Design & Architecture

looolo cushions are designed to dizzolve

Penelope Green in The New York Times looks at "ready to rot" furniture, made of "wood frames from sustainably managed forests, uncoated nails, organic fabrics and stuffings, nontoxic dyes and, something extra: biodegradability. “At first the whole idea was to have as little impact on the environment as possible,” said Tim Zyto, chief executive of Montauk. “And then I started to think, wouldn’t it be great to have no impact? Then it was, hey, what if the sofa just disappears when you’re done with it?”

The principles espoused by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in Cradle to Cradle are being applied to household goods, which can be either upcycled or composted. Even Umbra, home of so many Designs by Mr. Plastic Fantastic Karim Rashid, is now making them out of PLA (corn based plastic) so that they will biodegrade.

Others think that this is the wrong approach.

Design & Architecture

A new technique for construction caught our eye at Barcelona’s material library Mater (more about that below): Drysystem. Drysystem is a new tile laying system, developed by the Spanish ceramic company TAU, that doesn’t require getting your hands dirty. This new way of putting tiles doesn’t require any kind of adhesive; the pieces simply slot into each other. 45x90 cm tiles can be slotted seamlessly into a polymer base.

Recent Comment by how to lay ceramic tile : "Yes, it is unlikely that they'd be reused. How solid can a floor be without adhes..." [read]

Design & Architecture

InterfaceFLOR, the leading sustainable carpet company (FLOR and Button Rug), has added a new category called FairWorks to their sustainable flooring options. This time, sustainability wasn’t the only aspiration, but InterfaceFLOR made sure their new products are also socially responsible. The collection promises new sustainable materials and traditional skills from around the world in the shape of unique, eco-luxury flooring.

Design & Architecture

Hugo França was an employee at a computer company in Sao Paulo until he resigned his job and moved to northeast Brazil, where he spent 15 years learning the mysteries of working with wood.

From then on, França designs these impressive pieces of furniture from logs that have been burned out of left behind by lodgers or natural weather phenomena. How does he find them? Every 45 days, he goes back to his studio in Bahia and walks the jungle with local farmers and indigenous people, who guide him to abandoned trunks or sell him old canoes.

Read and see more pictures in the extended.

::Via The New York Times. All pictures by Paulo Fridman for the NYT, unless noted.

Design & Architecture

After our initial launch, we were thrilled to find Crate & Barrel's Kona rug. And over the past few years we’ve covered the company's various eco-products, such as their glass food storage containers, their Bamboo Bento collection and, in the past year, their “green sofa.” Nowadays, we’re amazed at what they’ve come up with.

At first, we were skeptical of Crate & Barrel’s most recent e-newsletters, touting their commitment to sustainability, but we’re beginning to see that this might not be a case of your average green washing. “The best place to start making the world a better place is right at home,” reads the introduction to the environmental part of their website. “At Crate & Barrel, green is not a trend. It’s an ongoing mission.”

Design & Architecture

Image credits: Paul Warchol

How's this for a great use of space? Faced with a ceiling of undulating height -- 11’-10” at the low point and 12’-3" at its high point -- Kyu Sung Woo Architects dreamed up the Interlocking Puzzle Loft to make the most of the oddly-shaped room. Since stacking two full-height levels was not an option, each area gets a half-height element -- either a closet or a sleeping platformand interlocked with another set.

This results in three pairs of full-height volumes that are offset from each other, with two sleeping platforms and closets inserted above and below these intersecting pairs. The upper level (the "bedroom," as it were) is divided into two sleeping alcoves, separated by an L-shaped "catwalk," hovering above the closets. Everything is in its place, the loft feels open and airy, and the small space is made totally livable and comfortable; see more after the jump. ::Kyu Sung Woo Architects via ::Materialicious

Design & Architecture

It might not look like it, but inside this box, there's an armoire, a desk, a height-adjustable stool, two more stools, a six-shelf bookcase, and a bed with a mattress. Casulo, the brilliant, modular setup designed by Marcel Krings & Sebastian Mühlhäuser, hides furnishings enough for an entire room -- or, heck, an entire apartment -- in a small 31"x47" (that's 80 cm x 120 cm) box. Two people can lift, carry, and assemble (and then disassemble, when it's time to move) each piece of furniture within the Casulo in about 10 minutes -- it requires no tools for assembly -- and every part of the boxy exterior is used, negating any need for extraneous, wasteful packaging. Smart.

Casulo won the "Abraham & David Roentgen Award" in November 2007 for its "cleverness, finesse and qualitative realisation of the idea" and we think it's quite well-deserved; what a perfect solution for frequent movers and small space dwellers alike. More pics, plus a video, of the unboxing process, after the jump. ::Casulo via ::DesignSpotter

Design & Architecture

Grammy nominees this year will be treated to more than just expensive watches and exotic trips in those outrageous bags of swag. Amid all of the pre-partying and pampering going on at this year’s 50th Grammy Awards, green goods are making their way into the scene at Green with Music ‘the first ever, all-green gifting retreat and Ayurvedic Spa’ for Grammy nominees, providing a green treat for all those artists brave enough to battle LA traffic. While checking out the green goods, attendees also got to people watch and mingle with celebs spotted in the crowd, including Omarosa, and the members of Evanescence (who liked it so much they came by both days).

The event was held February 8 & 9, 2008 in the lobby of the South Collection building Elleven, the first and only LEED Gold certified, eco-chic residential building in California. Most of the green companies were based in Los Angeles and, interestingly enough, were predominantly companies that are relatively new. This gave great exposure to smaller, eco-friendly companies that are just getting their wings.