pot on top to plant your favorite miniature, they even link together similar to legos. I hope they are waterproof- i think i would go with a cactus motif just to be sure.
[via envirogadget]
Wooden Stick USB Flash Memory Drive
Wood seems to be the new eco-chic thing to pair with electronics, so why not do it to a USB stick drive? Seems only natural. Natural birch that is. Collected from the forests of Berkshire, England – these silver birch sticks are dried, hollowed, sanded and waxed before the flash drive chips are sealed into the wooden receptacle. Using 2GB flash sticks, they are a bargain at £18 shipped from flashsticks.
[via envirogadget]
Organic Batter Blaster
I’m probably pushing this one, but it is organic! For those mornings where you really crave pancakes, but you just don’t have the time. I have not tried it, but it sure seems convenient. “Just point, blast and cook!” is the tag line and it sure looks that easy. I wonder if it looks like whipped cream?
[via focusorganic]
I Bet You Can’t Make That Out of Bamboo! Green Gone Mad
I wasn’t sure to file this under green design, or an attempt at sustainable design gone bad. As we all know, Bamboo is the darling of the sustainable green movement. It grows fast, requires no pesticides, is very hard and durable, and grows just about everywhere. With that in mind, bamboo can be found in all kinds of products that are trying to be green – some, like bamboo flooring, bamboo furniture, bamboo cutting boards, etc, make sense. Some do not. That said, I present an homage to all things bamboo (green washed and all).
1. The Bamboo Laptop
The Bamboo laptop. I don’t even know where to begin, although im not sure if the laptop itself is more or less shocking than the accessories (the bamboo keyboard and the bamboo mouse). Several manufacturers have released a bamboo cased laptop, with varying degrees of actual substance (some are little more than veneers).
[via treehugger]
2. Bamboo Mountain Bike
Now this actually makes sense, but it is really weird to see a bike made out of wood. I guess it would have been just as silly to have thought of a bike made out of carbon fiber 10 years ago, but don’t those still have an internal frame of metal? Calfee Design seem to be the big pioneers in this field, and from the reviews, they are pretty sweet.
[via ecoshopper]
3. Bamboo Sheets
Now this may seem odd at first, but they are incredibly well suited for this type of material. They have a real silky feel to them, are pesticide and chemical free (usually) and antimicrobial.
[via apartmenttherapy]
