Today seemed like a Green kind of day. So with that being said, let me introduce the beautiful repurposed bottle terrariums. The artist behind these is Jose Agatep who gathers glass containers of various shapes and transforms them into beautiful terrariums that are filled with locally grown plants, wild mosses, and small stones, soil, and wood chips found in nearby forests and train tracks.
According to Agatep, the tiny self-contained ecosystems offer “a journey to ancient connections that once existed between humans and plants”. There terrarium are perfect for a small house or office desk. They are very low maintenance and only need water once in a blue moon. Condensation gets trapped on the lid and walls, so the natural water cycle occurs that brings precipitation back to the soil.
His Philadelphia-based shop The Slug and the Squirrel currently can only do pick-ups or local delivery on all sales. They are currently looking to find a delivery services that can accommodate the needs of the shop to guarantee safe delivery. This doesn't mean though that there aren't exceptions to every rule. So if you're interested in these it wouldn't hurt to ask or you could just pick one up the next time you're in Philadelphia.
The QTvan is the world's smallest caravan and is named this way due to it caters to three British obsessions: queuing, tea and caravans. This QTvan is also environmentally-friendly as well which is always a plus, but make no mistake, with green comes a higher price. You are looking to spend around (£5,500) or ($8,000) for this caravan.
The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) developed the QTvan to highlight the estimated 220,000 people who use a mobility scooter without breakdown cover and face the prospect of a very long wait should they suffer a mechanical fault or their battery runs flat. In doing so they made it so you can relax in style while you wait. This bad boy comes with a 19" TV, radio, alarm clock, book shelves, a full sized single bed and cooking facilities. You can't go wrong with that.
It just been one of those weeks where you're all stressed out, but wouldn't be great to have a place to escape. How about escaping to this serenity moss-covered secret garden designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara. It's filled with enchanting botanical arrangements, lush living walls and even a crystal clear waterfall. Called Midori no Tobira (The Green Door in English), the greenery-rich installation for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show was based on Ishihara's desire to create a rooftop garden so spectacular that anyone who experiences it simply forgets that they're standing on a roof - not to mention all of their worries. I would definitely feel at peace hanging out on this rooftop garden.
Talk about a different way to use sustainability. LA based WeWood has a line of wooden watches ($119) that have been worn by famous wrists as Ke$ha and APL of the Black Eyed Peas. Their beautiful wooden sustainable watches demonstrate that being eco-friendly has no barriers. These natural watches are available in two classic designs: Date and Chrono, and come in four different types of sustainable wood. (Maple, Ebony, Guaiaco and Red Wing Celtis).
The beautifully carved wood not only looks super stylish, it is feather-light and silky-smooth. This organic matter is recyclable, biodegradable and takes less CO2 to produce, than materials traditionally used in watch production, such as stainless-steel, platinum and gold. Each watch is hypo-allergenic, free from toxic chemicals and has a traditional Miyota movement.
WeWood also plants a tree for every watch that is purchased. They've teamed up with American Forests, a not for profit conservation organization, which is dedicated to restoring eco-systems that have been damaged by natural or human cases.
With the increased awareness in eco-friendly products and waste management. Companies are always looking for ways to help and reduce their footprint on the world. Lee is one of those companies. Lee wanted to find an innovative solution that would showcase their affiliation towards eco-friendly initiatives and also spread the message amongst their customers.
To do this they created the "Never Wasted" shopping bag that can be reused in one way or another. Some for fun, some for function, but nothing ever goes into the trash. Not only did this make the idea long-lasting and interactive but also conveyed the message in a fascinating manner. Word spread, footfall increased and the initial production of 3000 bags went on to another 10,000.
In art of design concepts the use of environmental sounds solutions are on the rise. Design Hara is one of those companies who was looking to make a small and stylish computer that was built with recyclable green material. This eco-friendly computer has a recyclable green chassis and uses only harmless materials, such as natural wood for the side panels which are not chemically antiseptic treated. The front cover of the computer can be made from natural sheep leather if you so chose. The internal segments of the PC are connected by a bolts and nuts structure, making it easier to separate so recyclable e-waste can be removed.
The unit is compatible with Mini-ITX small motherboards,and uses only a third of the energy consumed by desktop computers. It also features HDMI and DVI outputs and has an Intel Core2Duo processor, 4GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive.
Sustainable houses are something that I think are great and fascinating. I found this house that was built by Crosson Clarke Carnachan architects in Great Barrier Islands. The house is nestled in a beautifully private setting surrounded by nothing but nature. The living zone opens completely to this setting, and the timber exoskeleton references the surrounding trees. The bedrooms all have protected outdoor space, being closely located to the trees for increased privacy. The house is located to protect the existing vegetation and to make the most of the sun and the native bird life on the property.
Being on Great Barrier Island, the building also needed to be sustainable - the following abstract from an e-mail received from the Clients refers to this point: “The outdoor room is a place we spend much of our time, eating, reading, doing homework and siesta-ing; but the feeling of being indoors on those hot summer days with all doors open is also fantastic. Not cold enough (owing to that great low E glass and good design) for fires yet - we have had 2 only for ambience, not heat. “It is an astonishingly decadent feeling lying in a bath of free water, heated by the sun, pumped by solar power. Free as anything! Hot water gets up to 68 degrees in the tank from the sun, and has to be cooled to come out the tap. “With 9 staying and all the laptops, music, washing etc we’ve only run the generator 3 times ever. All the irrigation systems do clever things. So it’s more than a PC nod to sustainability, as you know from all our fussing about timbers and paints.”
So sometimes I'm a sucker for packaging designs like this company Skærtoft Mølle which is a small organic mill company located southern Denmark. They grind up their flour in an old stone mill, not because it's trendy but because it preserves more of the nutrients in the grains. Skærtoft Mølle did the same when it came to designing their packaging. They kept it simple and clean just like their products. Each of their product designs are very eye catching and would stand out in any grocery store. The design firm Mega did such a great job on the packaging design that they have been awarded the Danish Design Prize and the Design Matters Prizes 2010/2011.
The Malibu 5 is a modern home built in California by Kanner Architect. This house is conceived as a passive solar home. It was built facing the Pacific Ocean to take advantage of the coastal breezes, the energy generated from solar gain, and the natural lights and views. This home has a photovoltaic panels and solar thermal panels for domestic hot water on the roof. The photovoltaic panels generate power for the house during the day. This home generates enough power for the owners needs and the remainder of power is sent to a local power grid. On the ground-levels concrete floors act as heat sinks, pulling in the sun's energy during the day and releasing it at night. This 3300sq ft house not only has some greening properties to it but its design gives them full access to it's surroundings. The Malibu 5 home is a beautiful example of blending shapes with sustainable and eco-friendly technology.
In the world of art and design a big demand and merge of sustainable design has come into play. Many artists are now being cautious on materials they use for environmental purposes. One of these eco-conscious artists is Kiel Johnson who is a famous American-based painter and sculptor. In one of his collections he uses cardboard to create a range of camera that includes SLRs, Polaroid cameras, point and shoot cameras, twin lens cameras and the retro 8mm camera. After viewing these piece of art I can see why Kiel has been recognized on a lot of his works which have been showcased in public and private collections. I can only image the detail and time it took for him to just create one of these cameras and the fact that he is being eco-conscious gives him two thumbs up. If you want to check out more photo's of the cameras check out his site.
To live in a tiny house would you do it if you could? If it could take your electric bill now and make it 6 bucks would you be willing to shed some square footage. Some have chosen to take this option of a tinier home. Jay Shafer is one of these people who has taken this choice. Jay Shafer is the ingenuous architect and resident of this tiny house, one of many he has built as part of his Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. He currently lives in a 100 square foot house which features a compact fireplace, a tiny kitchen, a tiny bathroom, and a loft that serves as a tiny bedroom. If you watch the video below you can have a little tour of the home (Yes, pun intended).
The great thing about the summer time is there full of festivals and who doesn't like festivals right? They're full of great bands, food, people and good atmosphere. So seeing how festivals rock. This year I have decided to attend the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco August 14-15th at the Gold Gate park. This festival will give me the first time visitor a taste of the San Fran scene because this festival is like a taste of San Francisco with music, food, wine and art. I will tell you though I'm looking forward to some of the bands that will be performing this year. You have bands like Toyko Police Club, The Strokes, Phoenix, Slightly Stoopid, and many other great bands to fill your festival going ears.
I think another great thing about this festival is the wine tasting which California is known for its wineries. It looks like from the website that they have added 3 more wineries to the lineup. Berryessa Gap, Long Meadow Ranch and Palmina have been added in the ranks of an already impressive lineup of wineries featured in Wine Lands part of the festival. So if don't live in area you should travel on over to California and check out the Outside Lands Festival.
