Anyone that sits at a desk or in a chair for part or all of their work knows that what you sit in really matters. Not only does it affect how comfortable and productive you are, but poor seating can have some pretty negative long-term health effects, limiting your ability to earn the green.
The chairs you'll find here are designed to help you feel better at work, not only providing relief to your arching back, but relieving some of the pressure your office puts on the environment. Choose from lots of colors and fabrics to fit your budget and style; since they've all been designed with sustainability in mind -- spanning the spectrum from infinitely adjustable to so smart that it adjusts to you -- each one can make a case for being the last task chair you'll ever have to buy. Hit the jump to start sitting pretty....
Working part or full-time from home can be a
pretty appealing (not to mention green) way to go, but it can be hard to devote precious living space to a full-on home office. Too often, we find that workspace has to be tucked into a corner of a bedroom, or jammed into a living area.
For those of us who work from home but don't have space -- or don't want to maintain an extra room, just for a home office -- we love the idea of this TV/office wall unit. It integrates work and play into one handy device: when you're working, pull up a chair to the fold-down desk; when you're off the clock, the whole things spins around on its single metal leg, making it quick 'n easy to instantly transform the room. We like the "out of sight, out of mind" component something like this would bring your routine; one caveat: no more watching TV while you work...oh well. We think it'd probably be worth it, given this piece's awesome functionality.
::Gruber + Schlager via
::Trendir...
Just what was Belgian designer Bram Boo thinking when he conceived this desk/shelf combination for his Novela collection? Hard to say for sure, but we suspect it was an effort to follow his goal "to produce pieces that constantly surprise the user, with a focus on functionality and flexibility so that the object adapts itself to the surrounding space and to the need of the moment!"
We like its less-is-more/multi-functional aptitude, but what we like more is Boo's challenge to the user: to make it work and to make you think about how you interact with your stuff (and do so more efficiently). So, how would you use this in your home?
::Bram Boo via
::Yanko Design...
Using the ubiquitous shape that just begs to be bent and re-bent, designers Ben Collette and David Wykes have taken something you use at work and turned it in to something that can help you see your work. The aptly named
Paperclip Lamp employs a string of efficient LEDs to create a pretty slick, changeable form; as with the paper accoutrement, you get different functions with different shapes. It's just a prototype for now, as the designers are seeking manufacturing partners; we wouldn't be surprised to see this baby on shelves soon. See a few if the many forms after the jump.
::Paperclip Lamp via
::MoCo Loco...
For any of you who don't think you have room for a home office, the folks at Creative Industrial Objects beg to differ. The CI Desk expands and unfolds, adjusting and adapting to make maximum use of minimal materials and space. "A multi-functional home office on wheels, in its handy size and elegant shape, adapting to the flexible working habits of the individual at home or in the office. Through a 180-degree turn of its top, it unfolds into a small workstation for laptop users."
If you're tired of sweaty legs, and don't have a
bamboo laptop yet (and who does?), something like this lil' mini desk might make your home office life much more bearable. It's mini, transforms for better functionality and rolls away when you don't need it. We like.
::Creative Industrial Objects via
::Apartment Therapy...
World Changing has opened our life-cycle assessment hungry eyes with their inside scoop on this handy set of cards developed by
Serge de Gheldere from
Future Proof/ed, that help you use eco-indicators to analyze and compare the environmental impacts of commonly used materials and processes. The set is called Ecolizer Designwijzer and is an updated version of
Eco-indicator 99, a Dutch impact assessment methodology that includes resource depletion, land-use, climate change, ionizing radiation, acidification/eutrophication and toxicity along with human health, ecosystem quality and resource damage categories.
Since the set of cards is only available in Dutch and only distributed through workshops we have yet to see a real live version; however the World Changing team tells us that it includes background information on the eco-indicators, an explanation of the card contents, a glossary and an example-based tutorial. They also say that the bulk of the guide consists of approximately 80 cards with several hundred eco-indicators that quantify the environmental impacts of production, use and disposal phases of materials and processes. It appears to be what a lot of designers have been waiting for and a useful tool for designing with the environment in mind. Let’s hope they translate it and distribute it at a larger scale soon. Read more details
here. Image credit and via: World Changing.
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Start with a bunch of flat sheets of aluminum, bend them "with love" and what do you have? If you're Swedish design firm "Form Us With Love," you might have a set of home and office accoutrements like the tabletop set pictured above. Aside from producing cleverly-designed, functional objects, the collection showcases the utility and efficiency of flat-pack design as you turn paper-sized aluminum sheets into stuff you can use every day. Some of their products come pre-bent, which takes some of the fun out of it, but it's still neat to think that they all started as simple, flat sheets. Now if they'd just use recycled aluminum...
::Form Us With Love via
::BoingBoing Gadgets...
While the word "laptop" hints at a spot where you can use the thing, on your lap isn't always the most convenient place to whip it out to do some computing. For the times when you're on the go and need a bit of workspace -- or for the true workaholic -- there's the
Table Tote Worktable, a diminutive desk with telescoping legs and an expanding table top that includes a little shelf for a mouse and a document holder. While we bloggers tend to prefer pajamas and lounge chairs to any "real" working environment, this might be handy for blogging on the go, or for any regularly-traveling laptop user. The telescoping, expanding desk is available for about $60 from
::Improvements Catalog via
::Product Dose...
Paper's worth is often determined by the relative value of the information on it; money is an obvious example, but other things, like important, legal stuff at work is most often "put in writing" and printed on paper. Once that information is no longer worth anything, it's usually shredded, recycled or otherwise disposed of. In an attempt to help re-brand paper as a less disposable resources, Robert Buss of PUSH> came up with "Disposable Office," a small workplace designed almost exclusively with recycled paper.
While we've seen other
paper furniture and
cardboard furniture before, we really like the way Disposable Office takes the most common material of workplace communication and transforms it into the workplace itself. Clever names don't hurt either: Security Documents Chair, Menu Table, or Bank Statements Shelving lend some fun to punching the clock -- hit the jump for another pic. Kinda gives new meaning to the words "office paper," no?
::PUSH> via
::Transmaterial...
Office supply megastore Office Depot has three environmental aspirations: to "Buy Green," "Be Green" and "Sell Green." As part of their 20th anniversary celebration, they've upped their ante to the green business world with a series of documents, publications and lists designed to help themselves and their customers be a little greener. They've published a
"Guide to Buying Green", a fairly comprehensive guide for incorporating more recycled material, more non-toxic ingredients, and more modular (e.g. replaceable parts, refillable pens) parts into your office supplies; a companion, of sorts, to their
"Green Book" catalog of "environmentally-preferable products." There's also the
"Top 20 Ways to Go Green at Work", a laundry list of better options for your office, from the products you buy to the electricity you use. Taken as a whole, it's not a bad "beginner's guide" to going green at work. But that's only really the half of it....
Any guesses as to what this thing is? Here are some hints: you could probably use it every day; it would live on your desk; and it employs hanging chads (yep, the same little guys that caused all that ruckus down in Florida a few years back). Give up? It's a "staple-less stapler," which is sort of a silly name for it, because it doesn't use staples. In any event, the sleek little guy will "staple," with a hanging chad, up to five sheets of paper together, and while cutting back on staples might seem a bit trivial, consider this: we would save 120 tons of steel if every office worker used one less staple a day for a year (hat tip to
ecofabulous for that nugget). While five sheets won't cover all the paper you have to connect, some double-sided printing would help increase your new "stapling" capacity. It's available from
::Amazon via
::Apartment Therapy: Green...
Many of us spend as much (or more) time at work as we do
in bed; as such, we think having a healthy, comfortable, sustainable workplace is as important as where you lay your head at night. For those of us who work in an office, here are some quick picks for creating a green office (and check out
How to Green Your Work for more ideas and resources).
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1) If you have papers to file, pencils to hold and a telephone to answer, you likely have a desk, too; we like Knú series of desks for an ultra-modern, sustainable center to work. If you're looking for a more simple spot to work, check out Legare's furniture that doesn't require tools for assembly.
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2) Once you have a desk of your liking picked out, you'll need a place to sit; we've seen a whole bunch that are pretty good when it comes to green comfort, but it's tough to beat Steelcase's Think chair or the Zody chair by Haworth when it comes to ergonomics and lifecycle design principles.
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3) The Mix Lamp from Luceplan is a stylish integration of LED lighting for the work space. Delivering “an intense warm and pleasing light,” the Mix has a 50,000 hour life, and its LED Chip on Board technology only drinks up 5 watts of power. White light not for you? The color of light can also be changed with an integrated filter. The remaining two picks are after the jump...
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Embracing usability, sustainability and aesthetic uniqueness in all areas of design, Brooklyn-based
Elucidesign combines the experiences of an aerospace machinist, fine artist and furniture designer and anthropologist who has traveled to over 18 countries in Europe and South America. This conglomeration of perspectives from Sef Pinney, Chris Jondle and Mike Angio has lead to the creation of the Redpoint Collection, a line of furniture that combines smart materials use -- water-based and non-toxic finishes, FSC-certified or domestic woods from well-managed forests -- with a "passion to design beautiful pieces with durability that will travel with you for a lifetime." The aptly-named, wing-like Aileron coffee table (pictured above) is a good introduction to the designers' style: ergonomic (almost aerodynamic), clean and minimal without being spare. Hit the jump for more pics of their work, and check out
their site for more info on their furniture, philosophy and other products and services.
::Elucidesign...
Q: How many keyboard trays does it take to fill a landfill?
A: We don't know and we ain't about to find out.
This sentiment is the inspiration behind Herman Miller's
Be Collection, a new assortment of products designed to make your workplace more comfortable, organized, connected (and green, in several cases). "The products range from the familiar to technological breakthroughs and palm-to-the-forehead 'why didn't I think of thats.' Designs to keep you comfortable, organized and connected," says the site, and they've employed Herman Miller's
Design for the Environment protocol (DfE) for material selection and product design. For example, their selection of keyboard trays (the
"keyboard tray" is above, center) is made from recyclable polyethylene. Most comparable keyboard trays are made from phenolic, which is a
thermoset plastic that can't be recycled. They've also included the LED-powered Leaf light (above, left, hugged
here and
here) and fluorescent
Andrea light (above, right) in the collection of sleek, thoughtful, useful products. They aren't all as green as they could be, but they are all quite functional and designed to be so for a long time; sometimes, with designs like that, the green features can almost be considered a bonus. Some of the products are available for order now; the rest will be available by the end of the summer.
::Herman Miller's Be Collection via
::Apartment Therapy...
The child of the
Industrial Woodworking Corporation (who make some excellent sustainable office, home office & health care-environment furniture of their own), Knú is a soon-to-be-launched online-only company committed to creating sustainable, modern, contemporary home and office furniture for retail sale. While the official launch isn't until September 2007, you can still
check out their website to see what they've got up their sleeves; if you like what you see (and we do), you can preorder whatever catches your eye with a 10% discount on the sale price and 50% discount on shipping. "
Knú Desk #4" (pictured above) might be our favorite; not only is it made with FSC-certified wood veneers, zero-VOC water-borne PVA adhesives and 40% recycled/100% recyclable steel (as are all of their pieces), it might be the first desk we've ever seen that looks like it might take flight if you don't hold it down. Hit the jump for more pics of their work, including a dining set, bookcase and more desks, and check out their website for more on their
environmental commitment (they're also a 100% carbon-neutral company) and
read their blog for more on their company and products.
::Knú and
::Industrial Woodworking Corporation via
::2modern Design Talk...
Last week, as the US raised a stink about China's paper imports, placing high tariffs on certain glossy papers, researchers in Sichuan province announced they were looking to manufacture a new breed of the stuff--made out of panda poop. According to the
Associated Press,
Liao Jun, a researcher at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province, said the idea came to them after a visit to Thailand last year where they found paper made from elephant dung. They thought panda poop would produce an even finer quality paper, he said.
"We are not interested in doing this for the profits but to recycle the waste," said Liao. "It's environmentally friendly. We can use the paper ourselves and also we can sell whatever is left over."
Do we smell a poo-paper rivalry brewing between China and Thailand?...
Back in 2005 we wrote about
Rebinders, the 3-ring binder made from recycled contents by Sustainable Group. Since then, the company has had a list of corporate clients using their products, such as Nike, LL Bean, Calvert Group, Timberland, Sundance Channel and even Al Gore is handing out their 1" Rebinder for each participant in his training on global warming. Sustainable Group has also come out with a slew of new items recently including their newest, Resleeve. We all know that those non-recyclable jewel cases that CD’s are packaged in are a waste and so Resleeve is the ultimate answer. Resleeve is made of a rigid 16pt recycled bending chip board from 100% recycled fibers (56% post consumer recycled / 44% post industrial recycled) and has a round die-cut hole in the center to view the front of the disk. And here’s a piece of big news: our insider tells us that a major record label is considering Resleeve as a replacement for their jewel cases. We can’t wait until they announce who this will be!
::Sustainable Group...
If you’re looking to jazz up your workspace or home this winter, we say focus on the walls. We guarantee your room will feel instantly decorated.
TreeHugger picked its favorite wallcoverings not too long ago, and we have a few more ideas to add to the list that we grabbed from Domino. The first is embossed paper made of eco-friendly bamboo pulp. With a texture like sturdy cardboard, you can leave it white or paint it a bright color to get the juices flowing. They come with a peel-and-stick adhesive so that the tiles can easily be removed. These “Bud Wall Flats” can be found at
Inhabit, along with a few other styles. The second idea we liked from Domino was recycled metal tiles. Made from 100% reclaimed aluminum or brass, their texture adds an extra element to your room. They are easy to install and maintenance is a simple quick wash with mild dishsoap and water. These tiles can be found at
Eco-Friendly Flooring and are available in several different finishes. Via
::Domino...
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if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
Rob Rogers,
If 
