tiny

TINY: A Story About Living Small (Teaser Trailer) from TINY on Vimeo.

greenhouse

A few weeks ago I was at the Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn with my sister. It was totally packed with people, but somehow I managed to run into my friend from summer camp, Howie, who I hadn't seen in a zillion (okay maybe 18) years. His wife, Toni and her business partner had just opened Greenhouse, this incredibly nice store on Atlantic Ave in a neighborhood with lots of great small shops. Not only are the housewears and furniture super attractive and the color palette really beautiful, but all the products are also eco-friendly. I completely fell in love with the wide-weave linen fabric on the furniture. Greenhouse is definitely worth a trip out to Brooklyn, and if you're already in the neighborhood it's a must-see. Click here for Greenhouse's website and directions to the store.

for the bees

Honey in a clay pot that encourages you to plant flowers that help the honey bees. via the dieline. Honey bees are in trouble by the way; helpthehoneybees.com says, "Sadly, honey bees are mysteriously vanishing in staggering numbers - a crisis known as Colony Collapse disorder - which is alarming considering honey bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of our natural food supply."



What could be more awesome than crumping bees?? go to helpthehoneybees.com for more info and check out their lovely site.

the girl effect

Typeface animation to promote the girl effect. This post is dedicated to my friend Jane, who understands the girl effect and is making a difference with her organization, the Vietnam Fund.

rustic

A couple of super fab posts on style files about rustic style led me to these books on Amazon UK by Baileys owners Mark and Sally Bailey on how to get rustic style.

Taylors of Harrogate

A print to promote new fair trade coffee by Chris Gray at We Shall See.

ecologique

Yesterday decor8 posted about this great book, écologique: the style of sustainable design, by Kelly LaPlante. 100% of the proceeds will go to Global Green USA and The Blank Theater Company, and the $10 shipping and handling fee includes eco-friendly packaging and carbon offsets.

zero pollution

How about a car that runs on air, gets 106 mpg, generates no pollution, and costs $17.8k? It gets 200 miles per tank, and recharges at an air compression station, or plug it in at home and an on-board compresser refills the tank in 4 hours for about $2 of electricity. Too good to be true? Nope. My colleague Marlène gave me a heads up on this zippy looking compressed air vehicle, coming to the US in 2010.

soji lanterns

Last Friday Remodelista pointed out these beautiful solar powered Soji lanterns at Allsop Home and Garden - good for the environment and no wires to deal with!

i am not a paper cup

Porcelain coffee cup with silicone top from A+R.

Babytree

I was in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago for work and discovered these amazingly small plant keychains in a department store. I immediately assumed they were Japanese since they're so darn cute, but they're actually made by a French company called Babytree.

FLOWmarket

One of the cooler ideas I've seen in a while: FLOWmarket, the creation of Danish designer Mads Hagstroem, addresses "imbalances" in "individual, collective and environmental flow," transforming them into "aesthetically designed (empty) packings with humorous and thought awakening" text. via carpe+item

particular aesthetic: smart art

Lace fence, part of 'Sideways: A Smart Art Project,' a campaign to promote the Smart Car through an "aesthetic approach to environmental issues." via inhabitat.

erosion sink

I'm kind of obsessed with this sink from Gore Co., an environmentally responsible design company in Arizona. One day, when I stop renting and start owning...

security envelope beads

Security envelope beads from junkmailgems

packaging totally matters

If you are reading this and you are in the business of making packaging, I'd like to have a word: PACKAGING TOTALLY MATTERS. Of course, you knew that, but maybe you should think again. It helps if the packaging is clean, informative, and tells a story above and beyond the product (humor? social/environmental responsibility? anyone?). Case in point: the people over at Help say,

"Many companies enjoy packaging their goods inside nasty materials covered in gaudy graphics. That’s because many companies are controlled by crazy people. Most of our packaging is made of molded paper pulp. We enjoy molded paper pulp because it is soft and it makes interesting shapes. Also because it is made from 100% recycled materials and it is compostable- which means one day, it will probably become a part of a large tree. Maybe you can cut down that tree and make it into a speedboat." 

Amen.

[via notcot]

tap project

The Tap Project, a campaign that helps UNICEF provide safe drinking water for children around the world by asking a minimum of $1 for the tap water diners normally enjoy for free, is coming to a city near you during World Water Week (March 16-22). I'm going to stop by my local restaurant that week to contribute my $1 and see if I can get one of these nifty bottles. I think they're just for advertising purposes though.

water is a human right

Linda Loudermilk necklace from her Water Is a Human Right products line. A portion of proceeds is donated to the YEW Foundation to support organizations with clean water initiatives.

425

425 is the number of dollars needed by marginalized residents of Hale County, AL to buy a water meter in so they can get clean water in their homes. Above, Project M was covered by GOOD magazine last fall and described at Designism 2.0 — "design for social change" — by Ellen Sitkin in December (covered by core 77 design blog).

studio lo

I found this bag and chair by Studio Lo the other day via notcot. I love the assemblage par fermeture zip on the bag, and how there's hardly any waste created in the making of the chair.