eco-chic design

green your home with eco-friendly felt

Felt is one of the oldest fabrics in the world and I mentioned its modern comeback in Undercollar’s pillows made from reclaimed felt or Megan Auman’s cozy/cuffs. This weekend I’ll make sure to check out the latest home accessories made of wool felt by Graf & Lantz at NYIGF. I love how the designers combine the sturdy and eco-friendly material with contemporary shapes. Graf & Lantz is a design studio based in LA that creates eco-modern designs such as bags, pillows, wallets or bowls made primarily from 100% merino wool felt imported from Germany. Wool felt is a sustainable and biodegradable material since it comes from sheep and is therefore completely natural. The beauty of the high density felt used by Graf & Lantz is that it’s not only stain- and water-resistant thanks to its natural oil content but it also gives their designs a sculptural quality. My favorite home accessories are the elegant felt bowls in heathered white, grey, pistachio and charcoal with a different colored center. They are fun to look at plus handmade in the USA. Most recently Graf & Lantz added a new line of Swiss wool felt that’s coarser and not dyed or bleached to their collections. It’s used in some of the ottoman designs and comes in the two colors white and brown. I’m curious to see what else the designers came up with.

modern design for sustainable table settings

Soon I’ll be at NYIGF 2010 here in NYC to check out the latest sustainable designs in home furnishings. I can’t wait to see the PaperStone tablemats and coasters by Dinah Coops as well as her hemp/organic cotton tea towels that are part of the sustainable display. Her eco-modern tablemats and coasters use PaperStone that’s made from 100% recycled paper, non-petroleum resins and organic pigments. It’s a stone-like material and contrasts beautifully with her free-flowing and modern designs. I especially like Dina Coops’ designs for the triple seed pod coaster, the sea fan with trunk coaster and the little cone plant with squiggle coaster. The squiggles of her elegant compositions remind me of drawing with pebbles on slate as kids in Germany. No wonder Dinah Coops describes her PaperStone tablemats and coasters as a modern take on traditional European slate tableware. Each coaster or placemat is silkscreened by hand and treated with a protective coating of water-based polyurethane and silicone. They are backed with a thin layer of cork so that you won’t have to worry about scratching your favorite eco-chic tabletop. Her sustainable napkins and tea towels are made of un-dyed 100% linen or hemp/cotton blend with similar abstract compositions of nature silkscreened by hand with water based inks. Thanks to their neutral color palette the minimalist designs fit easily into any eco-modern home.

nature inspired water filtration design

On my annual trip to ABC Home & Planet before the holidays I saw the stylish OVOPUR by AQUAOVO that was part of a special display about sustainable living. The contemporary egg-shaped design stuck with me since every year I make the resolution to drink more water. And the sleek design of the OVOPUR water filtration unit gives water the central role in any eco-modern home or office that it deserves. After all the average human body is about 60–70% water and needs plenty of hydration.

AQUAOVO was founded in 2007 by brother-and-sister team Manuel and Noemie Desrochers in Montreal with the goal to keep plastic water bottles out of landfills. Taking some inspiration from nature the egg-shaped design combined with the thermal properties of porcelain allows the filtered water to move freely and naturally. This movement prevents stagnation and revitalizes the water. The actual filtration happens through the multilayer AQUACRISTAL filter cartridge that removes chemicals and organic pollutants through a 4-step filtration process. It’s reusable for 4 months and 100% recyclable. OVOPUR by AQUAOVA comes in white or black lead-free glazed porcelain as a limited edition. Either one holds 11 liters of water. I love that these eco-modern water filtration units are a stylish alternative to traditionally unattractive water coolers. Plus they make it easy to stick to my resolution in green style.

green beauty resolutions from Nature Girl

The best way to keep your green New Year’s resolutions might be to have a daily reminder to go green in your bathroom. Nature Girl’s natural and organic skin care line might just do that with names like “I Love Organic”, “Eco Chic”, or “Nature Groupie”. What initially attracted me to Nature Girl was the graffiti-style packaging designed by founder Nannette Pallround. It looks earthy yet hip and I love the stark contrast between the simple bottles and the handwritten feel of the type that reflects the diversity of nature. But most of all I love that Nature Girl’s lotions, scrubs and oils use organic and wildcrafted ingredients grown on small, family-run farms from all around the world. All Nature Girl products are 100% natural and at least half of them are 100% organic. None of them contain sulfates, phylates, dyes, parabens or any harmful man-made ingredients. Plus they don’t use any synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes or animal testing. This should make it pretty easy to stick to your New Year’s resolution to live green this year.

plantable eco calendar for a green New Year

As I’m in the process of researching upcoming dates for green trade shows and conferences this year I remembered Botanical PaperWorks’ plantable eco calendar. I always liked that it helps you plant seeds for the New Year in many ways with its seed embedded calendar pages.

Botanical PaperWorks is a stationary business that creates plantable paper, greeting cards and gift tags handcrafted by local papermakers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was founded by mother and daughter team Mary Reimer and Heidi Reimer Epp while they were looking for ways to reuse paper discarded by local schools. I always love when waste is turned into something useful like this fun and eco-friendly calendar for the New Year. Botanical PaperWorks’ plantable desk calendar uses paper made with post consumer waste fibers, cotton remnants and the renewable leaf fiber abaca. The calendar pages with their cute illustrations are nestled in a recyclable tin that’s refillable for years to come. The fun part though is that you can plant the paper embedded with wildflower seeds after each month in a pot of soil. Make sure to add plenty of water and sunshine and you can watch it grow into wildflowers such as Clarkia, Poppy or Catchfly. May the rest of the year be this easy and colorful.