Artists are working to create a more fashionable frontier for all.

The blank slate of a new year is as seductive as the lure of a crisp white piece of clothing for one’s mishmash wardrobe. We all crave a fresh start and the promise of renewal, although I have never been one to hastily cast off the old in order to usher in the new. I am just way too practical as an artist who examines and preserves every scrap of fiber for some drafty hole that might present itself unexpectedly. 2012 will instead be a continuation of my ongoing mission to seek out individuals who understand the power of resourcefulness and the collective twining of fiber taking flight.

Naturally dyed-fiber from The Sacred Valley of Peru via Source4Style 

2011 found us exploring therapeutic connections between the heart, the mind, and handcrafting, and the year to come will no doubt be a continued testing ground for how and why we choose to implement DIY strategies as well as having increased access to sustainable fiber and artisan-made textiles via sites like Source4Style. I will be looking to designers, (outsider) artists, storytellers, and even urban gardeners for evidence of why the cultivation of local narratives and subversive craftiness makes good sense. It is at the fringe of these diverse realms where I feel that many sustainable solutions reside.

‘Knitta, Please’ urban fiber installation in Sydney, Australia

Fashion happenings are all good fun but for a huge sector of the population, this is still foreign territory and not so inviting at that. Our day-to-day lives are riddled with break out moments of stylistic genius, but it is is our immediate environs that influence how we look and feel in a sustained manner. I like the idea of casting the net wider to consider ideas related to ‘fashioning self and the environment’ – meaning that, a true understanding of how to map out a lasting fashion sensibility must now include a closer (smarter) examination of self in relation to one’s environment and the resources available.

The ‘Knitta, Please’ handknit bus paves the way for a more fashionable frontier

Women are quite good at this. We know how to make do, mend, and even tie together the loose ends to create safety nets for ourselves and those random beings who dare to cross our path. We also know how to turn an impossible situation into a crazy quilt that warms an entire community of loved ones. I am reminded of artist Magda Sayeg who went from being a single mother on welfare to being an entrepreneurial design maven with her knitted public works (aka guerrilla yarn bombing projects) under the studio name, Knitta, Please. In a recent article on Magda’s work in the Wall Street Journal, one is seduced by the power of crafting a path to a brighter future with a stockpile of pop art yarn and the conviction to subversively adorn just about everything labeled commonplace or inconsequential.

Textile scraps being handspun for knit couture by designer Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda

Similarly, I admire how designer Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda is currently scouring the floors of designer work rooms and studios for scraps of textiles that are being hand spun into knitted runway creations for The Green Fashion Competition at Amsterdam Fashion Week in late January.

 Handspun fiber is knitted and prepped  for the runway by Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda

Zaida shared some of the following sentiments with us regarding her resourceful process and intention:

“Through my work I intend to encourage and engage people to use craft for solutions, and for my current project we are recycling studio textile waste. I discovered the spinning process while researching recycled yarns, and given that I was not really satisfied with my finds, I wanted to work with a fiber that I had complete control over and that would positively impact my surroundings, including the people I know. Spinning yarn can be done with a very simple tool, and many people can participate in the transformation of this raw material. In just one week I taught my grandparents, brother, sister, and mother how to spin. We are creating and sharing stories together, and it has been incredibly rewarding to see everyone cooperating and enthusiastically wanting to learn a new skill. Each skein is unique, just like its spinner and the runway garments that we are knitting as well.”

Recycled fiber forms by Abigail Doan include street flotsam and recycled textiles

In regards to my own work, the challenges that interest me the most are those where seemingly complex situations might be untangled and plied into revitalized objects of texture and hue. In preparation for Vogue Knitting Live‘s curated fiber gallery this next week, I have been creating sculptural fiber forms, some of which include “Plarn” or recycled plastic bag yarn created by a Roma woman named Abibe in Eastern Bulgaria. I was introduced to Abibe by my friend Charity Wright, who is currently working as an educator and sustainable business consultant while in the Peace Corps in Malko Turnovo. This historic border town at the gateway to Turkey has a history of traditional textile weaving as well as organic wool production from the flocks that roam freely in the Strandja Mountains. I welcomed this introduction to Abibe, as she was some one who had never worked with recycled materials for an art installation but had instinctively been repurposing items in her own home for a recycled plastics and crocheted eco-accessory collection. Through the bridge that Charity helped to build with this self-taught artist, my most recent fiber forms have even more layered meaning and a connection to the lifecycle of Abibe’s household.

Artist Abibe of Shau New Light, proudly shows off her recycled accessories in Bulgaria

It is interesting to think about fashion as something that connects us to those fibers that transgress borders, trends, and in turn might even redefine who we are dressing up for. It has been eye-opening for me to create my latest work with input from some one who has never traveled out of Bulgaria or visited my distant home, but definitely shares the same worries and concerns as a mother and artist trying to carve out time for herself. I will be so honored to present this effort to the public in New York City next week.

Judith Scott’s fiber sculpture crafted out of recycled textiles and found broken objects

I am reminded also of the fiber artist Judith Scott who was institutionalized for more than thirty-five years for being profoundly “retarded” with Down Syndrome. It was not until Judith’s twin sister Joyce was finally reunited with her, that the threads of this story unraveled. Celebrated in her later years as being one of the most powerful textile artists of this century, Judith Scott is still considered by some to be an “outsider artist” who operated at the far frontier of contemporary craft. Scott’s sculptural forms, created out of artfully wound scrap fiber and broken objects that had been blatantly dismissed, make her pieces ones that rival many of today’s upcycling expressions. Which begs me to ask, whether the plying of the marginal and disenfranchised with our current ideas about what is fashionable might finally redefine the edginess that we are so desperately hoping to occupy? I say, let’s work to ply a more fashionable frontier for all.

lead image: Jazmin Berakha

Rubber bands recrafted by M2 Jewelry make office chic a bit kinkier.

If being stuck at the office on a Friday afternoon in August is really cramping your style, consider donning a wearable art piece by M2 Jewelry. Office supplies and recyclables craftily twisted into necklaces, rings, and brooches send a clear message that there is indeed life beyond the cubicle. Designer Margarita Mileva of Milev Architects has been artfully reusing and upcycling paperclips, punched business cards, rubber bands, mosaic stones, and presentation wire binding elements – to name a few, as a way of putting a totally fresh spin on the standard desktop ingredients.

Mileva’s excursion to the desert southwest inspired this complexly textured necklace and as a wearable work of art, Arizona Dream, is transporting in both hue and tactile spirit. The designers wants her pieces to mimic nature but with their own organic sensibility and contemporary twist. Succulent and sweet.

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

SeriesThese glass bead vases have an important story to tell.

Story Vases are the brainchild of Front, a Swedish design firm made up of three enterprising women who approach their projects with the goal of exploring and exposing more about the process of design. In this case, Front partnered with the Siyazama Project, a collective of South African women who practice the traditional Zulu craft of beading.

“Bead craft is an important part of Zulu tradition, not only as a means of expression, but also of communication and telling stories. In the past, patterns and colors were woven into beadwork, symbolizing feelings and ideas to lovers and friends, in a way similar to written language.”

Five women from the Project told the details of their daily lives in post-apartheid South Africa to the women of Front. They discussed everything from families and work to issues of gender, AIDS and poverty.

Each of the five women then transformed parts of their story into text via glass beads threaded onto wire which was formed into a mold. Glass was blown into the wire molds creating the final pieces, each unique in shape and story. Learn more about the creative process and the collaboration at Editions in Craft.

“This long-term project aims to broaden the market for the women’s craft and to let their stories, which are seldom told, be heard by more people.”

Front will present Story Vases at Milan Design Week from April 12-17, at Rosanna Orlandi. Each vase will be available in limited edition via Editions in Craft. Prices available upon request.

Via Abigail Doan.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Kim Derby’s art series at EcoSalon, The Heart of Art. We heart art, and there’s nothing nicer than a daily dose to offer a moment of contemplation.

How a road trip through the rural South created deeper connections.

With spring rituals now officially underway, there is no debating that we are eager to shed the last winter layers for the fresh green shoots of the new season. Every day life is also alarmingly unsettling with recent natural and political events hanging heavy in the atmosphere. It is at times like these that we need to feel the soil beneath our feet as we reach out to help others in the rebuilding process. Feeling grounded goes hand in hand with an ability to effectively observe our surroundings in order to cultivate genuine solutions and deeper connection.

No one understands the spirit of authentic presence better than designer Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin and her hard-working team of Alabama-based fashion talent. This last weekend of March was the annual Doo-Nanny festival in rural Seale, Alabama, and in the spirit of bootleg craft spliced with regional outsider art, this Southern-style Burning Man gathering might just be the tonic that many of us are thirsting for.

I first started writing about the work of Alabama Chanin in March of 2008 and more than three years later this homegrown American label seems timelier than ever. As a bright testament to slow fashion resolve, the appliqué appeal of Chanin’s hand-embroidered garments, rural chic home collection, and community-based crafting workshops continue to thrive because of the staying power of organic materials and local talent.

The Doo-Nanny’s temporary weekend campground is a spin-off of this concept with an art-music-crafting event which takes place on Butch Anthony’s rural compound in Seale. Having made a road trip through the region this past Sunday, I can vouch for the fact that folks had arrived in droves to celebrate the spirit of Natalie and Butch and the unfussy aesthetic that they both have helped to cultivate. The cast-off and the abandoned gain new life in their uniquely recycled creations, and the opportunity to wrangle the impossible into the possible is contagious.

Anthony practices what he colloquially refers to as ‘intertwangleism.’ His outsider-like art, ad-hoc bicycle sculptures (as well as sparkly chandeliers with bleached cow bones), and even his natural twang, defy the conventions of urban design polish and self-conscious design-speak.

Museum of Wonder in Seale, Alabama

I was struck while driving the back roads of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia by the deep chasm that exists between the pure local aesthetic and the “fast fashion fix” of the highway and the shopping malls along its flanks. The Doo-Nanny cannot be accessed via a quick turn off on the interstate, and consequently runs counter to modern life and what we have come to expect as part of our entertainment and fashion consumption.

Not everyone at the Doo-Nanny is an artist per se, but for one weekend anyone might freely demonstrate just how clever she or he can be with discarded doodads and pickled ideas from the domestic sphere. Southern couture has a lot to teach us not only about slowing down but also taking stock in what we typically deem to be irreparable. This includes our communities and local businesses. After six months in Europe, it is apparent to me that poverty is on the rise in America, and folks are scratching the soil (and the highway pavement outside of McDonald’s), to piece together scraps of meaning in order to stave off personal humiliation. Natalie Chanin often speaks of “loving one’s thread,” and perhaps it is time for us to acknowledge that our collective thread is frayed, not only because of a weak economy but because of our inability to take stock and invest in the junk out back and the laborers whom we have thrown out like a bucket of rain water.

What amazed me about getting to and from the Doo-Nanny was not the energy of the gathering, which is surely worth the road trip, but the eye-opening sights and truck stop voices that you are privy to along the way. One of the most poignant images for me was an elderly woman in a shopping mall café who was obviously installed there for the entire day with her satchels full of possessions, medications and pills laid out on a table, recycled tea bags, and a huge crocheted blanket that she was working on obsessively as if to preserve her sanity.

The scene made me feel elitist for scrutinizing things like sustainable fabrics and fashion, as I was completely paralyzed to even mutter a word to a woman who obviously loved fiber as much as I do. The difference between the two of us was nonexistent in this moment of loving one’s thread. She was authentic, proud, and probably even someone’s mother. But as an American citizen, I was shocked at her overall predicament and had to look away. How might we mend these torn moments and injustices that seem to be silently slipping away? I can only think about fashion in the context of the “other” now, and what some one else might be toiling over or enduring in an effort to simply stay afloat and maintain a thread of dignity in the face of displacement.

lead image: Alabama Chanin; Robert Rausch for The New York Times; City Profile/Seale

Women have innately basked their brains in feel good juices since time immemorial to get through tight economic and emotional times. Though dovetailed as woman’s work and not really discussed, for centuries women have enjoyed the calming properties of knitting, sewing, embroidering or even just rhythmically folding or ironing clothes.

When I came across this blog entry from sustainable designer and writer Natalie Chanin, it not only piqued my perception of the positive effects of “women’s work,” but it brought to light a real aspect of how using our hands to do meaningful tasks can benefit our overall health and well being.

Chanin cites neuroscientist Kelly Lambert, author of Lifting Depression:

“Lambert shows how when you knit a sweater or plant a garden, when you prepare a meal or simply repair a lamp, you are bathing your brain in feel-good chemicals and creating a kind of mental vitamin. Our grandparents and great grandparents, who had to work hard for basic resources, developed more resilience against depression; even those who suffered great hardships had much lower rates of this mood disorder. But with today’s overly-mechanized lifestyle we have forgotten that our brains crave the well-being that comes from meaningful effort.”

I asked Chanin myself, with all the women working for her, has she ever heard a remark about how working with their hands helped get them through hardships or that their disposition changed the moment they picked up needle and thread?

“We have had several stitchers remark that they just don’t ‘feel good’ when they don’t have a project to work on. I remarked in Alabama Stitch Book that I sometimes use sewing when I have a difficult decision to make or when I need to brainstorm and find ideas,” says Chanin.

So does the physical act of using your hands to “make,” increase some sort of chemical reaction that basks your brain in feel good, all-natural cocktails that can enhance your sense of well being?

I caught up with a few reliable sources to see what they thought about it.

Abigail Doan, Ecco Eco Founder and Textile Artist

I have always linked crafting with one’s hands to agricultural activities. Having grown up on a small family farm, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the soil, build fences, spin wool, and learn a variety of fiber-crafting skills. My mother was a self-taught hand spinner, and there is no doubt that the activities that we performed as a hands-on household curbed depression and day-to-day boredom.

I believe that people are currently drawn to these activities as they allow one to feel environmentally grounded and connected to a place, despite all of the uncertainty that presently surrounds us. Understanding the start-to-finish process of any craft-based activity mirrors life cycles and the rhythms of nature. For urban dwellers specifically, this is a great way to stave off the depression that comes from prolonged anxiety and a lack of centeredness. Keeping one’s hands moving also mimics activities like plowing, raking, weeding, or milking. We can lose ourselves in the patterns and textures created, and this for me is extremely therapeutic and restorative. It creates a one-to-one relationship that makes everything else simply fade away. It’s a healthy sort of addiction that replaces other forms of disease.

Jill Danyelle, Occupational Therapist and Founder of FiftyRX3

We are typically more motivated to engage in an activity that has some meaning, enjoyment, or purpose.

As a therapist, I work with children and tend to accomplish a lot under the guise of play, but I am also responsible for handwriting, which is often a dreaded task for my clients. I find the kids are most motivated to write if they can also draw and color pictures and tell a story. This year, I have had two boys collaborate on writing a story, which has motivated them to practice writing for the last two months, as they were excited to add a new phase to the story every session. We just ended it – although they keep trying to add more and more details – and now they are finishing all of the illustrations. They have a real sense of pride about the work, which I am going to publish in book form so they can share it with friends and family.

On the other end of the age spectrum, years ago I worked in a geriatric rehab facility every other Saturday. The clients were not motivated to do rote exercise, so I had to disguise it in activities. I would take all the neatly folded towels that were delivered from laundry and dump them in a pile on the table. Then I’d get two or three clients around the table and ask them to stand up and help me fold the towels. In the process they would start making small talk, so they were socializing, working on standing balance, bilateral coordination, upper extremity strengthening, etc.

In one of my internships with an Adult Mental Health Day Treatment program, I ran several groups including a kind of “talk therapy” group and a crafts group. Interestingly, nobody said too much in the “talk” group, but when they were busy crafting I think they felt less pressured and all sorts of things would come out.

Image: Mr T in DC

Yet more news from the what’s-on-your-smartphone front: For those of you who moved lightening quick on the iPhone4, Trunket‘s got you covered with some salvaged American Rosewood.

These grainy veneers come in six colors, ranging from “sea blue” to “blood red” to “jet black.” The overlays are “designed to sustain years of wear and tear and should acquire a natural, aged patina over time.” The stains are fade resistant and, here’s the part I kind of like, to “rejuvenate your overlay and keep it looking fresh for years to come,” you’re encouraged to do some “occasional buffing.” Nice.

Putting it on is simple: Wipe the phone clean with a provided alcohol pad, make sure the phone is dry and doesn’t have goop or dirt on it, remove the protective film from the back of the Trunket and just stick it on. Although it’s removable, they don’t encourage a bunch of on again, off again action. But, then, who ever does?

Each Trunket cover is made from real wood and is pretty much a “rescue.” ”We acquired a large inventory of aged veneers from a luxury car customization company that was in the process of winding down its operations as the owners decided to retire,” explains Trunket co-founder Jay Chowdhury. He notes, too that his process has “kept sustainability in mind in the selection of treatments, finishes and packaging materials.”

The company, by the way, is a member of the Arbor Day Foundation, and will allocate $1 from each sale towards the goal of replanting 50 trees per month in areas of need starting October.

So put this option in your what’s-an-iPhone-to-wear pocket, along with this one and this one and, oh, yes, all of these and “¦

The lazy days of summer are ripe with opportunities to engage kids in new and inspiring activities that teach them novel skills in a fun manner. Artterro “Art of the Earth” craft kits, designed for kids ages seven and up, are a collection of 12 open-ended mixed media projects that will encourage and inspire children to unleash their inner artist while slowing down, unplugging, and relaxing to create a unique masterpiece. Kits range from bookmaking and wire and bead art to collage, needle-felting, decoupage and doll-making.

Artterro kits are made by Goodwill Industries in Milwaukee, WI by disable people and by those in need of job training skills. Two moms, Forrest and Jen, are the owners and founders of Arterro, and they started this company to fill a void in the kids crafting market, which lacked sustainably made art kits that produced meaningful, well-made products that could be given as gifts and enjoyed for years to come.

I like that these kits feature minimal packaging, and that all packaging inserts are printed on “100 percent post-consumer waste paper using green printing methods with energy use offset by wind power.” In addition to their commitment to sustainable manufacturing practices, Arterro has also partnered with Project Kids in Cambodia by donating kits to an art program serving orphanages in Cambodia.

As a writer who has a daughter with a brilliant and vivid imagination and amazing storytelling skills, my favorite of the Arterro kits line-up is the Bookmaking Kit. It gives you the opportunity to construct four small books and includes colorful and extravagant 100 percent post-consumer recycled handmade papers, beads, sequins, craft thread, needles and an idea sheet.

Sitting down with a child of any age to capture their thoughts in one of these books, whether in the form of a fantastical story, the recounting of a special event, or as an extended letter to a loved one – or using one of these books to teach an older child how to journal their thoughts, dreams and gratitude, would be a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Artterro art kits cost $17 each.

Something has always kept me from going to Maker Faire. Partially due to the fact that it’s in San Mateo and I’m in Oakland. And the fact that I just don’t feel cool enough. What can I say? I’m a blocked crafter and I feel woefully inadequate in the face of all these clever people who can create sculptures of felt, make things run with steam, and invent solar powered robots – all while dressed in Renaissance Faire meets Burning Man costumes.

But as the author of an upcoming cookbook called DIY Delicious, I figured I had to go this year. I resolved to make the trip, provided I could avoid driving a car to get there.

The website helpfully provided directions for biking from BART. All I had to do was get on the train in Oakland with my bike, stay there for 50 minutes until the final Millbrae stop and then bike five suburban miles to The San Mateo County Fairgrounds, where The Silicone Valley Bicycle Coalition would be offering free valet bicycle parking. The Faire also offered a $5 discount in admission for individuals biking to the event. Bonus points!

The Faire was different than I imagined. A little more Burning Man and a little less Mother Earth News than I expected. The home-oriented DIY activities – things like gardening, raising chickens, making food products, canning, herbal home remedies, etc. kind of got lost among the blingy fire and steam arts, art cars, and sculptures, but there were definitely some fun things to do for those with an interest in the arts of the home.

Here are a few of the highlights of the day:

The Homegrown Village was where those interested in living more sustainably and self-reliantly could go to learn skills. Over the two days, there were demos on yogurt, fermentation, beekeeping, sprouting, installing greywater systems and more.

On Sunday, I attended a bacon demo by Karen Solomon, author of Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It. She did a great job of demystifying the process, all while keeping the audience laughing. I especially love that she teaches how to do it without a fancy smoker. All you need is a small grill. The bacon was delicious, by the way. And she shares the recipe on her website.

Mini Mushroom Farms from Far West Fungi. These not only look incredibly cool, but also are especially wonderful for people with shady yards or no space at all.

Plants on Walls lets you grow food in tiny spaces, or create a living wall of greenery. They are economical and easy to install. The panels are made from recycled/recyclable materials, are non-toxic and water efficient.

Got a tool that hurts your hand, or simply doesn’t quite work right? Sugru is an insanely simple material for helping you hack things better. It’s brilliantly green because it extends the life and usefulness of things you already own. And it’s empowering to be able to take charge of making things in your home work for you. Check out the website. There are tons of great ideas for hacking things better.

Rock the Bike, a group of inventors and bike advocates in Berkeley, California, whose dream is to help spread the spirit of the bike into the broader culture, was powering a band called the Fossil Fool.

Harnessing the power of technology to help facilitate local economies and bring people together to share skills can absolutely lead to more sustainable lifestyles. I discovered two new technological tools at Maker Faire.

Local Dirt, founded in Madison but with a national reach, is a brilliantly designed online database to help farmers sell their products to local buyers and help buyers find local products they wouldn’t otherwise know about or have access to.

Consumers can search by location, venue, or product. Farmers can use a simple blog interface to add products easily. The key thing here that makes this tool different from other online ethical sourcing tools is that it scales up to large institutional buyers including schools, grocery stores, and hospitals. This is where its huge potential lies in rebuilding a more localized and regionalized food system on a larger scale.

It’s also a great business model that looks like it could be financially sustainable. Use of the site is free for individuals, buying clubs, farmers’ market managers, and small farmers, while yearly membership costs are scaled for businesses, larger farms, and distributors. It also makes small farmers lives more sustainable by freeing them up to farm instead of driving to numerous small farmers markets that take up their precious time and are often not cost-effective.

Unclasses is a site that connects people who want to learn something with those who can teach it. Anyone at all can add a class and teach it themselves. Users can also browse the site and join any of the numerous classes on everything from handyman skills to making a Persian stew. It’s a young site that is mostly San Francisco Bay Area focused because that’s where the founders are, but I can see it growing. Classes are free with some donations for materials.

When you sign up for a class or to teach a class you can share it on your Facebook or Twitter page so your friends can join too. The idea behind the site is casual learning. According to the website, “Casual learning is for people like us, who have hectic lives and struggle to find fun and interesting ways to satisfy their intellectual curiosity in the limited free time they have. Think of it as educational snacking, a low-touch way to explore topics that interest you.”

All ages, learning to knit.

All in all, I’m happy I went to Maker Faire. One of the coolest things about it from an eco-perspective, is seeing so many people with children at the site. Children were building things out of recycled materials, tinkering, sewing, knitting, and exploring a whole world of things that you can’t buy at a suburban shopping mall. And that’s the real beauty of Maker Faire – showcasing the ingenuity of us humans, while teaching our children and reminding ourselves that we can use what we already own to make something new and that great things don’t always come from stores.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: Vanessa Barrington

With the advent of the iPad, the Kindle, and other electronic readers, many people are buying eBooks instead of paper copies. Obviously, this innovation can save trees (not to mention space in a crowded city apartment), but what’s to become of all of those old school tomes?

One Etsy seller from Michigan may have the solution: upcycled books-turned-iPod docks.

We think this is a clever way to cover electronic clutter and recycle our beloved books. Since it’s compatible with most models of iPod – including the iPod Classic, iPod Nano (2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation), iPod shuffle (2nd generation), iPod Touch (1st and 2nd generation), and even the iPhone – this iPod dock would make a great gift for a book worm in your life. In fact, I may have to buy this for my gadget-loving, Apple-obsessed boyfriend.

Looking for other ways to upcycle old books? A quick Google search uncovered several creative ideas, including a headboard made of hardcover books, bows made of book jackets, even candleholders (don’t forget the flame retardant unless you want to reenact a scene from Fahrenheit 451!).

How else might we upcycled old book? Any creative suggestions? We’re all ears!

Porcelained out? Carve your niche with an alternative sink for soaking up greener materials like certified teak, bamboo, recycled metal and glass and friendly painted ceramics. You can even experiment with poured concrete with 50% recycled fly ash, as seen in the striking orange basin by Jeremy Levine Design.

Here is a handful of other options we rounded up:

From William Garvey’s Fusion Line of handmade sinks from certified teak grown in the mixed deciduous forests of South Asia.

Spotted at the Story Hotel in Stockholm, these decorative ceramic bowls make brilliant bathroom basins.

Recycled aluminum and brass vessel sinks from ECO round out the eco bath and are paired well with a bamboo plywood or stone tile counter top.

Handblown recycled glass emerges as sensuous craft for the bath with the clear tortoise trim Classic design (above) and Ocean shell (below) from Bear Creek Glass.

Main Image: Jeremy Levine Design