We’ve featured Lisa Albin’s Iglooplay furniture collection before here at Inhabitat; in fact, we first featured it on last year’s BKLYN Designs when she showcased the Mod Rocker. So, we’re delighted to see her again this time featuring a companion to the previously mentioned piece, the Mod Topper, at this year’s show.
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
The world’s most prestigious furniture fair, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, in Milan, Italy, starts in two days! And we’ve got three Inhabitat correspondents on their way to Milan to scope out the green design on this year’s international scene. Cate Trotter, Ariana Mouyiaris and new Inhabitat writer/photographer Antonia Halse are headed to Salone to bring back the best photos and coverage of the most interesting new furniture, lighting, products and presentations from Milan - all through a sustainable lens of course. We are hitting the ground running and, starting Wednesday this week, Inhabitat will be your source for green design at Milan Salone 2008!
It’s still surprising to see how few retail spaces there are dedicated to green products. However, hopefully this is set to change in Britain, with the arrival of Eco Age, a cutting-edge, high-end designer gadgets and interior designs store in the upmarket family district of Chiswick, London. The retail space enables customers to see, touch and smell products before purchase – essential for customers who want to make a considered purchase based on their appreciation of all of these sensory aspects, and crucial for products that want to break from the ‘instant landfill’ norm. It also makes it much easier for good intentions to be turned into green-minded action.
image shows ‘Annie’ - the recycled shopping cart chair from Reestore Design
All green ID geniuses! All chair connoisseurs! Here’s your chance to conjure up an innovative armchair in keeping with the tenets of “good” (ie “green”) design. The One Good Chair Competition is looking for some smart new designs that balance beauty with comfort while letting sustainable forms shine through. The winning team will receive $4,500 to help realize their design as a prototype.
Office Workers rejoice! No longer shall sweet Spring breezes and the splendid Summer sun tempt thy shade-drawn domain! Shirk off thy cubicles, thy mouse and keyboard manacles! Too dramatic? Well, at any rate, this solar powered outdoor workspace by Mathias Schnyder offers an attractive office alternative for desk-bound drones seeking to brighten their work environment.
The Nut Bench is fun, colorful and made from pineapple paper to boot! Bangkok-based Yothaka International creates hand-woven, modern Asian designs using local natural fibrous materials available in Thailand. The firm that pioneered the use of water hyacinth and Yan Lipao (a fern-like vine found in the South of Thailand) in furniture making has introduced a Pineapple Paper collection made from locally produced pineapple paper fiber. Pineapple leaf fibers are pressed, dyed and made into eco-friendly chairs, stools and benches.
ATTENTION NEW YORKERS! This weekend is the annual Armory show in New York City - a giant art show which brings 50,000+ art lovers to Pier 94 in New York City from March 27th to 30th, to scoop up great deals in contemporary art. This year lucky showgoers will have an opportunity to see stunning new green furniture designs in addition to the usual paintings and photographs, with Vivavi’s specially curated green design ARTFORUM Public Lounge. For the second year in a row, Vivavi will design and furnish the ARTFORUM Public Lounge to give visitors a chance to chill out and recharge in a setting that demonstrates the possibilities for merging great design with environmental responsibility. Teaming up with one of our favorite eco designers, Molo, Vivavi will furnish the entire green lounge with a giant foldable paper Molo ‘Softseat’.
Stunning green furniture will also be on display from Brave Space, Knu, and Todd Laby/Rhubarb Decor.
See the Armory website for more details >>
Furniture designer Cliff Spencer couldn’t resist when he heard about a Napa winery discarding wine-stained oak. An avid user of reclaimed materials, Spencer now regularly reclaims oak staves from California wineries and transforms them into these stunning one-of-a-kind pieces for residential and commercial use. (p.s., you don’t have to be a wine aficionado to enjoy them).
Ever since we first laid eyes on Todd Laby’s stunning green furniture design back in 2005, we’ve been huge fans. Unlike so much of what passes for ’sustainable design’ these days, this thoughtful designer manages to make green design about more than simply using bamboo or eco-friendly adhesives in standard designs, but instead rethinks the very nature and construction of the objects we own, and does so in a way that is sleek, chic, and always provocative. In his ‘Modern Slant’ line of plyboo coffee tables, the bottoms and legs of the tables are positioned at acute angles in order to efficiently balance books and magazines, and keep them from falling over like in your typical flat shelf. Now Laby has a brand new end table that utilizes this same clever idea of angular legs to support all of your literature needs.
It’s no secret that needless waste and heaps of scraps are part of the equation in today’s textile and garment manufacturing process. Granted there are some amazing results in terms of cutting edge fashion and eye-catching furniture designs, but this often comes at a huge cost in terms of the throw-away elements. The Cabbage Chair by Japanese designers, Nendo, defies this trend by taking waste paper from the pleated fabric industry and turning it into an organic marvel. This gorgeous recycled textile waste chair was designed for the XXIst Century Man exhibition curated by Issey Miyake. It’s no coincidence (visually) that ‘Pleats Please‘ has found a new expression in this layered demonstration of waste as upcycled renewal.
One part origami, one part architecture, pure genius, the brand new Bloxes system makes 2-dimensional pieces of interlocking cardboard come to life as expandable and continually adaptable structures. Because they’re so masterfully designed, Bloxes create structures strong enough to stand on, all assembled without tools. So they’re not just for room separating anymore- build a bench, a table, a wall, or even a full room!
Fernando and Humberto Campana, the Brazilian brother design duo, have long been known for their unique combination of craft-meets-contemporary, recycled-meets-high design furniture. This past summer, they debuted their latest creations, called TransPlastic, at London’s Albion Gallery, which showcased their wicker and plastic crafty yet modern furniture designs. We love the super-cool take on a vernacular form, made hip and new using traditional materials in a cocoon-like encasing technique.
“Annie” is a shopping cart turned into a comfy cute chair from reclaimed design gurus Reestore. We’ve all seen old decrepit shopping carts left by the side of the road, and it is a sad, sad sight. Thats why we are touched to see UK designer Max McMurdo taking an interest in these old cast-offs and restoring them to life by turning them into bright and cheery furniture.
Bathtubs are places for relaxation, and here’s a new interpretation- turn your tub into a sofa! This clever design by Max McMurdo breathes life into an antique fixture, and turns what was headed for landfill into a smart, provocative, and comfy conversation starter. Founded by UK product designer Max McMurdo, Reestore is a line of green products based on the recycling of old home products. Taking everyday waste objects and turning them into charming yet functional pieces of furniture and accessories, Reestore attempts to “avoid traditional eco materials in favor of contemporary finishes, fabrics, and, above all, style.”
Ever wondered what could be done with a 1,200 foot spool of rope? Designer Josh Urso answers the question with this marvelous innovation in table design: KNOOP (Dutch for “knot”) is his latest line of table designs, which uses resin-impregnated military-grade rope to deliver wonderful inspiration to often discarded materials.
One of our favorite eco-design visionaries Cohda Design recently brought its amazing recycling design process to the public by staging an interactive event that showed off its recycling machines and allowed the public to participate in the process of turning plastic bottles into beautiful designer chairs.
Here’s a piece of furniture that lets a child spark their imagination without having the parents run for the wood protector, Windex, or an upholstery cleaner. The Fundy Play Table, shown here with the Taj Chair, comes with its very own drawing surface in the form of a chalk board or a dry erase board (whichever you prefer), in a very clean white finish or a more playful orange. Complete with enough storage room for all the necessary tools any child requires when drawing their next master piece, other arts and crafts, or even the toys you want kept out of sight, the Fundy Play Table is also safe for the little ones complete with slow closing hinges and locking casters.
Imagine children’s furniture that is convertible as your little one grows up and is also smartly stylish and sophisticated in design sensibility. Too good to be true? Argington Modern Children’s Furniture has literally raised the bar for how to raise our little ones. The adjustable Argington Babylon Toddler High Chair elevates not only the wee folks who sit around the table but also our ideas about how family-friendly design can indeed be sustainable for future generations, as good solid investment pieces prove to have lasting value and shared multi-functional use.
We love designers who get their inspiration from the unexpected, and we love transforming, 2-for-1 furniture even more! Check out the Caterpillar, a flexible piece of furniture inspired by bicycle chains. Why settle for just one position, when Anna Bullus’s Caterpillar lounge chair can be maneuvered into at least 14 different positions. With such flexibility, its easy to find a position that fits your comfort.
Martino Gamper has a penchant for furniture: to be specific, chairs. In his project 100 Chairs in 100 Days, he takes apart a mix of discarded and systematically collected pieces found on London’s street corners (or sympathetic friends’ lounges and living rooms) over a period of two years, disassembles and then reworks them, creating unique, functional chairs that blend the “stylistic and structural elements of the found ones.”
For those of us cowgirls or cowboys-at-heart, we can now live vicariously through the Giddyup Rocking Stool- an equestrian take on ready-made design object. Made from reclaimed leather saddles, Giddyup was designed for all ages as a fun, alternative way to sit. We love that Giddyup’s designer, New Zealander Tim Wigmore, has found a way to give new life to worn saddles while helping us to tap into our inner child and the poetry of sustainable materials in motion.
Andrew Gregg’s Bike Furniture proves that two wheels are better than four even when they’re not spinning. An amateur cyclist, professional bike mechanic and sports photographer, Gregg repurposes steel and aluminum bicycle rims, handlebars and frames into edgy, modern furniture.
Clean, modern lines and eco design define the YiAhn bassinet- but this early life sanctuary is designed for functionality well beyond baby’s first three months. Rather than buying into the high-priced, short-lived bassinets he found on the market, Brooklyn-based industrial designer Chul Min Kang was inspired by the approaching arrival of his first child to create newborn furniture that honors healthy growth and extended functionality. The bassinet turns from baby bed to toy bin and bookshelf to chair and table- meeting your little one’s furniture needs all the way through elementary school.
Take a small stand for the environment (or in this case a seat, a coat stand or art easle). Ecotots is a full-line of environmentally friendly, real wood modern furniture and furnishings which assemble and disassemble quickly and easily without any tools or hardware. Made from 100% renewable FSC Certified Smart Wood®, all products are available in a variety of eco-friendly, UV finishes.
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