eco-chic design

botanical laundry detergent for eco-fashionistas

It’s no surprise that vaska botanically based laundry detergent was created by a fashion designer with a passion for textiles. Not only are the all-natural products better for people and the planet but for fabrics as well thanks to the absence of harmful chemicals. Julia Fry founded the Berkley-based company in 1999 as an eco-modern alternative to traditional laundry detergents. The sleek packaging made of 50% post-consumer content caught my eye at Duane Reade a few weeks ago. Especially since I like to discover chic household items that are designed with the environment in mind. Vaska’s line includes laundry detergent, chlorine-free oxygenbleach, fabric softener and stain remover. So far I tried vasca’s herbatergent with a light lavender scent that uses real herbs and botanical cleaning agents. I personally love the scent but the herbatergent scent free version and the oxygenbleach received EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) certification. It’s comforting to know that they have been screened for potential health and environmental effects. After all you wear your clothes all day long. All products are biodegradable, gray water safe, and hypoallergenic. Vasca’s website lists some good reminders on how to reduce your energy consumption while doing laundry. Use cold water whenever possible and try to hang your clothing to dry instead of putting them into a dryer. It’s better for the colors of your clothes plus the environment will thank you too.

sustainable fashion and jewelry with a mission

NOW Showcase in NYC last month featured some of the newest trends in sustainable fashion and accessories. The location made it easy to get around this year since it was at ICO gallery. Los Angeles based eco-fashion designer Linda Loudermilk had a great quote on a banner leading up to her collection that read “nature is the original punk.” I loved her white shirts for men and women that featured a cool illustration of a water faucet on the back and are part of her water is a human right collection. I had seen the powerful icon on t-shirts, tank tops and scarves before and it’s even available as jewelry in copper, silver or gold. Her website states that more than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s why 17% of proceeds of her mission wear collection are donated to clean water initiatives all around the world.

Two other jewelry designers caught my eye as well. I loved Kimberlin Brown’s coral reef pendants that are handcrafted from recycled 18 karat gold. She recently joined SeaWeb’s coral conservation campaign entitled ‘Too Precious To Wear’ that’s dedicated to celebrate the ocean without harming it. And last I was really impressed by Article 22’s hand cast aluminum bracelets made from repurposed bomb metal from the Vietnam War. I guess you can tell by now that I really love design for a cause.

Greener Gadgets 2010: where art meets science

Like last year the Greener Gadgets conference 2010 here in NYC had an amazing line-up of speakers. I’ve always admired Yves Behar’s work at fuseproject. His opening speech mentioned that as designers we can put sexy back into green. This was underlined by his work for PACT organic underwear and the electric Mission One motorcycle. He introduced two new projects: a ‘hackable’ car for the developing world and a crystal chandelier powered by only one LED light that uses one crystal and one paper shade. The latter will debut at the Milan Furniture Fair in April.

Another session was entitled Gadget Talks and Tom Hadfield from LaboGroup explained the amazing concept behind the plant-based air purifier Andrea. It looks like a beautiful sculpture and it was no surprise that Tom mentioned that his French innovation company is dedicated to turn science into an art form. LaboGroup is associated with Le Laboratoire, the art and innovation center in Paris. Andrea is 1000 times more efficient at removing toxic gases from the air than plants alone. It’s based on a NASA design and purifies all those nasty VOCs which makes it perfect for stagnant areas in your home or office. The other highlight was the presentation by Leonardo Bonanni from MIT Media Lab for Sourcemap that’s a very cool tool for LCA and supply chain transparency. It’s open source and would for example tell you the carbon footprint you incurred to attend the Greener Gadgets conference. And then of course, don’t forget to offset it.