The Victorians, wealthy or not,  loved to entertain: parlour games, music rooms and tea trolleys–entire pieces of furniture dedicated to serving guests. Fast forward to the Great Depression and, with the exception of the very wealthy, no one was exactly playing Tiddlywinks in the drawing room. Fast forward once more to the mid 20th century when, due largely to post-war optimism, we harkened back to the Victorian era and started opening our homes again. Martinis and Manhattans were the new Earl Grey and bustles were squashed by bouffants. And that tea trolley? Well, hello bar cart!

Bar carts have been all the rage with interior designers for many years now–they are versatile, visually interesting, and typically a conversation piece. With the outrageous success of “Mad Men” and the show’s incredible mid-century accoutrements, the rest of the country got on board, too.  Look around! Nearly every furniture company in every price range, from Jonathan Adler to Ikea, is making some sort of bar cart, and vintage resellers (myself included) are selling them hand over fist. They are being styled as bedside tables, plant stands, unorthodox office pieces, and yes, as homes for gorgeous glassware and decanted libations. Maybe it’s time you added one of these beauties to the mix.

9 Bar Carts For Your Eco-Friendly Home

1. Artek’s Tea Trolley 900  is a Scandinavian modern classic.  Designed by Alvar Aalto in 1937, this light, airy piece could have been designed yesterday. Once a classic, always a classic!

2. The Oko Trolley by Viesso looks both sleek and rustic and is made of 100 percent reclaimed teak, making it suitable for use outdoors.

3. Not everyone can shell out $1000 or more for a bar cart, so the Parker by West Elm gives you tons of mid-century modern inspired bang for your buck! ($349 bucks to be exact.) Added bonus: it’s made from FSC-certified wood.

4. The French do it best! This unassuming vintage 1940s brass Maison Baguès piece is elegant, graceful, and quietly detailed: faux bamboo, acorn finials, a scroll handle, ebonized wood and antiqued mirror.

5. Designed by Frédéric Sofia for Fermob, the Luxembourg Bar With Wheels is destined to be tomorrow’s classic of good design. Fermob guarantees that all of their products are both recycled and recyclable, use solvent-free paint in a zero-release facility, and are constantly creating ways to reduce their energy consumption.

6. This repurposed vintage cart could find an exciting new life playing a supporting role to Cointreau and Campari. It’s Tim Burton meets gym locker meets mad cocktail scientist! ( And at under $400, it’s easily attainable!)

7. If the title “Master of the Bar Cart” existed, it would likely be bestowed upon Cesare Lacca. This piece, designed in the 1950s, is so organic, so biomorphic, that it looks like it could crawl away of its own volition in the manner of some fantastical insect. In other words–WOW.

8. The Circa Bar Cart by Forma Living is a winner all around; beautiful, functional and environmentally sound–it’s made of recycled aluminum. Forma Living is dedicated to merging science, technology and aesthetic sensibilities to create home wares that are gentle on the planet and easy on the eyes. What’s not to love?

9. Good design is always sustainable. An outstanding marriage of form and function peppered with undeniable beauty and the highest quality materials tends to stay out of landfills. This sculptural mid-century piece, designed by Brazil-based architect Jorge Zalspusin, was made of locally sourced woods (the modern productions are all FSC-certified) and incredible craftsmanship.

At $15K+ for a vintage model, this cart won’t be coming home with me in this lifetime, but I still remember where I was the first time I laid eyes on one in person. I’ll never forget it–it was a near-religious experience. And that is the true beauty of good design.

Related on EcoSalon

How to Make Perfectly Clear Ice Cubes for Cocktails

Why Design? Herman Miller Calls on the Industry’s Brain Trust For Answers

Creating a Home Bar: 3 Budget Solutions and DIY Inspiration

Photo credits (top to bottom): Design Shuffle, Artek, Viesso, West Elm, One Kings Lane, Fermob, Chairish, 1stdibs, Forma Living, Espasso

The post Cheers! 9 Bar Carts For Your Eco-Friendly Home appeared first on EcoSalon.

Does PUMA’s sustainability efforts cancel out its shaky sweatshop record?

In 2010, global athletics brand PUMA wowed the sustainable design world when it unveiled the Clever Little Bag, its eco-effective reinvention of the classic shoebox. The product of a nearly two-year collaboration with Yves Béhar’s fuseproject, the Clever Little Bag consists of 65 percent less paper, reduces PUMA’s carbon emissions by 10,000 tons per year and requires significantly less water, energy and diesel in the manufacturing process. Plus, it’s reusable.

The project falls under the company’s “PUMAVision” for a world that is “safer, more peaceful and more creative than the world we know today.” But while PUMA is making strides in the world of sustainable design and packaging, the same can’t be said for its commitment to ethical manufacturing. For decades, PUMA has repeatedly come under fire for human rights violations in its developing world factories. The contradiction begs the question: can commitment to ethics and the environment necessarily be separated?

The Good

The 4Keys is the tool we have developed to help us stay true to PUMAVision, and we use it by constantly asking ourselves if we are being Fair, Honest, Positive, and Creative in everything we do. We believe that by staying true to our values, inspiring the passion and talent of our people, working in sustainable, innovative ways, and doing our best to be Fair, Honest, Positive, and Creative, we will keep on making the products our customers love, and at the same time bring that vision of a better world a little closer every day.

PUMA works to implement this PUMAVision through three programs: puma.safe (addressing social and environmental issues), puma.peace (working for world peace) and puma.creative (promoting creativity).

The development of the Clever Little Bag fell under the puma.safe program. When PUMA approached fuseproject to collaborate, their needs were simple, said fuseproject’s Bart Haney at a recent presentation for the Pratt Institute’s Sustainability Crash Course. PUMA wanted to completely redesign their shoebox, polybag and hangtag to be more sustainable, while also cutting costs.

The project began with a comprehensive lifecycle analysis, the findings of which were released to the public in a 50-page PDF document. In short, it was found that the Clever Little Bag would result in savings on the production side because of reduced carbon emissions; savings during transport because of the innovative shape and reduced weight; and influence on customer behavior, since the shoe bag would encourage reuse and eliminate the need for an additional polymer shopping bag.

Next, it was on to the design phase. After going through more than 2,000 designs and testing out more than 40 prototypes, the Clever Little Bag design was chosen. Made from non-woven polyethylene with a corrugated “bone” structure to separate shoes and provide stability, the design requires little assembly and considers transport, storage and retail display efficiency.

The PUMA hangtag also got a makeover, shrinking to save paper and incorporating icons from the PUMA Eco-Table to save space. As for the polybag, the solution was almost laughably simple, Haney said. By folding the shirt in half just one more time, designers were able to halve the amount of plastic needed.

The Bad

The positive press surrounding the Clever Little Bag launch couldn’t overshadow the human rights violations reported at PUMA factories in recent years. Though PUMA is a member of the Fair Labor Association and claims that it conducts regular independent audits, it is regularly called out by anti-sweatshop organizations for conditions at its 350 outsourced production facilities. For instance:

• In January 2011, PUMA’s El Salvadoran producer Ocean Sky came under fire when sweatshop conditions and 60 hour-plus shifts were exposed by the American National Labor Committee.
• In April 2011, 101 Cambodian garment workers fainted at the Huey Chuen factory in Phnom Penh due to long working hours and poor health and safety. And just a few months ago, a woman was shot during a labor protest in Phnom Penh calling for better working conditions and higher pay.
• In March of this year, an independent study by the War On Want exposed working conditions in Bangladeshi factories producing Olympic apparel for PUMA, Nike, and Adidas. The report found that most workers make well under a living wage and have to illegally work over the 60-hour maximum in order to make enough to survive.

One report can be dismissed as an isolated incident. But frequent reports from factories around the world point to larger issues of neglect.

The Questionable

With its emphasis on sustainable innovation, PUMA is capable of creating industry-wide environmental change. The Clever Little Bag is proof that reimagining things like a shoebox can not only improve eco-efficiency but also cut down on costs – a fact that is already pushing PUMA’s peers to analyze their own packaging.

But if PUMA is serious about having a positive social impact, it must also take meaningful steps to improve working conditions along its supply chain. According to the PUMAVision statement, the company is constantly questioning its pursuit of fairness. Insisting on living wages and decent labor conditions in its overseas factories seems like a logical next step.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

Behind the Label: TOMS’ One for One Campaign

Behind the Label: Design Within Reach

Behind the Label: Burt’s Bees

Behind the Label: Aveda Natural Beauty Products

The post Behind the Label: PUMA’s Vision and Clever Little Bag appeared first on EcoSalon.

How to wear polka dots without looking like a 50s pinup.

Polka dots. You’ve seen them on the runways but aren’t quite sure how to wear them without looking like a 50s pinup or your grandma’s apron. Fear not, there are plenty of ways that this classic pattern can fit into a stylish eco-fashionista’s wardrobe.

Stella Wedge by Calleen Cordero, $455, Juno & Jove // Stella Stars Necklace, $128, Hovey Lee // Lina Rennell Recycled Leather belt, $165, Beklina // Polka Dot Sweater, Approx. $550, Chinti & Parker // Stella Vino clutch by Raven Kauffman, $325, Juno & Jove // Baby Toes Cactus polish, $12.50, Priti NYC // A Line Mini Skirt, on sale for $104, Edun

Let’s start with a Polka Dot Sweater from Chinti & Parker, a basic, versatile piece perfect for a first envoy into this polka dot trend. The mixing of patterns is very hot right now. Don’t be afraid to try ones that you wouldn’t think at first glance will go together — that’s where the magic happens. Mix your polka dot pattern with more pattern, like this woven mini skirt or a bright floral pattern or – why not – a smaller polka dot print on a dark background.

Stars are all the rage right now and just happen to be a great complement to those dots. This necklace from Hovey Lee will ensure your look is more tough than sweet. Add visual interest with with a burgundy bag by Raven Kauffman and shoes by Calleen Cordero. Finish off the look by adding some bright yellow – one of the hottest colors this spring – accents like a belt and nail polish.

If you’re still not convinced that you can rock the polka dots, try a dotty manicure (here’s a tutorial on how to do it yourself).

The post How To Wear It: Polka Dots appeared first on EcoSalon.

Bamboo and you in 2011.

Earlier this year, EcoSalon rightly predicted that bamboo would continue making waves in design. It’s not difficult to see why.

As far as materials go, bamboo is remarkable. It grows and spreads quickly without fertilizers, pesticides, or water. It’s not fussy about climate. It’s 16 percent stronger than maple, one-third lighter than oak, and naturally antimicrobial. It also releases more oxygen into the air than similarly-sized plants.

With such credentials, bamboo has cropped up as quickly in the sustainable design world as in nature. In 2012, we’ll likely be seeing even more of the grass. We can also expect more creative uses of Plyboo, a sustainable bamboo plywood already used heavily in architecture and interior design. Produced in China by Smith & Fong Co., plyboo is available in a wild array of grains, colors, and textures, including some that resemble animal prints.

But before we look forward, let’s take a step back. Here’s a look at eight of our favorite featured bamboo products from the past year.

AHeirloom’s Stateside Plyboo Cutting Boards

Pick your state.

Bamboo iPhone Case

With a carving of the iconic Leica M1, this iPhone case is a smart mash-up of high and low tech.

Bamboo Wood Cutlery

Abstract-Modern Bamboo Vase

Clever and vibrant.

Bamboo Bath Scale

A modern alternative to clunky white plastic.

Plywerk Bamboo Photo Mounts

These photo mounts from Plywerk are an elegant new way to showcase favorite snapshots and works of art. Upload your image to their website for a custom mount job, or purchase blank ones for do-it-yourself projects.

The Magistral Cabinet

Designer Sebastian Errazuriz’s Magistral Cabinet, which showed at the Cristina Grajales Gallery this spring, is actually made from bamboo skewers.

VivaTerra Patterned Bamboo Plates

With spring colors and retro-chic patterns, these bamboo plates from VivaTerra are a bright idea in bamboo design.

Image: Pjan Vandaele

The post 8 Bamboo Designs We Loved This Year appeared first on EcoSalon.

The AIGA (Re)Design awards celebrate the best in sustainable design.

On Thursday night, the winners of the AIGA (Re)Design Awards, a competition celebrating the best in sustainable design, were presented at the (Re)Design Extravaganza at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. Underneath a handsome Stegosaurus specimen in the museum’s new Dinosaur Hall, guests could admire the winning work up close.

The (Re)Design Awards were started by the Colorado chapter of the AIGA in 2009, and was from the beginning, designed to be a traveling competition. This year, the L.A. chapter got their chance to represent. Stan Evenson, who co-chaired the competition with his wife Tricia, told me how far he thinks we have come: “As long as 15 years ago or so I remember speaking to our clients about sustainability practices and feeling I was considered slightly left of Communism when I would bring the subject up. Today, it’s very different since designers are more conscious than ever, understanding that our planet is headed on a collision course with nature if we continue wearing ‘design blinders.’ There is no room in our landfills to handle this oversight. It’s a great opportunity to encourage sustainability and social responsibility in our design solutions.”

The competition had two main categories: Environmental Sustainability and Social Responsibility. Within those two, each had subcategories for Individual/Agency, Student, For Profit Corporation and Non Profit Corporation.

Interestingly, two firms sweeped their categories, Method in Environmental Responsibility, For Profit, and SoftFirm Studios in Social Responsibility, For Profit. A handful of the winning entries were clients with “living” in their name (Living Principles, Living Cities, Living Buildings and Living Light), perhaps this is the new buzz word in the environmental field?

Environmental Sustainability: Individual/Agency: 1st Place: University of Hawaii, School of Architecture, Identity System by Design Workshop, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Environmental Sustainability: Individual/Agency: 2nd Place: PUMA Clever Little Bag by fuseproject.

Environmental Sustainability: Individual/Agency: 3rd Place: Living Principles Community Website by Tomorrow Partners.

Environmental Sustainability: Student: 1st Place: Chinese Character Practice Book—No Print Book by Li Xu.

Environmental Sustainability: Student: 2nd Place: Sustainability Guide by Erin Harp.

Environmental Sustainability: Student: 3rd Place: Balanza Verde: Educational Waste Management Unit for Elementary Schools by Alëna Konyk.

Environmental Sustainability: For Profit: 1st Place: Method Refills by Method Products Inc.—In-House Creative.

Environmental Sustainability: For Profit: 2nd Place: Method Greenskeeping Tool Kit by Method Products Inc.—In-House Creative.

Environmental Sustainability: For Profit: 3rd Place: Method Laundry Detergent by Method Products Inc.—In-House Creative.

Environmental Sustainability: Non Profit: 1st Place: Living Light by The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Team Living Light.

Environmental Sustainability: Non Profit: 2nd Place: A Zero Carbon, Handmade Stationery by Luce Beaulieu.

Environmental Sustainability: Non Profit: 3rd Place: GreenBlue Brand Identity by GreenBlue In-House Creative.

The range of entries was extremely diverse, from design students to seasoned designers and agencies. Entries included everything from the design of an undersea monitoring unit that studies decaying coral reefs, to a non-printed book with die-cutting and embossing that teaches the blind Chinese characters, to underwear products and packaging that gives 10% of profit back to charities, uses 100% organic, locally farmed cotton and sources packaging entirely within a 100 mile radius. Other projects that were entered included detergent packaging, a portable and reusable homeless shelter, an identity system for the University of Hawaii School of Architecture and a website for the creative community to share and showcase best practices, tools, stories and ideas for sustainability thinking. There was a fine line dividing sustainability and social responsibility and many times it just truly blended perfectly which made the judging challenging.

“I was impressed by the range of sustainable and socially innovative strategies shown by many of the entries,” says Naomi Pearson, one of five judges faced with the task of selecting winners from a strong set of submissions. “Especially impressive were entries that tackled both environmental (and human) health and social responsibility, given that these two issues are so closely linked.”

As an active practitioner in the field of graphic design, it is indeed nice to see that designers are starting to look beyond recycled paper and water-based inks, and instead looking carefully at the bigger picture. Sometimes sustainable design can be about coming up with smarter solutions and producing less stuff for the same amount of impact. And you don’t have to work for big-name clients like Method to do great, sustainable design.

Social Responsibility: Individual/Agency: 1st Place: PACT underwear by fuseproject.

Social Responsibility: Individual/Agency: 2nd Place: HERproject Toolbuilder by Tomorrow Partners.

Social Responsibility: Individual/Agency: 3rd Place: Verbien “See Better to Learn Better” by fuseproject.

Social Responsibility: Student: 1st Place: Fresh Fest New Orleans Poster by Azu Romá.

Social Responsibility: Student: 2nd Place: Helping Hands Guides by Karen Villalba and Kelsey Anderson.

Social Responsibility: Student: 3rd Place: Cupcaked by Derek Maxfield.

Social Responsibility: For Profit: 1st Place: Living City Design Competition by SoftFirm Studios.

Social Responsibility: For Profit: 2nd Place: Cascadia Programming Guide by SoftFirm Studios.

Social Responsibility: For Profit: 3rd Place: International Living Building Institute Identity by SoftFirm Studios.

Social Responsibility: Non Profit: 1st Place: cause/affect: Make Your Mark poster by Kristen Bouvier and Arvi Raquel-Santos.

Social Responsibility: Non Profit: 2nd Place: Cardborigami, Inc. by Tina Hovsepian (who I got to assist putting up her clever cardboard shelter).

Social Responsibility: Non Profit: 3rd Place: Inner-City Arts Website by Kim Baer.

“The (Re)design Awards competition encourages inclusivity for every level of designer, from student to professional, and from non-profit organizations to for-profit corporations in all disciplines of design including Graphic and Product Design, Multi-Media, Urban Planning, Interior Design, and Architecture, and we believe our mission was successful,” says Stan Evenson. “Bringing this competition from national to worldwide, we were thrilled to have entries from 14 different countries and throughout the U.S., that featured great design thinking with purpose and substance in the categories of environmental sustainability and social responsibility.”

“I decided I wanted to do something to help the homeless,” says Tina Hovsepian about her school project Cardborigami. “It boiled down to the basic human necessity of shelter. I played with materials, ended up with cardboard, played with origami and picked this form that became the shell.” Hovsepian’s school project has since evolved to a non-profit, in the stages of funding. “I really believe that design can do a lot,” she says. “Everything we learn through our rigorous training can be used for good. Green design is definitely the way to go.”

“Thursday’s gala event was all about celebrating sustainability and social responsibility,” says Evenson. “We need to have the wiliness and conviction to make a difference on this planet by doing well, by doing good. And while doing that… take time to celebrate great design thinking for these two critical issues of our lifetime.”

Maybe design can’t save the world, but it can facilitate a great deal of important change, and that power should never be underestimated.

The post The AIGA (Re)Design Awards Celebrates the Best in Sustainable Design appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnNatalie Chanin’s bi-weekly column, Material Witness, offers a seasoned designer’s perspective on the fashion industry, textile history and what happens when love for community trumps all.

I found a letter that I wrote some years ago.  It starts like this:

First, I will start with my apology: I am really a terrible friend. I have been ‘absent.’ I have made many people feel as though I did not care. I am sorry; however, if I am really honest, it is not so much that I am sorry as much as I have missed you and missed so many important things in my life.
It has been FULL time. And it will be hard for me to begin to tell all of the laughter, tears, frustrations, joys, moments, days, weeks, years that have happened. I try to find the beginning and the only thing I find is my wish to have you here with me in this moment…

Isn’t that just how life is?  It gets all full and messy and good at the same time.
And isn’t that the story of a really good friend – one who is willing to wait for the story to unfold?

Southerners are renowned storytellers. I don’t know if that is because it gets so hot that we have to slow down and consequently hear more, or if the porch just provides the best venue for recounting tales. Perhaps we’ve just lived so close to the land for so many generations that the stories naturally grew. Whatever the reason, there are libraries filled with sections with titles that cover a “Southern Sense of Place,” “Southern Gothic,” and “Southern Short Story.”

And while many of us are born storytellers, our stories do take time to unfold. We are slow, methodical, practiced in our pace. My father and my son – following in his grandfather’s very slow footsteps – are masters in this art. They take the right breaths, they slowly move from one part of the room to the other. My father can take three days to answer a particular question. I will unexpectedly get a call and find my father simply replying to a question asked days earlier. Sometimes, I have to stop and think back to what actually prompted the question. This was infuriating as a child, “Daddy, can I go to the movie this afternoon with my friends?”

Silence.  It would be like he didn’t even hear me. Perhaps an hour later, he would call me in from outside, “Are you ready to go to the movie?” My heart would skip and it was like a present, wrapped up in a slowly unfolding package that had just been delivered. I would grab my things and go savor the movie.

The writer George Dawes Green provided the best storytelling platform EVER with the founding of The Moth. He started The Moth because he “wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda’s porch.”

I once wrote a blog post about his story “The House that Sherman Didn’t Burn.” This is one of the best Southern Gothic tales I have ever heard. (Keep in mind that all the stories told at The Moth are true.)

My friend, writer, and folklorist, Fred Fussell loved this story but thinks that the audience laughs in all the wrong places – which made me laugh as well. But the thing about stories is this, they are personal: personal for the teller and personal for listener as we are constantly searching for our own humanity within the story. We need that connection from teller to self.  We need to FEEL our friend’s life in and around their words. The beauty of The Moth is that each storyteller feels like a friend once their story is told.  And in the telling, like my father, they take their time. Their stories are not told, they unfold. Yes, good stories – like good friends take time.

Shouldn’t this be the same with good design? In a world that seems to spin faster and faster out of control, shouldn’t we be looking for products that take time to unfold? Or products whose usefulness we savor? Shouldn’t we demand products that have stories to tell? Like good wine, a good design needs time to be a part of our lives, time to reach its full maturity. If we could stop the ever spinning merry-go-round of fashion to see the consequences of our fast fashion choices, we might begin to appreciate the tales that our garments tell. Some items would tell tales of sorrow; others would tell beautiful tales of how they found their way to the wearer. I think that we would start to breathe and listen to the stories of our clothes and their makers – because there are great people out there telling beautiful stories.

American designer Sister Parish said, “Even the simplest wicker basket can become priceless when it is loved and cared for through the generations of a family.” The next time we purchase a single item, perhaps we should exercise patience and think back to this idea. Can this product I am about to buy be cared for and loved through the generations? What story does this item tell? Isn’t buying a product with a long life the same as exercising patience for a good story?

Patience has never been at the top of my list of virtues. I have been told that I have a calm, patient appearance on the outside, but my inner life is much less composed. You might even go so far as to say that my inner life and outer life were disconnected in my youth. This was the cause of much consternation and drama in my earlier days. But what I understand today is that I needed time. I needed time to grow up and to grow into my own story. If I can give my daughter one piece of advice, I will tell her to slow down, be calm, and wait.

Good things – like good design – take time and good friends are worth waiting for.

Natalie Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of three books including Alabama Stitch Book  (2008), Alabama Studio Style (2010) and the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design which comes out spring 2012. Look for her bi-weekly column, Material Witness here and follow her on Facebook and her own blog at Alabama Chanin.

The post Natalie Chanin: Give the Story Time to Unfold appeared first on EcoSalon.

Eco-friendly prefab homes have enjoyed a grassy place in the sun (as in green) for the past decade. Here’s what’s on the horizon. Our vote: pretty fabulous. 

The prefab process (building modulated prefabricated homes offsite in an industrial facility), is simple and deceptively cheap. Deceptively so because the term is so often associated with McMansions, suburban Taj Mahals built on the cheap with massive mortgages attached. Nowadays, prefab is equated with the new eco chic, a modernist aesthetic and sustainable design.

The prefabs of the future are all about smart design, responsible sourcing, affordability and, above all else, style. We venture to say that these pretty fabulous prefabs actually fit the bill. Here’s why:

A prefab is built with recycled and renewable materials. Bamboo is the most common, while a sturdy base of steel, wood and cement can withstand even the most arctic of conditions. If it’s a really fab prefab, it mixes natural light with passive heating and cooling. This prefab from Seattle-based Stillwater Dwellings also features  low-VOC paints, micro-strip birch hardwoods, Marmoleum floors, wool carpeting, recycled-content quartz slab countertops, ultra-high efficiency heating and hot water systems, and high-efficiency windows with argon and low-E film.

If it’s pretty fabulous, it uses interior spaces wisely and is designed with longevity in mind. Danish studio Onen and Swedish company Add-A-Room co-designed this rustic cottage/additional living space called the One+ house. When the future calls for more space, simply add another module.

A pretty prefab must feature large windows and multi-use functional spaces. The Week’nder by Lazor Office was installed via a ferry trip across Lake Superior. They had us at the front window.

A fabulous prefab is non-invasive, meaning it doesn’t infringe on the natural world. On the contrary, it blends into it like the FlatPak house.

Really fabulous are prefabs built with economic stability in mind. Mass customization means they are an ideal solution for low-income communities and in places that are prone to natural disaster. The FLOAT House from the Make It Right Foundation is scalable, adaptable and mass-produced. It’s an affordable, sustainable prefab that generates its own power, collects its own water and limits resource consumption.

Making Pitt fairly fab, too.

As architects continue to heed the call of clean design and aesthetic simplicity, the prefab will continue have a home with eco-conscious homeowners. We like it.

Image: jenosale

The post Pre(tty) Fab(ulous) Modular Houses appeared first on EcoSalon.

Does design have the power to change the world? AIGA, the premiere organization for professional and student designers, believes that yes, it can.

AIGA is hosting its second annual (Re)design Awards to prove that design is both a strategic tool and cultural force for transforming the way we function in the world. With the mission of “igniting change,” they’re looking for submissions in two categories: Environmental Sustainability and Social Responsibility. Stan Evenson, founder and CEO of Evenson Design Group and co-chair of the event, explains that those two categories can include anything from multimedia, interactive design, packaging and product design to brand identity, environmental design, permaculture and urban planning.

“If one’s design submission is using sustainable materials and/or promoting environmental sustainability or socially responsible actions to benefit people, it’s eligible.”

The competition runs through July 22, 2011 and is open to the international design community. Thus far, entries have come in from Greece, Australia, Canada and across the United States. All submissions will be judged by design luminaries Eric Benson, Rachel Martin, Naomi Pearson, Tim McNeil and Brain Dougherty. The winner will be honored at a special Gala event on October 27, 2011.

Design, Ever-Evolving

While infringements and frustrations abound, our collective consciousness is awakening, particularly when it comes to awareness about what we wear, how we eat, and what we buy. Design is elemental, both subtly and integrally, to the choices that we make (and have) as consumers.

“[My wife and co-chair] Tricia and I have had our design business, EDG, for over 35 years. And many of those years we were wearing blinders, encouraging our clients to print more and use more, and not stepping back for one moment to admit that we were definitely a part of an enormous problem.”

Three children later, they were “awakened” one day in 2005 with the realization that they wanted to be part of the solution. They, like so many of their colleagues, set out to revolutionize the field with sustainability in mind.

“How can we be enlightened through design,” Evenson wonders. “The (Re)design Awards are about rethinking, reengaging, reconnecting, repurposing our design. It’s about more than just creating something beautiful for a client. It’s about doing something bigger for this world. For designers, it’s a responsibility and an opportunity.”

We tried very hard to get the inside scoop on potential frontrunners and projects to watch, but to no avail. Like everyone else, we’ll have to wait. All you have to do, in the meantime, is enter.

“The deadline is impending,” Evenson warns.

(Re)designAwards 2011 from AIGA | Los Angeles on Vimeo.

The post Do Good Design? Enter the AIGA (Re)Design Awards appeared first on EcoSalon.

We’ve written about FIT Professor and author of Eco Fashion, Sass Brown, before on EcoSalon and are privileged to offer a Q&A with her tomorrow from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, March 22nd on our Facebook page. Brown, who is currently Resident Director for the Fashion Institute of Technology’s study abroad program in Florence, Italy is a true fashion industry resource, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to ask her questions you might have regarding sustainable design and all aspects of the fashion industry.

Laurence King Publishing writes of her work: “This book shows the range of companies making a difference in the area of sustainable design in fashion, exploding the myth that sustainable design is bad design, or at best basic design, by highlighting the range of companies producing desirable and well-designed apparel and accessories with a conscience. It not only demonstrates the range of products available around the globe, but explains the stories behind them and the communities they support, as well as showing how and where they make a difference.”

The post A Facebook Q&A With Eco Fashion Author, Sass Brown appeared first on EcoSalon.

Honestly, there are times when I too feel like taking a happy pill to get away from it all but the only way to be a part of it is to be educated. So don’t stop now.

These 15 books will take you down many interesting roads on your journey. Be open to it.

1. Eco Fashion

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Eco Fashion by Sass Brown

“This book shows the range of companies making a difference in the area of sustainable design in fashion, exploding the myth that sustainable design is bad design, or at best basic design, by highlighting the range of companies producing desirable and well-designed apparel and accessories with a conscience. It not only demonstrates the range of products available around the globe, but explains the stories behind them and the communities they support, as well as showing how and where they make a difference.” – Laurence King Publishing

2. Future Fashion White Papers

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Future Fashion White Papers by Earth Pledge

“A collection of 30 compelling essays by scientists, retailers, farmers, dyers, models and others in the industry, including Diane von Furstenberg, Julie Gilhart, and Shalom Harlow. FutureFashion White Papers take an in-depth look at the fashion industry and provides a thoughtful, wide-ranging analysis of how a transition to sustainability can be achieved. Diane von Furstenberg notes: ‘FutureFashion White Papers is an exploration that signifies movement towards a more sustainable fashion industry. It is an opportunity to think about and evaluate the fashion industry as it stands today’.” – Earth Pledge

3. The Eco-chick Guide to Life

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The Eco-chick Guide To Life by Starre Vartan

“Every now and then, someone comes along who shows the rest of us how much we take for granted the freedoms of our daily lives. The eco-journalist, blogger and all-around green genie Starre Vartan is one such person. In The Eco Chick Guide to Life, her earth-first program for glamorous but environmentally conscious living, she mines new lodes of guilt, finding gems of awareness and providing detailed eco-wise shopping guides for the body, the closet, the home and the larder.” – The New York Times

4. DIY Fashion

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DIY Fashion by Selena Francis-Bryden

“DIY Fashion is a cool, quirky, and creative guide to making and customizing your own clothes, bags, and accessories. It contains more than 40 thrifty, sustainable, and stylish projects, none of which require prior skill or a sewing machine. From customized hand-me-downs to elegant evening wear, the book is packed with ideas that the reader can adapt to their own taste.” – Amazon

5. Eco-Chic, The Fashion Paradox

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Eco-Chic, The Fashion Paradox by Sandy Black

“Sandy Black has divided the book into four chapters: The Greening of the Fashion Industry, Re-Designing Fashion, Fibre to Fabric and Fabric to Fashion. In the first chapter she has profiled six of the most influential players in the UK ethical fashion industry: the inimitable Lynda Grose, the pioneering Fair Trade label People Tree, the mainstream advocates Marks and Spencer, the long-term campaigner Katharine Hamnett and the style leader Sarah Ratty of Ciel. By choosing these six profiles to feature at the beginning of the book Sandy Black has very quickly laid out the complex territory on which the battle for ethical fashion must be fought.” – Treehugger

6. Green Is The New Black

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Green Is The New Black-How To Change The World With Style by Tamsin Blanchard

“Tamsin Blanchard is a journalist and writer. Since 2005, she has been the Telegraph Magazine’s style director. Before that she wrote about fashion and interiors for The Observer, and spent three years as The Independent‘s fashion editor. She is contributing fashion editor to the V&A Magazine, and a sometime contributing editor to 10 Magazine. She has also written for Vogue, Marie Claire, US Harper’s Bazaar, and The Daily Rubbish. In the late Nineties, she co-founded “˜it’ a luxury boxed magazine for fashion, art and design. She has taught fashion journalism at Central Saint Martins and University of Westminster and is currently an external assessor at London College of Fashion.”

With a foreword by Lily Cole, and lots of contributions from designers and eco experts, it is an entertaining, inspiring guide on how to be fashionably green. – www.tamsin blanchard.com

7. Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys

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Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys by Kate Fletcher

“Kate Fletcher is a practitioner and academic who has been working in the field of sustainable fashion for the last 15 years: she has recently become Reader in Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion. Her consultancy within the fashion industry, coupled with her educational experience, makes her uniquely well qualified to write this much-needed text. Fletcher, who has helped to develop the concept of “˜slow fashion’, is at the center of research in this area and calls upon both established texts such as McDonough and Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle and recent research from a wide variety of sources, including her own, to support her writing. The quality of research is high.” – Oxford Art Journal

8. Eco Chic: The Savvy Shoppers Guide to Ethical Fashion

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Eco Chic: The Savvy Shoppers Guide to Ethical Fashion by Matilda Lee

“The hottest trend on the catwalk is ethical clothing. Top fashion designers and spokes models including Katharine Hamnett, Stella McCartney and Bono’s wife Ali Hewson are all voicing the benefits of eco chic. But what is this new fad, and what difference can it make to the world? “Eco Chic” gives you the full story on this fashion phenomenon, from which fabrics are harmful to the environment, to how you can create your own eco-friendly fashions through recycling and savvy shopping. You will discover how to spot and avoid garments produced in sweatshops and why supermarket ‘fast clothes’ make both you and the planet sick. This book will allow you to look great but also feel good about your impact on other people and the planet as a whole.” – Amazon

9. Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories: A Collection of Sustainable Design Essays

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Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories: A Collection of Sustainable Design Essays by Jonathan Chapman and Nick Gant

“Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories boldly presents alternative understandings of sustainable design, to curate a challenging, sometimes uncomfortable and always provocative, collection of essays by some of the world’s leading sustainable design thinkers. The result is an authoritative anthology that reinvigorates the culture of critique that in previous years has empowered design with the qualities of social, environmental and economic revolution.” – Earthscan

10. The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

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The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power and Politics of World Trade by Pietra Rivoli

-¦a readable and evenhanded treatment of the complexities of world trade”¦ As Rivoli repeatedly makes clear, there is absolutely nothing free about free trade except the slogan.” – San Francisco Chronicle

11. Threads of Labour

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Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Worker’s Perspective by Angela Hale and Jane Wills

“This book gives valuable insights for decision-makers in international clothing brands. Read it and learn how garment workers worldwide are affected by the sub-contracted manufacturing that characterizes this industry.” – Dan Rees, Director of the Ethical Trading Initiative

12. Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles

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Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles by India Flint

“The essence of plants bursts forth in magnificent hues and surprising palettes. Using dyes of the leaves, roots, and flowers to color your cloth and yarn can be an amazing journey into botanical alchemy. In Eco Colour, artistic dyer and colorist India Flint teaches you how to cull and use this gentle and ecologically sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes.

India explores the fascinating and infinitely variable world of plant color using a wide variety of techniques and recipes. From whole-dyed cloth and applied color to prints and layered dye techniques, India describes only ecologically sustainable plant-dye methods. She uses renewable resources and shows how to do the least possible harm to the dyer, the end user of the object, and the environment. Recipes include a number of entirely new processes developed by India, as well as guidelines for plant collection, directions for the distillation of nontoxic mordants, and methodologies for applying plant dyes.” – Amazon

13. Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style

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Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style by Christie Matheson

“Matheson slyly steers us toward consumer goods and services that minimize our earth-stomping human footprint. She’s brave enough to say ‘buy less of everything,’ and even the politically fraught ‘buy nothing.’ Matheson’s genius is to make this seem not only doable, but fun.” – Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbage Land and Bottlemania

14. Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?

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Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? A Conversation Exploring Issues, Practices and Possibilities by Janet Hethorn and Connie Ulasewicz

“Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? is a critical read for anyone with ties to the fashion industry: designers, marketers, product developers, retailers, teachers, students, and consumers that want to become involved with balancing the fashion desires of the individual with the need to be a steward of our environment.” – Fashion Practice

15. Fugitive Denim

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Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade by Rachel Louise Snyder

“Smart and ambitious, cosmopolite journalist Snyder maps the global garment industry, beginning in a New York loft where designers plot a line of ultra-pricey, socially responsible jeans that would ensure a fair wage for workers and not cause excessive environmental degradation. From there she visits cotton growers in Azerbaijan, denim specialists in Italy and factories in Cambodia and China. An excellent reporter, Snyder talks comfortably to both sophisticated designers and factory workers, conveying their very different motives as she paints a picture of an industry far more tangled than most consumers imagine. She notes that economic and employment shifts are felt globally, describing Italy mourning the loss of manufacturing to cheaper factories in Asia, where low-paying jobs represent unprecedented opportunity to many workers. If the prose occasionally verges on cuteness, it’s preferable to the jargon of quotas and NGOs ubiquitous in most discussions of global trade. Snyder’s investigation is an essential read for those curious about fashion or the globe-spanning business that produces their clothes.” – Publisher’s Weekly

Photo credit: Book pages by Horia Varlan on Flickr, licensed for commercial use under Creative Commons.

The post Slideshow: 15 Eco Fashion Books We Love appeared first on EcoSalon.