eco-chic design

go green with your spring cleaning

Always eager to discover the story behind eco-friendly companies I was glad to see J.R. Watkins at the Go Green Expo in New York. Especially since I’ve always loved their beautiful packaging. The company has been a pioneer in natural living since 1868 and originally started as a home-manufacturer of spices and natural remedies like their Original Pain Relieving Liniment.

Since then Watkins launched a line of USDA Certified 100% Organic Spices in 2006 and officially launched J.R. Watkins Natural Apothecary and J.R. Watkins Natural Home Care in 2008. Makes a lot of sense since what you put on your body is as important as what you put into it. If they can relieve minor muscle aches naturally, I trust that they can remove grease stains in my kitchen in a safe way. I love that their ingredients originally came from the garden to the kitchen in the form of spices and now to personal care. The gorgeous labels of their products reflect the company’s long history and heritage through their modern take on old-fashioned lettering. The J.R. Watkins Natural Apothecary line of personal care contains only natural, environmentally friendly ingredients without chemicals like parabens, sulfates or phthalates. The same principle of using natural ingredients is true for their natural home care. It comes in great scents like lavender or aloe and green tea. Something I unfortunately can’t smell these days because of my seasonal allergies. But please go ahead, spice up your home with an eco-friendly spring cleaning and let me know which scents you like.

green beauty with a high IQ

Yesterday I attended “the road to eco-friendly beauty” at Barneys that was moderated by Vogue beauty editor Sarah Brown. The panel discussion included Nude Founder Bryan Meehan, Aveda and Intelligent Nutrients founder Horst M. Rechelbacher, Chantecaille founder Sylvie Chantecaille and Red Flower founder Yael Alkalay. The discussion was very stimulating, since every company had their own opinion about the USDA certification process. Yet all agreed that the goal is to combine effectiveness with eco-friendliness in a luxurious way.

Horst M. Rechelbacher who considers his business activism was very passionate about the importance of USDA certification. He introduced his new company Intelligent Nutrients that uses 100% food-based and organic certified ingredients. It was launched in September 2008. Intelligent Nutrients is free of toxins and helpful for disease prevention. He quoted that 95% of diseases come from environmental effects and only 5% are genetically based. Therefore it’s no surprise that his products not only include a line of skin and hair care products but also neutraceutical supplements and functional foods. Take the certified organic Intellimune Oil for example where two teaspoons have the oil antioxidant power of the seeds in 10 pounds of grapes, raspberries or cranberries. That sounds pretty intelligent to me. Here's to a beautiful and healthy Earth Day!

eco-modern cardboard design

The seating entitled “FlexibleLove” distributed by Cardboardesign was a true showstopper at the Go Green Expo in NY last weekend despite that it has been around for a while. It has an accordion-like mechanism that quickly allows you to accommodate from one to as many as sixteen people. I had always admired Cardboardesign’s liquid cardboard vase designs outside their store in Soho during the summer and the flexible love-seat seems a perfect match. Both designs are called liquid cardboard design since one shape can easily morph into another one. What I love about the vases is that each item can easily change from a flower vase to a bowl, platter or candleholder. This multi-functionality makes them perfect for small apartments plus it reduces excessive waste.  

All liquid cardboard designs are made out of a unique honeycomb cell structure that is manufactured with high percentages of secondary fiber including old corrugated boards, kraft paper, old newspaper and even straw. The glues contain no harsh chemicals or animal products and the end result is fully recyclable. Make sure to also check out Cardboardesign’s cat scratch post, which is part of this month’s generation green selection at target.

sustainable and sleek design

Even that I’m a hardcore Apple fan I felt really inspired by Dr. Albert Esser's talk about Dell’s green IT efforts at the Go Green Expo here in New York. I never thought about my energy consumption while surfing the web. But he mentioned that it takes more energy to watch YouTube than it does to watch TV. I was really shocked as a non-technical person, since I never considered all the data centers that are involved in getting me the video clips.

Dell thrives to become the greenest technology company on the planet and has been carbon neutral since 2008. Its global headquarter is powered by 100 percent green energy. Some of their latest green efforts include the introduction of their LED displays and their studio hybrid PCs. Dell’s studio hybrid PC is about 80% smaller than a regular Dell desktop and consumes up to 70% less energy. Not only does it leave a small carbon footprint, but it also has a lot of style. Its sleek and modern eco-design comes in many colors and even a bamboo premium sleeve. The ultra-compact design makes it perfect for small work and living room spaces. It can be set up vertically or horizontally and comes with Intel mobile technology performance. Its features include slot-load DVD, HDMI, and optional Blu-ray. All packaging is 95% recyclable and includes a system recycling kit. Now you can watch YouTube in green style.

green fragrance on the go

A lot of Sephora’s in-store displays are geared toward green products during earth month that led me to Pacifica’s solid perfumes. The eco-modern fragrance tins are perfect for the tiniest purse and airport travel. I love the smell of the Tuscan Blood Orange solid perfume. Its ingredients include organic soy and coconut wax with Pacifica's signature perfume blend of essential and natural oils.

Pacifica was founded in 1996 by Brook Harvey-Taylor and Billy Taylor with seven home-blended perfumes inspired by their surfer life-style. Their products include perfumes, soy candles and natural soaps that are free of parabens, propylene glycol, phthalates and lead wicks – basically everything that’s bad for you. The packaging is not only incredibly adorable, but also recyclable and made with recycled content. I love their tropical inspired designs which make me lust for Hawaii especially since I’ve never been there. Pacifica is working towards carbon neutrality and is 100% committed to cruelty-freedom. They don’t use any animal ingredients, including beeswax. Instead their soy candles are handmade with vegetable soy wax and lead-free wicks that don’t emit toxic fumes like conventional ones. I think I just discovered my favorite brand for the summer.

think globally, design locally

It took Australia based photographer Dave Evan’s book “cool green stuff” to introduce me to Brooklyn based company Uhuru Design despite that I live in Manhattan. Well – the world is one green global village after all, right? What I love about Uhuru is that they use local reclaimed materials and build each piece of furniture by hand in an old foundry located in Red Hook.

Uhuru was founded in 2004 by Bill Hilgendorf and Jason Horvath and strives to combine timeless design with sustainability. A great example of their philosophy to use reclaimed and repurposed materials is their fenced-in coffee table inspired by discarded fencing. Uhuru’s philosophy to think globally, but act locally takes shape in their latest projects that use reclaimed heart pine extracted from buildings taken down in NYC. Most of their furniture impresses through its eco-modern simplicity. But I also love the more embellished designs like the Sakura side table with a hand cut and applied aluminum pattern or the op art table with the silkscreen of a traditional Japanese optical art motif. You can watch the designers talk about the materials in more detail at shopflick. Welcome to their neighborhood!

smooth and sustainable

Always on the lookout for conditioners based on naturally-derived ingredients I went to Aveda last month. After a quick hair analysis in the amazing smelling store and I left with Aveda’s smooth infusion conditioner. Since then I’ve been testing it in April showers as well as in the Bahamas and I like that it keeps my hair frizz-free while being active.

Aveda’s smooth infusion product line consists of shampoo, conditioner and style-prep smoother. The exclusive plant infusion is a blend derived from organic aloe, maize and guar bear to smooth the hair. I’ve written about the amazing smell of Aveda’s pure-fume aromas before. The smooth infusion aroma is no exception with a mix of certified organic bergamot, certified organic palmarosa, Bulgarian rose and Australian sandalwood. I love the sky-blue packaging made out of post consumer recycled materials. Aveda’s founder Horst Rechelbacher will be at the upcoming panel discussion “the road to eco-friendly beauty” organized by Barneys and Vogue here in Manhattan in two weeks. I’ll be there and keep you posted about their green developments. Please say hi if you see me - I'll be the girl trying to look smooth.

all’s fair in love and chocolate

Overall I’ve been pretty good at making sure that the coffee I buy is certified organic, fair trade and shade grown. But I was always skeptical about changing my chocolate habits, since I’m a big chocoholic. I decided to conduct a tasting experiment of several organic bars from Whole Foods as part of my certificate in sustainable design at MCAD. Yep - life can be tough. I was amazed about the great taste of Green & Black’s milk chocolate. Craig Sams, founder of organic food company Whole Earth and his wife Josephine Fairley, an environmental columnist for the London Times started Green & Black’s in 1991. Green stands for organic and black for the deep, rich brown (almost black) color of the chocolate. The packaging of the products reflects the luxurious taste. It proves that USDA certified organic chocolate can look as high-end as it tastes. I’ve to admit I’m converted and I can assure you that I’ll continue my experiment with their fair trade certified Maya Gold product. Also please check out my tip about fair trade chocolate at delight.com. It was featured as part of their ongoing campaign to make small green life-style changes leading up to earth day.

detoxify your body, mind and mat

Still new to yoga I finally bought my very own eco-friendly mat before my trip to a yoga retreat in the Bahamas last week. Now I’m back here in Manhattan trying to give my mat its first cleaning. Part of me still wants to hold on to the smell of the ocean breeze. But let’s face it: pranayamas (breathing exercises) are much easier without any distracting odor from previous sessions.

The yoga and fitness cleaner from Stirlen does just that thanks to its natural and plant-based ingredients that are citrus scented but won’t linger. The proprietary blend contains coconut surfactants to remove body sweat, body oils and floor dirt, citrus oil to remove body oils and deodorize and potassium sorbate to extend the life of your mat. Not only are the ingredients non-toxic and break down when released back into the environment, but also the wipes are 100% biodegradable and the packaging is recyclable. I love how clean and simple the bottle design is – it gives you room to breathe. And luckily with the Stirlen Chi Mat Cleanser you can make that a deep breath.