eco-chic design

eco-friendly cars for all ages

As a big fan of great design I’m thrilled that Playsam has an eco-friendly version of the Streamliner Classic Car designed by Ulf Hanses. The design has long been recognized as a Swedish design classic by the Swedish National Museum for its innovative look and sleek surface. The Streamliner Classic Organic is made from German beech wood with a natural finish of non-toxic lacquer. It comes in an award winning packaging made from 100% recycled fiber. The Streamliner Organic Series comes in 4 different styles. It’s a great eco-toy for kids and grown-ups alike. You can take the Streamliner Classic Organic for a virtual spin on your work desk as an energy-efficient mode of transportation. Or you can fantasize about taking a trip to the beach in the convertible while being on a boring conference call. Or maybe you favor the not so environmentally friendly one-seater. After all it’s just a toy. I wish the Streamliner Organic Cars would use sustainably harvested wood to make them even greener. But they are still a great modern hybrid of wooden eco-toy cars. And yes, they look gorgeous with their lime-green wheels and bright red drivers.

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.

eco-friendly hangers for toddlers

I’ve declared my love for monkeys once before, so that I was super excited to see these Apehangers by Our Children’s Gorilla for modern eco-toddlers. They are fun to look at and teach your kids to hang up their clothes in an entertaining way while respecting the environment.

Our Children’s Gorilla was founded in 2002 in Sweden with the goal to produce timeless classics with a good sense of humor for home accessories, children’s deco and toys. It would say mission accomplished, since the Apehangers made me instantly smile. These cute Apehangers are functional yet decorative and come in red, black, brown and yellow. They are made of the wood fiber board Valchromat that is made of waste from other manufacturers and thin, otherwise useless, pine branches. Valchromat is environmentally friendly, with no water waste or dangerous fumes. It is dyed with eco-friendly organic dyes and fully recyclable. All products by Our Children’s Gorilla are produced locally, preferably by businesses with green ethics close to Stockholm. The packaging facility works with people in rehabilitation programs on their way back into employment.

animated green toy design

The other day I discovered these adorable wooden toys in a store window and they instantly cheered me up. I couldn’t resist the animated personalities of these gorgeous wooden Anamalz toys. What cheered me up even more is the fact that they are environmentally-friendly.

Anamalz is based in Australia and offers a range of eco-friendly wooden toys made from maple wood that comes from plantation forests. Their manufacturer is FSC approved. The waste wood is used on a farm to grow mushrooms. Each piece is hand painted with waterbased paint and the fabric is azo dye and formaldehyde free. All Anamalz accessories are made from recycled plastic. Where possible the company uses recycled paper for all swing tags and packaging. I absolutely love the Anamalz website with its animated wooden toys that consist of 10 Wild Anamalz, 10 Farm Anamalz, 7 Australian Anamalz and 6 Prehistoric Anamalz. They really come alive. I couldn’t decide between the pig and the lion, but bought the lion in the end. Plus I received a little pouch with animal playing cards. I’ll be back for more especially since one percent of every purchase will be donated to national wildlife organizations.

future-forward hot rods

No doubt the Roddler designed by Kid Kustoms is expensive, but even eco-chic moms and dads are allowed to dream. Joe Iacono and Jamie Coblentz founded the company with the goal to reinvent juvenile products like the traditional stroller. Their background is in the automotive and apparel industry.

The design and name of the Roddler is inspired by classic hot rods and looks incredibly cool with its retro inspired fenders. But that’s not all. What makes the Roddler eco-smart is that you can expand the life-cycle of a stroller by converting it into a tricycle once your kid outgrows it with the trike conversion kit. I love any type of multifunctional product especially if it looks this chic while saving material and space. In addition Kid Kustoms donates 1% to the planet.

the next generation of baby bottles

You can never start too early to live eco-friendly. In this case 0-3 months might do, thanks to Babylife’s mini wee-go bottles. They are the younger siblings to the original classic wee-go bottle, which has a modern silicone sleeve (patent pending) and is free of plastics and 100% non-toxic.

It comes in adorable colors like pink, raspberry, orange, yellow, sky and ocean and is easy to grip. The silicone nipple is latex-free and non-toxic and the bottle itself is bisphenol A, phthalate, PVC and polycarbonate-free. The plastic ring, plug and cap contain no polycarbonates and are food grade, FDA approved and recyclable. It’s great to see what can happen if a doctor teams up with a designer. Babylife was founded by the pediatric physical therapist Pam Marcus and the integrative designer Daren Edward Joy with the goal to make developmentally-appropriate and eco-friendly baby products. No wonder they are sold at the MoMA and sported by the coolest babies and toddlers.

for tiny treehuggers

Baby in a Blanket's selection of cute t-shirts made out of 100% certified cotton proves that raising an eco-conscious baby or toddler doesn’t have to be boring. The adorable graphic art on these eco-tees is printed with all natural vegetable based-ink and comes in 4 fun designs. My personal favorites are “hippo love” and “don’t pick on me.” I wish I had the latter one when I was little.

The designer Desiree Maldonado Garcia founded her company in 2003 with the goal to design blankets, accessories and clothing that are stylish yet eco-friendly. Most of her designs are colorful, but I especially love the simplicity of her organic blanket and pillow collection that comes with simple outlines in the shape of a penguin, elephant or bunny. The lining of the baby blanket is made out of natural bamboo and organic cotton. It doesn't get much cuter than that.

eat your cupcake and have it too

Kee-Ka’s wearable greeting cards are the perfect gift or greeting for new or expecting families. Their children’s apparel line comes in a signature eco-friendly packaging that’s ready-to-mail and made from recycled paper.

The company is based in Brooklyn, New York and offers clothes and accessories for babies and toddlers with cute designs that range from peanut to sweat pea illustrations. I especially love their cupcake organic bodysuits that are fun to look at plus made out of 100% certified organic cotton and low-impact dyes, which means they are great for the environment as well. Who says you can’t eat your cake and have it too? Another favorite of mine is the organic twin bodysuit gift set perfect pair featuring a pear design.

barking up the right tree

Having grown up with two dachshunds I was instantly attracted to this sustainable dachshund family designed by Imagiplay. The family consists of the bright blue mama dog and four colorful puppies.

This fun puzzle is part of the colorific earth puzzle collection that features pretty much any animal on this planet ranging from iguanas to penguins. What I love most are the fun scenarios like monkeys sitting in a tree or counting the arms of an octopus to learn about numbers. They are all handcrafted and hand painted with child-safe paints and made from plantation-grown rubberwood, an environmentally-friendly hardwood. I like how these toys are not only made from eco-friendly materials but also show how nature and humans interconnect. It’s really smart conceptual design. These are not only fun for children. And best of all they are splinter-free.

for budding treehuggers

Strangely enough I learned about DwellStudio while reading about Jessica Alba'€™s baby shower in people magazine. The article mentioned the eco-friendly store The Little Seed, which sells their baby blankets. I love the modern design of the whimsical pattern for the stroller blanket gio in aqua for young zoologists or the blanket alphabet in pale blue for young writers. The latter happens to come in my favorite color combination chocolate brown and light blue. Both are made of 100% combed cotton.

Dwell Home Furnishings launched DwellStudio in November 2007 to combine the existing Dwell, Dwellbaby, Dwellkids and Dwelltables lines into one brand. Originally Dwell was mostly known for its contemporary prints and pattern in bedding which is no surprise since their creative director used to be the design director at portico New York and a fashion designer at Isaac Mizrahi. All of their products use low impact dyes that are formaldehyde-free.