Pretty Little Green Things

I spent most of a rainy Sunday wandering around the aisles of the Javits Center looking at wonderful eco-friendly products and talking with new vendors.  All in all, a great show.  I found it refreshing to see that instead of promoting themselves as green, many manufacturers have embraced sustainability as a best practice and just the way things should be done.  It seems like it’s finally more important to do good than to tell others that you’re doing good.  And I for one appreciate this evolution.

I’m posting half of my eco-friendly furniture, lighting and material finds today and the other half tomorrow, so enjoy today’s round-up and stay tuned for tomorrow.

Made of 70% recycled glass from beer bottles, this pendant light was designed by Ismael Quintero of iQenvironments (that’s him posing in front of his pendants!).  And even more impressive than the recycled content is his mission.  Ismael was inspired to create this light after finding a fire hydrant lid on Wall Street after September 11.  In fact, a portion of his proceeds will go to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

One of my recurring favorites – Eskayel.  Shanan Campanaro’s artistic wallpaper has now been extended to fabric, pillows and even woven baskets.  I recently wrote a post about their beautiful collection, although now seeing the new introductions, I’m due for an update.

I included Loll Designs in the Fun Outdoor Furniture roundup from a few days ago, but now that I’ve seen a few of their latest features in person, I have a bit of an amendment.  What I didn’t tell you about their chairs, is that in addition to the fun colors, they also have a bottle opener bolted right to the chair.  Yup, that’s right – no need to go searching for an opener during a party (it’s the little silver square at the top of the picture on the left).  Their other fun item is this fire pit that says, “Do not place on hot fire ring! Duh!”  I mean, if you need an explanation, you probably shouldn’t be using it, right?

Vervano is a new furniture company to me, but their quality was top notch.  I was really loving the faceted design of the desk (picture on left), as well as the ottoman with storage (bottom right) and desk that looked like it had a floating top (top right).  All of their pieces are made in the United states with sustainably harvested wood, plant-based foams and low-VOC finishes.

I’m a sucker for a cool desk lamp, so I was loving this bright orange lacquered one from Koncept.  All of their lamps are made with LED lights, a very efficient light source and are super functional, easy to used and fun.

Caba Company makes beautiful wallpaper out of hand pounded bark.  Because they’re using natural materials, the texture and patterns are absolutely unique, organic and always eco-friendly.    I love that they also mix in fun colors with the naturals for a modern twist on a traditional technique.

John Houshmand has been making gorgeous hi-end furniture from reclaimed sources for quite a while now.  The only problem for the common person (like you & me) is that his pieces are unique and custom and therefore beyond my budget.  But no longer.  John has teamed up with Jack Donenfeld of Simplemente Madera Group to create JH2 OneTreeHome and bring his design to the masses.  And I for one am excited about it.

I’ve seen plenty of pin-up boards in my day and while I’m still a fan of the fabric wrapped versions, I’m really loving this Baroque framed version from MIO.  Made of 100% granulated cork, a by-product of the wine industry, this tack board is not only fun & cheeky, it’s also eco-friendly.

Last but certainly not least is Manulution, a Bosnian furniture company that started out in 1927 as a source of hand carved pieces.  Even though they’ve since evolved to contemporary shapes, Manulution has remained true to their roots by using traditional techniques to create moden carved details.  As always, you can still find traditional Bosnian pieces too if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for.

I spent most of a rainy Sunday wandering around the aisles of the Javits Center looking at wonderful eco-friendly products and talking with new vendors.  All in all, a great show.  I found it refreshing to see that instead of promoting themselves as green, many manufacturers have embraced sustainability as a best practice and just the way things should be done.  It seems like it’s finally more important to do good than to tell others that you’re doing good.  And I for one appreciate this evolution.

I’m posting half of my eco-friendly furniture, lighting and material finds today and the other half tomorrow, so enjoy today’s round-up and stay tuned for tomorrow.

Made of 70% recycled glass from beer bottles, this pendant light was designed by Ismael Quintero of iQenvironments (that’s him posing in front of his pendants!).  And even more impressive than the recycled content is his mission.  Ismael was inspired to create this light after finding a fire hydrant lid on Wall Street after September 11.  In fact, a portion of his proceeds will go to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

One of my recurring favorites – Eskayel.  Shanan Campanaro’s artistic wallpaper has now been extended to fabric, pillows and even woven baskets.  I recently wrote a post about their beautiful collection, although now seeing the new introductions, I’m due for an update.

I included Loll Designs in the Fun Outdoor Furniture roundup from a few days ago, but now that I’ve seen a few of their latest features in person, I have a bit of an amendment.  What I didn’t tell you about their chairs, is that in addition to the fun colors, they also have a bottle opener bolted right to the chair.  Yup, that’s right – no need to go searching for an opener during a party (it’s the little silver square at the top of the picture on the left).  Their other fun item is this fire pit that says, “Do not place on hot fire ring! Duh!”  I mean, if you need an explanation, you probably shouldn’t be using it, right?

Vervano is a new furniture company to me, but their quality was top notch.  I was really loving the faceted design of the desk (picture on left), as well as the ottoman with storage (bottom right) and desk that looked like it had a floating top (top right).  All of their pieces are made in the United states with sustainably harvested wood, plant-based foams and low-VOC finishes.

I’m a sucker for a cool desk lamp, so I was loving this bright orange lacquered one from Koncept.  All of their lamps are made with LED lights, a very efficient light source and are super functional, easy to used and fun.

Caba Company makes beautiful wallpaper out of hand pounded bark.  Because they’re using natural materials, the texture and patterns are absolutely unique, organic and always eco-friendly.    I love that they also mix in fun colors with the naturals for a modern twist on a traditional technique.

John Houshmand has been making gorgeous hi-end furniture from reclaimed sources for quite a while now.  The only problem for the common person (like you & me) is that his pieces are unique and custom and therefore beyond my budget.  But no longer.  John has teamed up with Jack Donenfeld of Simplemente Madera Group to create JH2 OneTreeHome and bring his design to the masses.  And I for one am excited about it.

I’ve seen plenty of pin-up boards in my day and while I’m still a fan of the fabric wrapped versions, I’m really loving this Baroque framed version from MIO.  Made of 100% granulated cork, a by-product of the wine industry, this tack board is not only fun & cheeky, it’s also eco-friendly.

Last but certainly not least is Manulution, a Bosnian furniture company that started out in 1927 as a source of hand carved pieces.  Even though they’ve since evolved to contemporary shapes, Manulution has remained true to their roots by using traditional techniques to create moden carved details.  As always, you can still find traditional Bosnian pieces too if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for.