Fashion & Beauty

With the demise of Nau, many commentators have been suggesting the trouble was that the company was ahead of its time. We respectfully disagree. Firstly, if ever there was a time for businesses to flourish, who are environmentally and socially responsible, surely that time has to be right now. Secondly, others paved the way for Nau. A path that has been beaten for well over a decade.

Let’s look back at a few of those pioneers. In future posts we’ll also visit the likes of Deja Shoe and Esprit Ecollection, but we begin with Terrapax.

Recent Comment by Kylie Wrath : "Whether or not leather is a product or by-product is irrelevant: there are tons of peop..." [read]

Fashion & Beauty

Exhibiting last Fall with Design Boom in Tokyo, Israel's Yoav Kotik is not afraid to try new things. From an industrial designer to working in the insurance industry, and now back to the world of Art, Kotik at 50, is now exhibiting his recycled flowers "Spring" at Tel Aviv's Periscope Gallery.

Fashion & Beauty

More necklaces! Who can resist them--they always fit. Tanvi Kant makes her necklaces and bracelets from the threads of old Indian saris and scarves. The bright colours and metallic yarns come from unpicking discarded and unwanted Indian materials, starting with her mother's cast-offs. She then binds, whips, knots and sews the threads into loops until a form appears, adding porcelain rings as weights and contrast. Kant doesn't design the pieces beforehand, instead they are organic in development as she works with the bits of fabric. The end pieces are left unfinished so that the original fabric is visible.

Kant recycles and reclaims all the materials. She says that " by carefully shaping and transforming undervalued materials, tangling up yarns, memories and limbs, I hope to create unique pieces, each with its own history." A mixture of old and new to create a work of recycled art ( and jewellery). :: Tanvi Kant Via :: Crafts Council

Fashion & Beauty

All the fashion mag's have written about LeJu jewellery, but somehow Treehugger hasn't yet.... So here they are: great looking necklaces, bracelets, and rings made from vegetable ivory. What's that, you say--it is a seed from a palm tree found in the Amazonian rain forest. After it has been naturally dried for a long time it is just as hard as ivory and then it can be carved. So it provides an alternative to cutting down rain forests, stimulates local economies and prevents elephants from being killed for their tusks. Sounds like a winning idea all around.

With the extra plus that the jewellery is colourful, well-designed and perfect for that casual look with tee-shirts or a summer dress. The splash of colour is from natural plant-based vegetable dyes and oils. Some of the pieces are paired with other Amazonian seeds, sterling silver and leather toggles. The turtle rings are made from an entire seed and come in a range of colours and are especially striking. As the designer says: "I try to create designs, which reflect its roots. Nature is full of wonderful colours and I use them to reflect it in people’s lives.” :: LeJu

Fashion & Beauty

What better use of plastic bags than knitting them into something useful? Others have done it, but Kate Ward's are particularly stylish and appealing. She is an Australian, working in London, and selling her plastic change purses and handbags at weekend markets. Since she has a full-time job it's tricky to find her, but well worth the effort. Ward says that she "quite likes the idea of taking an item which is usually discarded and turning it into something treasured". The handbags contain 20 recycled plastic bags and the provenance for each one is listed: Superdrug pink, drycleaners white, ChinaTown Red and Sainsbury’s Orange. One little beauty was made of all blue Marks & Spencer bags and looked like the sea. She does most of her work whilst travelling on the London Underground and reckons that she recycled 500 bags in just six months.

Her work is making a big impact environmentally and artistically. A large poster is part of the "Artbelow" project, where different artists can display a sample of their work on the wall of a Tube station for two weeks. Hers is a photo of a young woman in a hurry carrying one of the recycled bags. Members of the public can buy a copy of the work if they wish. :: Kate Ward

Fashion & Beauty

It never rains, but it pours. Here in England we are being battered by 85 mph winds and torrential rains. Needless to say the streets are littered with broken and abandoned umbrellas. Here are not one, but two recycled and biodegradable choices for the next one that you buy.

The first perky polka-dot number (pictured left) is made out of all recycled materials. The canopy is recycled polyester, and the handle is made from recycled plastic bottles. The case and holding strap are also recycled.

The other (pictured right) is modelled after those wonderful japanese parasols and will bring out your inner geisha. It's made out of bamboo, and covered with a bioplastic, see-through fabric. It is completely bio-degradable and will decompose in less than five years. It looks marvellous, although in today's winds it would be inside-out and on that landfill in just a few minutes. So geisha or girlie--too bad you have to save it for a rainy day. :: Via :: Inhabitat and Via :: Hippyshopper

Fashion & Beauty

Thousands of meters of advertising billboard plastic was getting thrown away every month in Tel Aviv. While the fate of highway banner advertising around Tel Aviv is yet to be determined, Noami of Abu Yoyo (means piggybacking in Hebrew) has found a good means of recycling what remains.

She makes wallets, bags, and book binders out of old banner advertisements and indirectly sells her products back to the people who bought the initial billboard advertisements.

Fashion & Beauty

Here's a good-looking clutch bag with a an even better story behind it. The bag was made in India with the guidance of a group that works with artisans and small communities to develop well-designed and ethically-made products for the western market. Via design trains the producers in design and small business management so that they can have viable and sustainable businesses. They run workshops in production and quality control as part of the learning process. Profits are reinvested in training and helping out the suppliers.

In this case they worked with English designer Martha Evatt. The work celebrated the natural and organic by using simple objects like seeds and pods in the fabric. This vibrant series of bags and cushion covers is made of a silk and cotton blend, all fair trade. The fabric is also available by the metre. The designer spent four months working with a group of women in southern India to develop their skills. All members of the team had already had a year's training in hand and machine sewing and quality control before moving into the stitching team. :: Via design