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Alexandra Kain

April 19, 2008

COVER: No-Waste Furniture by Alain Bertreau

by Alexandra Kain

cover, no-waste, waste reduction, minimal packaging, Alain Bertreau, waste-free, design, cardboard, coverpouf1.jpg

Designer Alain Bertreau creates simple furniture that cuts out excess materials and effort, leaves an overall serene and minimalistic impression, and packs light. We’ve taken a look at his Instant Chair and his Modular Fence Chair. Previously, we just glanced at his latest project, the Cover stool challenges, but the way our notion of package design by turning a cardboard box into the base of a waste-free pouf.

The Cover stool comes in (as?) a sturdy box with a foam pad inside. Just zip the pad around the box and you’ve killed two birds with one stone-assembly & clean-up. When its reached the end of its life, you can even send the box off to recycling.

In a MocoLoco interview last May, Berteau said this to creating more stuff in an overflowing world: “It’s very easy to design with style but it’s really difficult to invent relevant solutions. Things can always be improved…at least I’m trying.”

+ Index Award
+ Alain Bertreau

Via MocoLoco

cover, no-waste, waste reduction, minimal packaging, Alain Bertreau, waste-free, design, cardboard, coverpouf3.jpg

April 15, 2008

OILGAE TEST DRIVE: Algae Power Hits the Road

by Alexandra Kain

algae biofuel, algae fuel, biodiesel, biofuel, oilgae, plant fuel, Solazyme, Sundance Film Festival, algae_biodiesel1.jpg

Corn and soybean derived biofuels have long been the most promising options on the table for escaping the clutches of fast depleting petroleum. However, acquiring the space necessary to produce ethanol and biodiesel at the same consumption rate as fossil fuels would be impossible, so sustainable fingers are pointing to oilgae, or algae fuel. Algae produces 30 times more energy per acre than corn or soybeans and can grow in salt water, our worlds most abundant source. There are several startups bringing pond scum to fuel tanks, among them Solazyme who were caught driving around Sundance Film Festival this year with an oilgae-powered car.

March 27, 2008

Ugly Kitty Turns Magazine Inserts into Organization

by Alexandra Kain

Ugly Kitty, Etsy, address file box, recycled paper, reused materials, upcycling, magazine subscription cards, home organization, organizers, cards, paper goods, uglykitty_1.jpg

Flipping through new magazines today can feel like shaking the colorful branches of a glossy tree, with leaves falling out from between its limbs. Only they’re falling into your lap, and sometimes 6 at a time. Magazine subscription cards, fouling up the pre-buy flip through at the newsstand and littering up your living room. Thought subscribing would keep them at bay? Nope, but an address file might. Ugly Kitty is taking those fallen leaves and turning them into functional, pretty indexing to keep your reading clean and your contacts in order.