Roommate alert: the bamboo skewers on the Magistral Cabinet will protect your most precious possessions from unsanctioned intrusions.

You might consider yourself a bit ornery in the morning, but try this on for prickly: 80,000 bamboo skewers cover New York-based artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz’s Magistral Cabinet, on view as part of his solo exhibition “Beautiful Premonitions” at the Cristina Grajales Gallery.

The skewers are meant to serve as an armor protecting your most valuable and personal objects, including your unmentionables. The doors and cubbies inside of the storage unit are concealed behind the bamboo-fortified sliding doors, which took twelve woodworkers six weeks to construct by hammering each individual skewer into the previously carved wooden structure.

A bit more arty than practical, we love the Magistral for its ingenuity in promoting the oft’ misunderstood porcupine.

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

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One of our favorite design mediums is clay because we’re in awe at what an artist can create out of clumps of earth and a little water. Of course, there was also that scene in Ghost that makes us love clay even more… but we digress.

Here are five of our favorite clay designers that we think you’ll love, too.

Hippiekingdom

How can you not love this chunky beaded bracelet made from forest green natural clay? There’s even matching earrings and a necklace if you want to get all coordinated. Besides coming up with awesome clay-based jewelry, this designer also creates neat stuff out of paper, so be sure to check out the entire shop.

American Clay

When it comes to interior design, it’s hard to beat the look of walls covered in environmentally friendly, non-toxic earth plaster. Available in several colors and textures, American Clay’s approach to wall coverings get high marks from us for their beauty and the way it can be used from the most contemporary to the most traditional design schemes.

One Dream Design

Speaking of interior decorating, get a load of these handmade basin sinks. They’re just stunning and come in all kinds of shapes, colors and sizes to match your bathroom’s decor. This company also makes whimsical vases, bowls, and pots, like this 36-inch high vase with human-shaped ears for handles.

Atelier NL

Home design blog Dwell spotted this amazing line of clay kitchenware called Polderceramics. Each piece is made from clay taken from farms all around the Netherlands, then shaped into bowls, jugs, carafes, and other beautiful ceramics. It’s a gorgeous approach to tableware that makes us hope they create product lines for other rooms in the home.

Echo of Deco

If you’re a fan of art deco, you’ll go nuts for designs in this British pottery gallery. For example, take the line of darling glazed animal-shaped figures above. It’s called the “Ark Deco” line – get it? Ha! All the other pieces in the gallery are just as clever and reminiscent of the 1920’s and 1930’s jazz era and are just too cool for words.

Image: Atelier Clay Service

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Sustainable Is Good

This design blog gets high marks from us for focusing on not just green products and packaging, but “the whole lifestyle associated with being sustainable in the home.” It certainly does more than pay lip-service to eco-friendly living – Sustainable Is Good purchases 100% renewable energy uses only green energy to power its site.

Ecoki

If you’re looking for offbeat design and lifestyle news (eco-friendly cigarettes, anyone?), you’ll find this at Ecoki. From nature-inspired decorating themes to how a 71-story tower in China can possibly be the most energy-efficient building in the world, this site digs up fascinating nuggets of info that will interest just about anyone.

TreeHugger

Backed by the same company that produces the Discovery Channel and Planet Green, TreeHugger is the go-to site for the latest in design and architecture. They’ll keep you in the know about all the emerging trends in eco-friendly design, like this wicked-cool clip-on plant room for apartment buildings (uh, you step out there first).

re-nest

What’s not to love about this amazing design site that blends whimsy and charm with a touch of class? Bloggers here seem to have a knack for finding original home decorating eye candy that’s still eco-friendly with a nod to sustainability in addition to syndicating smart, savvy tips from around the green web.

Planet Green

Also backed by Discovery, the bloggers at Planet Green love to explore ways to inject natural and sustainable themes into ordinary homes and dorm rooms!). You’ll find timely tips on decorating on a budget, ideas for celebrating National Garden Month, and even what to do with those awful packing peanuts companies like to use.

Whole Living

The best part about this site’s green living section is how approachable it is for people just learning to navigate the waters of sustainable living. If you’re looking to start small and incorporate little changes one at a time, Whole Living teaches you neat things like how to make your own natural cleaners or where to find the best eco-sneakers.

Inhabitat

This site’s for the big dreamers who want to check out the future of innovative design. It covers everything from where to find upscale, eco-friendly hotels to the concept designs of some of the leading architects in field. Add Inhabitat to your daily reads to stay on top of the latest and greatest in good, green design.

Haute*Nature

There’s so much to love about this site, it’s hard to know where to start. You’ve got green building, furniture, DIY projects, fashion, and more, all wrapped up in one green little package. You’ll find all kinds of cool stuff here, including a wooden henhouse that’s nicer than our first apartment. Pay particular attention to the “Recycled” category for nifty finds like adorable handbags made from recycled plastic to catch-all baskets made from old rubber tires.

Righteous (re)Style

Here’s a design site with so much information it practically jumps from the screen. You won’t be able to look away from amazing finds like tin can wall coverings and vintage furniture you’ll adore. In fact, if you don’t come away from a visit to Righteous (re)Stylewith an overwhelming urge to redo a room, you’re not really trying.

Erika Richmond Green Roof Design

Not everyone is able accommodate a lawn or vegetable garden on the roof, but this is a terrific site to visit if you want to live vicariously through the people who can. You’ll also get fantastic ideas on how to grow flora and fauna in odd and unusual places. If a restaurant in Mexico City can grow a huge wall of greenery, surely you can glean some info on growing organic tomatoes in a window box.

There are so many fantastic design sites out there, we couldn’t possibly get them all in one post. Check back for more soon!

Image:

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Some people have an incredibly creative ability to make a pretty sweet lemonade out of very, very rotten lemons. What I mean is this: I live in northern Arizona, and much of our electricity comes from coal power plants on Navajo and Hopi land. Not cool. Not a sustainable industry or healthy for the residents. But that’s another story. This story is about turning coal burning’s poisonous by-product into homes.

Navajo Flexcrete is a small, innovative company, based out of the tiny town of Page, Ariz. Using the extremely toxic fly ash (think arsenic, lead, barium and mercury) from the local coal plant, it’s harvested, saturated with water and used as a concrete-like building material.

Now wait, you’re thinking, won’t this make a toxic building? Yes and no.

I spoke with Ed Dunn, an ecological builder who uses Navajo Flexcrete, and he says that during the construction process, builders need to use a particulate mask (just as they use when cutting wood or regular concrete block), because cutting or drilling the Flexcrete blocks will let out some toxic powders, but once the block is sealed and painted, there is no off-gassing and the product is stable and safe. Flexcrete has an R-factor of 35, providing excellent insulation, perfectly suited for homes utilizing passive solar.

Granted, this is not the most perfect of ecological home-building products, but when you consider the current situation of the coal plant’s fly ash being dumped into a side canyon of beautiful Lake Powell, wouldn’t it be better used to make well insulated homes that are suited for the extreme heat and cold of the high northern Arizona desert?

And I’m sure the creators of Navajo Flexcrete don’t want to perpetuate the dirty coal business in order to have more fly ash for their product – they are simply using the toxic waste that’s already there and safely turning it into homes.

Alchemy, if you ask me.

Image: ASU

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It’s ideal for that teeny-weeny hotel room in Tokyo or the mod green apartment that’s tight on space but big on water solutions. Yes, if you don’t mind straddling the bowl or facing a faucet sideways to wash up, you will love The Profile┞¢ Toilet Suite with an Integrated Hand Basin.

I’m flushed with inspiration just looking at this unique dual system from Australia, the first of its kind. It incorporates a unique integrated dual-flush push button and spout combination designed to lower total bathroom water usage. It looks pretty cool, too, I suppose because it offers the unexpected.

How does it go?

Number One: It lowers water consumption in the bathroom by allowing water to be used for two purposes. Fresh water is first used for hand washing (thank goodness) and then it flows into the cistern to flush the toilet.

Number Two: The ergonomic space saving design of the compact unit features a landing at the back to accommodate a liquid soap dispenser and at the same time is configured to ensure the lid and seat will remain upright when lifted. Hear that, husbands?

Worried about soapy water in the bowl? The company says tests have been conducted to guarantee this will have no adverse effect on the operation of the suite.

This combo is already catching on down under and will soon be available to North Americans.

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