fabien cappello: christmas tree furniture

Fabien Cappello has come up with a truly genius idea of taking scrap wood from Christmas trees. The Royal College of Art graduate has harvested some timber from the 1.8 million Christmas trees discarded on the streets of London each January. Motivated by the vast unuse, he turned the trunks into timber and the branches into dowels. Cappello even worked the needles into a new compressed board material. Cappello says the project is not about waste collection or recycling, but rather how people integrate with urban environments.

via Dezeen

eco kid organics

Eco Kid Organics, a skincare line for children, contains no
parabens and is 98% wild harvested/certified organic/pure plant essences. The formulas contain no synthetics, no sulphates, no artificial preservatives and will not sting eyes.

hawaii telescope

Hawaii beat out Chile to become the site of the Thirty-Meter Telescope, which is scheduled to be completed in 2018.

The giant telescope will have a single primary mirror that measures 30 meters across and is made up of 492 segments, giving it nine times more collecting surface than the the biggest telescopes on Earth today.

The Thirty-Meter Telescope will surpass even the Hubble Space Telescope in some ways, giving scientists a new view of some of the oldest stars and galaxies in the universe, as well as planets orbiting nearby stars.

Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the site of the Keck and Subaru telescopes, was among five candidate sites selected based on a global satellite assessment of atmosphere and climate variables. After further studies, Hawaii and Cerro Amazones in Chile rose to the top of the list.

“In the final analysis, the board selected Mauna Kea as the site for TMT,” Edward Stone, Caltech physicist and vice chairman of the TMT board, said in a press release Tuesday. “The atmospheric conditions, low average temperatures, and very low humidity will open an exciting new discovery space using adaptive optics and infrared observations.”

The project still needs to be approved by the the state and $100 million still needs to be raised for construction. The rest of the $300 million estimated cost will come from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The telescope project is the joint venture of Caltech, the University of California and a group of Canadian Universities called ACURA.


via Wired

freitag: limited edition bags

Swiss bag company Freitag has launched a limited edition range of bags made of used exhibition banners from leading art galleries and museums. The bags will feature banners from Tate Modern in London, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo (top image), Palazzo Grassi in Venice and MoCA Los Angeles.
Every week in August, Freitag will launch a new collection of Limited Art Edition bags for sale on their website and at the following galleries on the dates below:
06.08.2009 TATE Modern, London
13.08.2009 MORI ART Museum, Tokyo
20.08.2009 PALAZZO GRASSI, Venice
27.08.2009 MoCA, Los Angeles

scrap wood bunny: florentijn hofman

Big fan of bunnies, so I am stunned by this scrap wood bunny made by Florentijn Hofman

via Design Sponge
Design Sponge

shipping container retreats

I adore these shipping container dwellings in the Texas plains at Cinco Camp, Roger Black’s ranch. Black outfitted five shipping containers on his 3,000-acre ranch as a minimal impact and temporary installation.
via UPR

scraplab waste furnishings

Fabulous chair from waste trimmings at Scraplab ❤.

scarf pillows: ouno design canada

Scarf pillows at Ouno Design--check out these scarf tutorials on how to make your own.

reply chair project

The rePly Chair project provides free downloadable plans to make your own recycled plywood lounge chair. The project developed as a response to the overwhelming amount of plywood waste generated in the construction industry. All the parts for the chair can be made from small pieces of scrap plywood that can be collected from anywhere. The website for the project provides plans for the chair and has a gallery where completed chairs are posted.

This rePly chair was made by Propellor Design from scraps of plywood leftover from various woodworking projects as well as pieces of an old sign found in a back alley. Since the rePly chair is an open source design you are free to customize or improve the chair any way you see fit. Propellor Increased the size of the chair to 150% of the original design and then finished it with a coat of linseed oil and beeswax, applied with a liberal dose of elbow grease.
Covelloreesor

ornamentum bamboo furniture

Ornamentum's Divide coffee table’s inner storage area is revealed as the top slides apart. The table is made from bamboo; a rapidly renewable non- timber resource, urea formaldehyde free. HAPS (Hazardous air pollutant free) alcohol based lacquer finish.

monkey 100: eco tshirts

Inspired by her research on fossils and climate change, Shannon Harvey created the Fossil Fuel Series t-shirts using water based inks and uses only the least toxic chemicals in her studio. The shirts are 70% bamboo and 30% cotton, and are made sweat shop free in Canada. Bamboo is a fast renewing plant with anti-bacterial properties, super soft, easy on the skin and the environment.
Monkey 100 is a values based business committed to being part of a better world.

blank blank furniture

Blank Blank creates some great designs out of Northern California, utilizing reclaimed wood.

form and fauna: vegan shoes

Form & Fauna makes synthetic leather vegan shoes.

corelam eco wood panels

Corelam is a Canadian patented FSC certified all wood veneered plywood produced and distributed in Vancouver B.C. using Canadian based reusable resources.
GreenHus Design Ltd., Corelam's parent company, has researched and developed a highly efficient and socially responsible manufacturing process to produce 3 ply non VOC finished wavy panels that are 2.2 mm thick, lightweight, flexible or rigid, fire rated, of high quality, and have inherent acoustic properties.

dram tumbler lamp: propellor

Propellor, a design collaboration in Vancouver created the 'Dram' lamp using vintage gray and amber colored tumbler glasses--the result is refined and gorgeous.

studio oooms: urchin chair

Studio Oooms, the designers responsible for the wooden USB stick, have a 'sea-urchin' chair an RVS chair decorated with 8000 cable black ties. While not recycled, I like the idea of using unusual materials meant for another industry.

'twist' leather stool: simon hasan

This lovely and simplistic leather stool by Simon Hasan is part of 'Craft Punk' an interactive exhibition of emerging designers employing their intellectual creativity toward action utilizing design processes of traditional, hand-made, or craft methods. Using discarded materials from the Fendi production process, such as selleria leather, branded fabrics, plastic decorative elements, and metal hardware.
More at Design Boom

eleek: recycled sink

Eleek manufactures the most fantastic, unique kitchen sinks from 90% recycled bronze. What's more is that they are also recyclable. I love these different shapes!

blue jeans sea creatures

This creative campaign was executed by Saatchi and Saatchi for Quicksilver. I love the jeans reuse!

via Seaway Blog

blue jeans quilts

Speaking of blue jeans.....albeit a bit 70's, I think that the blue jeans quilt could make a serious comeback. As long as you don't follow the boring 6X6 square method and do something a bit more creative... a la Gees Bend Quilts.

Image 1 Flickr

Image2 : Rachey Carey George (born 1908). Work-clothes strips, c. 1938. Denim (wool trousers, mattress ticking, cotton). 82 x 72 inches. The Collection of the Tinwood Alliance.

Image3: Annie Mae Young, born 1928. Work-clothes quilt with center medallion of corduroy strips, 1976. Denim, corduroy, synthetic blend, 108 x 77 inches. The Collection of the Tinwood Alliance

Image 4 via Martha Stewart Living

biodiesel from waste

A group of Spanish developers working for a company called Ecofasa just announced a new biofuel made up from trash. This isn't a biodiesel made from used frying oil; instead, it's made from general urban waste which is treated by bacteria. The result of that bacteria? Fatty acids that can be used to produce standard biodiesel. According to the company's CEO, the process is fully biologic, competes with no feedstock and is really sustainable. However, the process doesn't yield that much actual fuel: just one liter of biodiesel from 10 kg of trash. The project is now in a development phase, but Ecofasa said that a commercially viable model could be ready in three to four years.
Source

karen ryan: repurposing

Hi all, I am finally back from a much needed vacation, so be prepared from some amazing new posts. First off, we have Karen Ryan, who produces some terrific repurposed items that have been shown at Designersblock. Her process for 'Second Hand Plates' removes the original decorative pattern and cover it with new glaze, revealing emotionally raw words. Check out Karen's chairs too.