eco-chic design

make a fashion statement with eco-friendly eyewear

Not that I need an excuse to wear sunglasses but they still help with my seasonal allergies. Unfortunately my old glasses are not eco-friendly but it’s still greener to reuse what you have as long as it doesn’t off-gas or consume more energy. Once I’ll loose mine I’ll definitely check out ECO’s stylish and sustainable eyewear collection. The name ECO stands for Earth-Conscious Optics and is Modo's ECO Collection of eco-friendly eyewear. It includes some cool designs inspired by aviators, rectangles and my favorite retro-inspired shapes. I love the look of the sustainable frames made of 95% recycled metal and plastic. But I appreciate even more that they received an Environmental Claims Validation (ECV) from UL Environment (ULE).

I’m a big supporter of the third party certification process. It makes it easier to quickly understand a product’s eco-attributes and helps to fight off green washing. ECO plants a tree through Trees for the Future for every frame sold and makes it simple to donate the glasses at the end of their useful life through their mail-in recycling kit. Simply reuse the box and organic cotton pouch that the glasses came in and send them back to ECO. The company will donate them to charities. Of course I would rather see you reuse the glasses and just replace the lenses once in a while if scratched. Reuse is still the best way to reduce and at least you’ll look fashionable doing it.

from fire hose waste to fashion accessories

Prompted by a visit to the London Fire Brigade Kresse Wesling, the founder of Elvis & Kresse learned that a fire hose can’t be recycled. That’s how the idea to turn reclaimed waste into fun and functional life-style accessories originated. Since then Elvis & Kresse has been sourcing waste materials from brigades all over the UK. It’s only fair to give discarded fire hoses a second life after they saved the lives of so many people. The upcyled line of life-style accessories encompasses bags and wallets but the belts and iPhone cases are my favorites. The belts make great sustainable summer accessories with their colorful designs in red and yellow. The unisex ladybird belt has a solid rectangular buckle, made with 100% reclaimed pewter. Not only is the outer skin of the Elvis & Kresse iPhone case made from discarded fire hose but the inside is lined with reclaimed parachute silk. Expect irregularities on the outside shell since the hose itself is vintage. But that’s what makes them cool.

Elvis & Kresse is always on the lookout for new, or may I say old materials to upcycle them into eco-modern fashion or home accessories. The company looks at the full-life cycle of their products by ensuring that shipping materials are reclaimed or reused such as old tea sacks and end-of-line labels. Plus it donates 50% of their of profits to the Fire Fighters Charity. All this gets me thinking what else I can reuse.

colorful bags designed with Korean recycled street banners

As an art director in advertising I generate quite a bit of vinyl and nylon waste. That’s why I love Poketo’s new launch of their eco-friendly bags made from recycled materials ranging from old street banners, used leather jackets or couches to donated clothing. These eco-chic bags are a team effort between Poketo and South Korean design brand, Eco Party Mearry to give discarded materials a second and quite frankly much hipper life.

Poketo’s new line of sustainable bags encompasses recycled suit totes, recycled street banner bags and my favorite recycled bubble bags. I love that the recycled bubble bags are a youthful and modern take on existing bags made out of recycled street banners. They have a very flattering shape for any eco-conscious owner and are perfect for running errands with two interior pockets. Each product has a tag, with pictures and descriptions that tell the product’s origin to include you in a bigger sustainable movement. So next time someone will ask you where you got this super-cool bag you can actually tell them that the nylon comes from old street banners collected by volunteers all over Seoul. Plus it’s one-of-a-kind. The discarded material is first cleaned and then cut and sewed by local designers. A percentage of the proceeds will go back to the non-profit design brand, Eco Party Mearry to help fund their organization including job creation. I love products with a good story - especially if the story is a sustainable one with a mission.

organic baby bedding for sustainable baby showers

This weekend I’ll be at a baby shower and I was thrilled to see that the parents mostly picked eco-modern gifts for their registry. Since they are very popular parents most of the items were already taken. But I was able to secure some super-cute crib sheets made of 100% organic cotton by Q Collection Junior in Roxy. They combine my love for sustainability with great design through their contemporary elephant parade pattern. Q Collection Junior is the latest addition to the family tree of Q Collection and has the same sustainable values. As it so happens with younger members of the family they are simply much cuter. Q Collection Junior offers an entire line of eco-modern children's furniture and bedding that are safe for people and the planet. Each of their products is made from non-toxic materials and manufactured in a sustainable manner. Their children’s furniture uses only zero or low VOC, formaldehyde-free materials as well as water-based, non-toxic glues. The baby bedding is only made of organic cotton printed with low-impact, non-toxic fabric dyes. All this is especially important since babies spend most of their time close to ground surfaces. With this knowledge I hope that the soon-to-be parents will be able to get some sleep. Well, most likely that won’t happen with their new eco-chic baby.

urban-chic furniture made from recycled plastic

Within my certificate for sustainable design at MCAD I had to propose an office of the future with a minimal ecological footprint. That’s how I stumbled upon Rodrigo Alonso’s stools and recycling bins made from post-consumer recycled plastic. As mentioned before it’s difficult to find modern recycling bins that are actually recycled. I’m glad I discovered one as cool looking as this one. The Chilean designer Rodrigo Alonso created his 100% recycled furniture from plastic waste found in toys, drink trays, stadium seats or even electronic devices. These waste materials were then transformed through a rotomoulding technique into useful objects such as eco-modern stools or recycling bins. At the end of the product’s useful life it can be re-crushed and re-rotomoulded again. I love that part. Rodrigo Alonso’s 100% recycled plastic furniture was designed for the urban equipment company Fahneu in Santiago de Chile. But I can easily see his eco-modern furniture at outdoor areas of industrial or urban parks or at cool office spaces and atriums. They certainly make a bold sustainable statement with their irregular polyhedral shapes. I’m also very impressed by his latest fair-trade and social design project ARMO shoes but I’ll save this for a later post. Stay tuned.

green your lunch with hand embroidered reusable snack bags

Packing my own lunch for work has been an ongoing battle for me since there’s great take-out in the city everywhere. But when I look at the statistics that almost 1/3 of waste in the US is produced through packaging there’s really no excuse. Especially if there are such cute lunch bag options as BleuRoo’s reusable snack bags with hand embroidered designs. I had discovered them on Green Depot’s website and finally bought a bird design after seeing them in person. Of course I love the fact that the outer shell is made of 100% unbleached cotton. But what really won me over was that they are really well-made with their inner liner of water and stain resistant nylon and the double stitched side seams. The velcro closure sealed the deal for me. All eco-friendly designs are hand embroidered and you can choose your own colors.

The designs for BleuRoo’s reusable snack bags include birds, stars or even customized lettering. You can choose from several different typefaces and then create your own personalized message. I’m toying between my first name or “mine” since it’s my snack after all. Or simply “bon appetit”. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions.

solar powered iPhone charger for green digital nomads

Motivated by the unseasonable sunny weather in New York I spent way more time in Central Park and really missed a solar powered charger for my iPhone. Not using the sun’s power felt like a waste of energy. Thanks to inhabitat for introducing me to the Novothink solar surge iPhone/iPod case. It’s the perfect green gadget for a sustainable mobile life-style. I use my iPhone all day long for browsing the web, listening to music and answering e-mails. With Novothink’s hybrid solar charger case I could even do it off the grid. So how does it work? The Novothink solar surge case generates electricity through photovoltaic solar cells that are on the back. This energy is then stored in a lithium-ion polymer battery. The case is available for the iPhone or iPod touch and comes in various chic colors as well as black or white.

Novothink has a free solar planner app that I just downloaded to my iPhone. It allows me to calculate the needed amount of sun exposure for the Novothink solar surge case based on my estimated minutes for Internet, phone or audio usage. The cool little app is worth checking out before purchasing the hybrid solar charger. I’m not much of a phone person so that my recommended sun exposure is approximately one hour to avoid running out of power. It’s a good excuse to spend an hour each day in the sun.