Jean Nouvel’s So-So chair for Emeco is durable eco-design – made using the same process as chairs for the U.S. Navy.

At Paris Design Week recently, Jean Nouvel previewed his new collection: the So-So for Emeco. With a history of working alongside world-famous architects and designers, the U.S. chair company has previously collaborated with Frank Gehry, Sir Norman Foster and Philippe Starck.

The So-So chairs and stools are made of light, durable hand-brushed aluminum – one of Nouvel’s imperatives was that they weigh as little as possible. But they are also impressively eco: made from 80% recycled material, using both post-industrial and post-consumer waste.

The So-So collection is hand-produced at Emeco’s Hanover, Pennsylvania factory using the same 77-step process as the famous, ultra-hard-wearing 1944 Navy chairs, designed to “withstand water, salt air and sailors.” The collection was first conceived for, and shown at, the Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom, for which Nouvel also designed the building, as well as most of the other furniture. We love the smooth curves and burnished effect – a successful Franco-American alliance.

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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

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A quirky yet elegant re-imagining of the chair.

Ah, the mullet. Well-groomed and refined on top, a little wild on bottom. Ever heard of a furniture mullet? While I would rarely (all right, never) recommend a mullet to frame your face, these lovely creations are as unexpected as a mullet, but with a sense of creativity and sophistication. Let the mullet lust begin.

Based in Strasbourg, France, Sonia Verguet built twenty different chairs created by combining a simple wooden box and recycled flea market furniture. Verguet calls her labor ‘My Family’. Each piece is a juxtaposition of unique components and a wood block – the culmination of all twenty pieces is varied and diverse, just like a family.

Really, has a mullet ever looked so good? The top is intricate and elegant, anchored by the unexpected rigid wooden base. I now long for an entire family of mullet chairs to gather round my dining table (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d use).

One more furniture mullet for you to ponder hails from Uhuru. The Standard Chair is anything but standard. The hand-carved chair backs were rescued from a manufacturing company that went out of business. The Louis the XVI wooden backs are embellished with steel plate seats and front legs. An industrial aluminum mesh serves as the chair back ‘upholstery’. If my love of the Standard isn’t enough to entice you, maybe knowing the chair was recently added to the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s permanent collection will sway your opinion. Add custom sizes and finishes (each creation is hand built to order) to the list of benefits and choose a low VOC lacquer of your choice. I can only hope you’ll invite me over to sit on your new mullet (another sentence I never thought I’d use).

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Each week here at EcoSalon, I beg my favorite bloggers and designers to hand select a beloved green product, whether it’s a finish, furnishing, or accessory. The end result? An endless anthology of aesthetically perfect products for your perusal.

This week, Celine Rogers of Pure Green is here to share her flawless taste. Her pick? The one and only Tolix A Chair. Celine is drawn to this lovely form of steel, finding its composition (entirely recyclable materials) and versatility endearing. Check out the Tolix website to find a distributor near you.

In addition to her flawless taste, Celine is a source of infinite wisdom and creativity neatly packaged into an online delight, Pure Green Living Magazine. Ninety pages of visual amusement that is inherently green. Does it get any better?! Oh, and (of course) you can find the Tolix A Chair gracing page fourteen.

After you devour the premier issue, mark your calendar for the next edition in early September – or subscribe and watch your inbox for a gorgeous delivery.

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Before you accuse me of being a tad too fond of a certain seat-like piece of furniture, let me explain. This chair isn’t exactly that, and although it looks and acts like one, I swear”¦it’s not really a chair.

At least I wouldn’t want to sit on it. Ouch.

Tokujin Yoshioka, the designer of Venus – natural crystal chair, probably doesn’t want me to, either. Rather, he’d like us to think about it – along with its relationship to technology, design and the power of nature.

As part of an exhibition in Japan that he directed, Yoshioka “grew” his Venus natural crystal chairs in large aquariums filled with a mineral solution and the vibrations of classical music that he played directly into the tanks.

Natural yet manipulated by music and man, Venus -¦makes its appearance over time as if the goddess herself gradually emerges from water. This [chair], which is formed using the laws of nature and embodies a beauty born of coincidence, pushes the boundaries of creativity.”

The words of the artist are as beautiful as his work. He definitely has me thinking – I hope he has you thinking too.

– via Inhabitat

Yoshioka is a 40-year old Japanese conceptual artist/designer extraordinaire who pushes the envelope of anything he gets his hands on. His installations have won awards. He has collaborated with big name designers. Newsweek selected him as one of “100 Japanese respected by the world”. See more of what he does at his website.

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The fact that young product designers just out of school are setting their sights on sustainable is truly a blessing. And they don’t seem to be doing it for the money or the fame – but more as a mission. An eco-mission, that is.

To them it’s a no brainer, a given rather than an option. The future depends on developing new ways of using old stuff to create everyday objects, like a chair or a lamp.

Humans will forever need a suitable place to sit, so Swiss-born designer Mario Stadelmann used some already read and recently tossed newspaper to create the paperchair. The recycled paper is made into a composite material that Stadelmann molds and morphs into his design, which dare I say, gives a slight salute to the Eames shell chair.

Only a prototype at this point, the paperchair isn’t available for purchase. But the designer informed me that an Italian company will produce and launch the paperchair at this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan from April 22-27.

It will be available to purchase at the end of April. Price and points of sale haven’t been decided, but continue checking Stadelmann’s website for more information.

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Do you have trouble finding a comfortable position for reading? Never again will every page be interrupted by a shift or stretch. Fill a bare corner with the Tuxedo Double Chaise, and you’ll suddenly find that no activity is more appealing than lounging around with a great book. Plus, just like all furniture dreamt up by décor mastermind Robert Craymer, this chic piece is 100% green and made to last for generations. Are you digging his style? Take a look at his Alexander and Al Gore sofas that I discovered last spring. If you’re more interested in the man behind the curtain, learn about how he came to be known as the eminent RC Green. (Available at Vivavi for $4500.)

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