The Vidje lounge, created by Norwegian designer Iris Djupvik, is a study in contrasts.

The Vidje lounge chair is the work of Norwegian designer Iris Djupvik who was inspired by both the fine craft of crochet and the kind of dependable sturdiness only a simple wooden chair could provide. What the designer wanted to know was whether wood could be crocheted and to “investigate the contrasts that arise from the interaction” between the two.

She also sought to explore the contrasts between the feminine and the masculine, light and shade, positive and negative.

In essence, the Vidje (especially when illuminated), “interacts” with the room it is in. Djupvik constructed the chair, which was featured at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2011, out of locally sourced laminated wood.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

We’ve seen cat litter made from recycled paper and sawdust and wallets and purses made from recycled juice packs. But we never thought we’d see chairs made from recycled coffee grinds or plastic bottles – I guess we’ve now seen it all! Yes, two different companies have created sleek modern chairs from discarded drink materials.

The first, UK-based Re-worked, redirects coffee waste from landfills and uses it to make a new substance called Çurface. This versatile material has been used to make chairs (the legs are from salvaged wood) and the company is even hoping to expand into sheeting, fertilizer, and other furniture items. Talk about the ultimate statement piece for coffee lovers!

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has partnered with chairmaker Emeco to create the 111 Navy Chair. Using recycled plastic from 111 bottles, and glass fiber for strength, the chairs are purportedly scratch-resistant and come in six colors, all with a 5-year structural guarantee. The 111 Navy Chair was introduced at the Milan Furniture Fair earlier this year, and the goal of the project is to show consumers that recycling can create fashionable, functional products. (We’ll toast to that!)

What’s next? Coffee tables from recycled paper? Nightstands made from old credit cards?

It’s the kind of lab I wish they offered in school instead of chemistry.

Meet Chroma Lab, a collaboration of two furniture doctors, Alicia Cornwell and Tony Bevilacqua, who merged their fine art skills and history backgrounds to transform “neglected but promising” decor.

Salvaging the treasures in the attic beats buying new any day. Why not go the distance, like Cornwell and Bevilacqua, and reclaim one man’s junk instead of tossing it?

The artful pair began dabbling in recycling, repainting and repairing castaways from their work digs in Boston a couple of years ago for their own pleasure. It was so much fun (Yippee, pass me another chair!) they went legit, embellishing everything from timeworn, high quality furniture to tired handcrafted lamps and clocks -  customizing oldies but goodies from clients with pick-me-up colors and geometric flourishes.

Check out the lab’s new online store at Etsy. You can order painted treasures ready to ship. Or, if you live within 50 miles, they will deliver for free.

Bright spots from their lively portfolio include the Gum Drop Table; Glowing Tree Nightstands; Limeade Plant Stand; and an orange Table for a Rainy Day. The team has  partnered with Grand, adding its furniture and clocks to one of Boston’s design most well-curated haunts for home accessories, clothing and gifts.

Images: Chroma Lab

There’s a sad sight. After they’ve lugged your belongings from one corner of the world to the other and obviously won’t last another mile, the final stop for your careworn companions is the trash. There’s no alternative. It’s a fact.

Nonsense, says the team at Junktion!

If you’re keen to make your life a trashless one (particularly on Tuesdays), there are many ways to upcycle your garbage – but there’s a limit, surely? There are some items that you can’t do anything with – like empty gas bottles…?

No trying this at home, please. Junktion are professionals and know how to get into gas bottles safely!

Based in Tel Aviv and founded in 2008, this upcycled design company is interested in all the everyday things folk leave behind (rather like the Wombles, then). They’re keen to challenge our concept of “junk”, and they think there’s quite enough stuff in the world already for their creative purposes.

A car trunk door becomes a sofa. A chopper bicycle reforms itself, Transformers-style, into a stool. Metal piping becomes a classy-looking towel rail.

And if it’s attention-grabbing decor you’re after, how about this industrial-style octopus of a lamp, made from a metal cooking pot writhing with swarms of illuminated teapots? Or desklights make of bakelite-style phones?

Junktion trades out of their shop in Tel Aviv, asking locals to supply them with the raw materials. If they opened near you, would you be a regular customer?

Images: Junktion (via Haute*Nature) and Phineas H.

Here are some ripe picks from the groovy grape file:

Fruitful Folds: Designer Dror Benshetrit should take pride in his Peacock chair exhibited at the recent ICFF 2009 in New York. Designed for Cappellini, no weaving, sewing or upholstery glue was applied to the comfortable lounge seat with a price tag too high to mention on our site. Hey, that’s art, kids.

Berry Soft: Avalisa hand-tufted New Zealand wool rugs in animal and abstract patterns: Dog, Wonder and Deer. Available in three sizes.

Grape Explosion: Tree Bomb purple wallpaper from Ferm Living. $115 per roll.

Juicy gems: from VivaTerra, gorgeous tones in on-trend shapes and textures. $98-119.

Purple is the New Black: Nouveau Organic Duvet and Pillows from Pottery Barn Teen, $32-$119 in twin and Queen sizes.

Upcycled Mashup: From Etsy, this felted wool pillow was a 100% cashmere sweater in a former life. $35 for the cover.

I lean toward the minimalist in all things design and I’m especially drawn to chairs of the modernist period. There’s nothing not to like, in my opinion, and there’s no need to alter any of the classics. That’s why they’re called classics.

But who could object to a softer seat?

Unless your bum is naturally buffered, a lengthy sit on Jacobsen’s 7 or Bertoia’s wire chairs might leave you with a slightly sore tush.

This might be what Parkhaus was considering when they launched Suit for 100 Classics, a collection of over 80 simple seat pads for 100 of the classic chair designs.

The pads are made using eco-friendly, 100% woolfelt fabric and come in two versions and a plethora of hip and slick colors. The simple version is just 5mm or 1/5 of an inch thick; the other is 16mm (almost ½”) and layered with a 10mm foam inlet for extra cushioning.

Another perk to the Parkhaus pads is they’ll protect your old chair from wear and tear and keep it looking better than new.

via if it’s hip, it’s here

“It’s funny how new furniture has a way of restoring people,” says the sweet, pastel-coated spread (above) appearing in online and print magazines.

Why the reminder to hug a couch today?

It’s all part of a $20 million ad campaign launched by Ogilvy & Mather to spur Americans to focus on the bird in the hand, namely homes they now own and can play with even if the economy ain’t recovering and we can’t bid on new real estate.

Decor spending is in the toilet with showrooms hurting and closing in all major cities. According to the Commerce Department, sales of home furnishings fell 12.9% over the last year, and they’re still dropping. Sales were down .9% in July from June.

But don’t be part of that sluggish market when furniture can lift your spirits to new heights. A new pillow can make you thinner and an upholstered headboard will make you rich. Remodeling your bathroom can cure halitosis. Don’t even get me started on that imported bidet!

“Things that fill our home also fulfill us. They become who we are. Giving us joy. Providing us with comfort.” That’s what the ad says, which has appeared in Metropolitan Home’s eco edition and other respected journals.

Meantime, a product information invoice attached to the sofa in the ad ironically says: “22 percent cotton, 13 percent giggles, 15 percent hugs, 11 percent afternoon naps.”

Okay, so now we know why those ad men make the big bucks. It’s genius to assign the same value to seating as quality family time and showing affection. There’s even a makeover opportunity if you tell your cheap, lazy ass friends to clear out that dilapidated jalopy of a couch from their college years and the hideous side chairs they inherited from a cousin. Don’t you want a hug and tickles, you slob you?

If I entered the sweepstakes I’d get myself out of the laundry room and make a real office in a prefab shed outside. But I’m so unlucky at these prizes. My mom always wins raffles, purses at luncheons, free dinners, you name it. Not me. Damn, and I could get Monica Pedersen to stage my office, whoever she is. I wonder is she is related to the Bret Pedersen who works with my husband. Now he could use a makeover.

According to Fast Company, the story behind the ad is rooted in the maverick Las Vegas way of doing things. While High Point, North Carolina, once ruled as the center of American furniture production and sales, the focal point has shifted to the World Market Center,  a 1.3-million-square-foot showroom and exhibition space in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas group apparently commissioned the ad campaign as a stopgap measure for the hurting industry. It’s a $20 million gamble that just might pay off!

Image: Homeyet Lifestyle, Homeyet Lifestyle, Fast Company

“It’s time to change everything we know about paper,” is the mission statement of Sodra Pulp Labs.

And that’s what the Swedish architecture firms that partner with the labs are doing as they wrap their minds around 50 years of research on pulp-based materials.

“Could it be durable? Waterproof? Light and insulating? Hard as Kevlar? We don’t know the answers, but you’re welcome to join us as we find them out,” says the lab.

Well, one thing is for sure: it can be kid-proof, such as the Parapu kids’s chair by the architecture firm Claesson Koivisto Rune. Designed for the Milan Furniture Fair 2009, the chairs are stackable for extra play date seating and are seen as a great way to spare our forests and avoid petroleum-based plastics.

Made of compostable Durapulp (a combo of pulp and biodegradable resin from sugar cane), they are sturdy like their name indicates and a way to keep the well-designed nursery free of that oh- so-yucky chemical smell that can take weeks to air out.

Image via: Inhabitots