Concrete Polish’s Crystalline Crush collection uses clustered gem stones and reclaimed metals to create heirloom-quality jewelry that packs some serious bling.

Sometimes a girl just needs to add a bit of bling to her daily life. Just because we can. The Crystalline Crush collection from emerging jewelry company Concrete Polish delivers with genuine gem stones and raw metals. The collection is inspired by nature and the earth’s inhabitants and ranges from multi-chain clustered crystal and tourmaline necklaces to butterfly skeleton and tree trunk inspired cocktail rings and serpent bangles. The pieces tell a story of rawness and refinement, with a philosophy firmly anchored in sustainability.

Concrete Polish uses 100% reclaimed precious metals whenever possible. Recycled jewelry and industrial materials are repurposed to cast new pieces infused with history. The company also employs environmentally conscious studio practices to diminish their footprint. This includes collecting scrap metal for reuse, choosing safer, lower-impact chemicals, and using recycled and recyclable packaging and other shop materials.

Founder Angela Monaco spent years studying various forms of art, from printmaking to glassblowing, and finally found her calling while taking metalsmithing classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Marrying this with a love of crystals that dates back to her childhood, she put mineral and metal together to create these heirloom-quality statement pieces that that are designed be passed down from generation to generation. Each design is individually handcrafted in Monaco’s studio, and produced on Philadelphia’s historic Jewelers’ Row.

Available at Concrete Polish. Prices range from $110 – $400.

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Show some Olympic spirit with these limited-edition bangles, inspired by the Olympic rings and made entirely from bomb shards.

The start of the 2012 London Olympics will be celebrated with a lavish opening ceremony on Friday.Whether or not you’ll be following along on the television, you can show your Olympic pride by wearing these limited-edition Peacebomb bangles from Article22.

Created in honor of the unity and spirit of Olympic competition, the bangles are inspired by the Olympic rings, which were designed in 1912 and debuted at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics and represent the five continents involved in the games. Like all pieces in Article22’s Peacebomb collection, each bracelet is made in Laos, entirely out of melted bomb shards. The bangles are hand cast by artisans who collect scrap metal from the 250-260 million bombs that were dropped over the Laos countryside during the Vietnam War and wrapped with nylon (colors) or leather cord (black).

For each Peacebomb product sold, Project Peacebomb donates funds equivalent to the cost of clearing 1 to 15 square meters of land in Laos from unexploded bombs. In true Olympic spirit, you are also helping people in war-torn areas of the world earn a living wage.

Available for $20 for a single and $90 for the whole continents set from Article22.

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Every coffee lover should own a transportable French press.

Our love for coffee is nothing new, and as the summer season kicks off, it’s time to celebrate by eating outside. That’s  why we are loving the limited edition Café Luxe Kit from Nau which combines the two.

Collaborating with Snowpeak, the limited edition package includes: a titanium café press, a titanium milk foamer, a titanium mug, a cutting board with integrated knife and a bag of Stumptown’s Holler Mountain coffee beans, a direct trade, organic blend of course. All reusable and stylish enough for the chicest urbanite.

Because what tastes better than a cup of coffee outdoors?

$125 from Nau.

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Hand printed tea towels for the beauty in the kitchen.

There is beauty in function, and nowhere is that more true than in the kitchen. These hand printed towels highlight the aesthetic value of some of our most basic kitchen utensils; an homage to two of our most often used tools.

Who wants basic tea towels when you can have these? Printed with non-toxic, solvent-free, water-based inks, Stir and Whisk take an otherwise ordinary kitchen accoutrement and turn it into something much more appealing.

Available for $29 from PonyAndPoppy.

Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Historic Girard prints: vintage American design that’s good ‘til the last drop. 

The influence of America’s most beloved and legendary textile designers and colorists, Alexander Girard, is palpable even today. He is known in design circles for his work with Herman Miller, wherein he created fabrics for the house of Charles and Ray Eames, as well as his eclectic collection of folk art and exotic textiles preserved through the Girard Foundation.

His pop-aesthetic became legion, however, with his mid-century hues and patterns (very Mad Men). Most notably, the Pinwheel pattern: featured here on this George Jensen mug and tableware collection from the Miller House and Garden, a national landmark and architectural study that has been called “America’s most significant Modernist house.”

Truly good til the last drop, note that Patera 1 pattern on the inside of the mug.

Pair with these porcelain plates for the perfect cuppa.

Prices range from $12.95-$52.

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 A fresh look at spring and of course, bees.

Isle of Wight based Charlotte Taylor tailors her line to all aspects of everyday life, “laid bare ready to be grasped by the individual and transformed into their own story. Strong tailoring, bold silhouettes and sculptured shapes provide canvases for dashes of colour, textures and prints.”

Her Big Bee Jumpsuit emphasizes the female form elegantly, and channels as she calls the “cultivation of bees and tree nurseries” which have been a fascination of hers since childhood. The woman who wears her line becomes the essence of the garden, “camouflaged, from the nape of her neck, to the tips of her finger nails.”

£390.00  at Young British Designers

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Channeling historical  propaganda posters in the name of modern day social progress. 

A long time ago, before food became so industrialized and corny, Americans expressed wartime patriotism through Victory Gardens. Kind of like freedom fries, with the exception that actual vegetables were planted during the two world wars to help feed civilians and troops. The government, private foundations, businesses, schools, and seed companies (Monsanto was busy in the production of sacharine and DDT at this time in history) all worked together to provide the necessary resources and instruction to help communities to grow food.

Posters and advertorials got the word out, and history tells us that it was a phenomenal success. Some 20 million Victory Gardens were planted during WWII, but popularity eventually waned. Activist designer Joe Wirtheim is hoping to renew that fervour, building on the momentum of the contemporary urban gardening and homesteading movement, with his project The Victory Garden of Tomorrow.

Wirtheim works out of a small studio in Portland, Oregon and creates graphic posters that recall old-time wartime imagery.

Posters ($14) are printed on recycled paper, hand pulled screen prints ($40) are printed on paper made in the U.S.A.

Also available in vintage flour sack towels, organic tee shirts, badges and postcards.

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

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Portland, Maine-based design house Angela Adams sources the wildly-changing landscape of its environs for its collection of richly textured and colored hand-tufted rugs. Seasonal shifts and the mercurial ocean are among several themes inspired by the sometimes rough-hewn qualities of Maine during any season, which are then pelted into two-dimensional representations.

Representations that could just as easily find a space on a wall, in a garden or on a dock. However, like the earthiness that inspires much of Adams’ collection, these creations are meant to be trudged and sat upon. And forever admired.

Materials include 100% New Zealand wool and cotton canvas backing. For more of the lush, artisanal collection, visit the company website.

Look for Lustables at EcoSalon and submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Sometimes an eye catching accessory is the best medicine for a wardrobe in flux.

It’s officially springtime but is your wardrobe caught in flux between winter doldrums and warmer temperatures that haven’t quite arrived? Lizzie Fortunato’s refreshing Medicine Necklace may be just what the doctor ordered.

Eye catching, and guaranteed to perk up a transitional outfit, the Medicine Woman Necklace features peach and lavender grey beading on a brass box chain with gold bead detail and grey blue and black suede fringe.

$290.00

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Fleet footed and ready for speed.

We like to think of these Rachel Comey Pegasus platforms as an invitation to see life fast and fashionably.

Designer Rachel Comey is known for her shoes and rock and roll meets vintage womenswear collection that is popular with everyone from David Bowie to indie girls such as Michelle Williams and Kate Bosworth. Regardless of who is wearing it, we find these lust worthy.

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