Pretty Little Green Things

Posts Tagged ‘Stylish furniture’

Since getting our new bed from Dwell Studio, I’ve had a special place in my heart for gorgeous beds.  When I saw this one from Finnish company, Woodnotes, I just had to share.  The low profile, simple shape and neutral color make this feel like a very restful piece for a very restful area of your home.  What I find most interesting about this bed is its upholstery.  The fabric is made from paper yarn, which has been spun from durable heavyweight paper that can be recycled or burned at the end of its life cycle.  The natural color comes from the lack of chlorine and dyes to color the paper.  If you’re looking to get your hands on this bed, it’s sold through Suite New York (or I suppose if you’re in Finland, you can just buy direct).

Photos from Woodnotes

I’m a big fan of designers using their talent to promote good causes, especially when said talent produces something so cool.  Last year Suite New York teamed up with 20 designers who each put together their vision of what a pink Hans Wegner Wishbone chair should be, in order to auction off those chairs for charity.  This year, they’ve again teamed up with an amazing cast of designers who each put their own unique spin on the Arne Jacobsen Swan chair.  This Pink Swan project, so entitled because the Swan chairs are all pink, benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  They’ll be auctioned off on Charity Buzz in October, just in time for Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I think these chairs are absolutely inspirational, not only because they promote a good cause, but because so much talent and design is packaged into one little chair.  I’ve shown a few of my favorites below.  Which one is yours?

Kelly Hoppen

Madeline Weinrib

Vicente Wolf

Victoria Hagen

Karim Rashid

Missoni

Campion Platt

Swarovski

Windsor Smith

Photos from Suite New York

I know that you’ve all been waiting with baited breath to see our brand new bed in our apartment all set up, so drumroll please…..it’s finally here!  For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about, take a peek at this previous post I wrote about the wonderful Dwell Studio upholstered bed that we got from ABC Home.  I love the clean yet elegant lines, subtle color and the fact that it gives a little extra polish to our bedroom.  There’s something about owning an entire bed frame & headboard that makes me feel like a real adult.  My husband keeps scoffing when I say that, but it’s true.  A designer without a bed is, well, a fish without water?  Whatever it is, I’m pretty darn excited.  And now that the bed is here, I can finally tackle painting the nightstands.  Stay tuned for those!

Most of you are probably aware of Dwell Studio and their collection fun and colorful bedding, but did you know they’ve branched out to furniture?  Yup, it’s true.  They’ve got some great shapes upholstered in a variety of fabrics including some of their signature patterns and textures.  And even better, Dwell has incorporated some green elements too.  The upholstered pieces are made in the USA with kiln dried hardwood, certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and formaldehyde free glues.  I may be a bit biased about this collection because….one of these beds will soon be gracing our bedroom!  I saw these headboards a while ago and have been patiently waiting for them to come on the market (okay, okay, I’ve actually been quite indecisive and didn’t get my act together.  Whatever.)  The bed isn’t yet in our house yet, but I’ll post pictures when it is.  In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for Dwell Studio’s beautiful installation shots.

Can you guess which bed I chose?

Deco Bed upholstered in their signature Gate Brindle fabric

Sloane Bed.  I love the big polka dot bedding – it’s fun without being too cute.

Turner chair

Mayfair Bed

Ornate Bed.  I love the beautiful ikat bedding

The Cooper chair has a fun retro feel

The Sloane bed in another one of Dwell’s signature fabrics

Photos from Dwell Studio

As I said in yesterday’s post about ICFF, I spent most of the day Sunday walking up and down the aisles of the Javits Center in search of unique, beautiful and inventive eco-friendly products to show you.  If you didn’t take a look yet, you should pop over to that round-up as well.

I have to say, this Binary Chair from BRC Designs, is one of the most unique and inventive pieces I’ve ever seen.  There’s also an accompanying coffee table and both are made out of motherboards and computer rescued from old computers and printers with the upholstery on the chair meticulously woven from ribbon cable.  These pieces are conversation starters to say the least.  I for one could spend quite a while just looking at all the different components and trying to guess where they came from.

I’m not even sure how to describe Molo other than absolutely unique and interesting.  They make reusable partitions, furniture and lighting from their surprisingly strong kevlar & kraft paper accordion forms which are recyclable and reusable.  My pictures definitely don’t do their products justice so take a peek at Molo’s website to get an idea of what they do.

Newly launched pillow resource, MUMO is a socially and environmentally responsible company.  Their fabrics are sourced from developing nations and their products are made through fair trade labor.  But I’ll just call them unique and artistic, made out of everything from traditional textiles to interesting materials like fish skin.  If you wan to see more, take a peek at MUMO’s Facebook page.

If I had known about Fermob when I wrote my round-up of fun outdoor furniture, I would have included their brightly colored bistro chairs and tables.  Their products are made from recycled steel, coated with paint in a zero-release facility (which means that their sprays don’t become airborne and therefore don’t get out into the world) and made to last.  You might have even seen these chairs before since they’re scattered throughout Bryant Park and Times Square in New York City.

John Ross makes beautiful furniture and art out of reclaimed wood found near his home in Vancouver Island, BC.  Each one is formed from the inherent shape the wood takes when he finds it.  I really love this wall piece, but his furniture is just as gorgeous.

Made with LED lights, these newly debuted lamps from Cerno are sculptural but still fun.  They’re made with an integrated cooling technology so the bulbs don’t get hot, which you can cover, as they did with this lamp or keep out as a decorative element.  They also have an oversized floor lamp version which I love.

I really haven’t gotten into mattresses yet on the blog, but I thought these hi-tech and allergy free ones from Somnium were quite interesting.  From the TPEE springs (or Thermoplastic Polyether-Ester Elastomer) that contour to your body to the hypoallergenic covers and foam, my interest was definitely piqued.  I can tell you from sitting on it, the mattress was quite comfortable, although I suppose that’s not the most thorough test.  I’d love to try one out for a few nights or hear from someone else who has.

It was nice to finally meet Jason Phillips of the Phillips Collection in person.  If you remember back, I wrote about his beautiful organic furniture a while ago.  All of his wood furniture comes from sustainable source and is coated with water based, non-toxic finishes.  Take a look at the entire collection here.

You may have seen these CFLs before, but guess what, they’re finally available in the United States!  Plumen takes the regular compact fluorescent light bulb design and turns it on its head.  The shape is reminiscent of the filaments of an Edison bulb, but of course as a much more energy efficient version.  If you’ve been using incandescents only so you didn’t have to see the ugly shape of the CFL, this is your answer.  I’m almost tempted to buy a fixture with an exposed bulb just so I can try it out.

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 was at the New York Design Center last week and took the opportunity to wander through the brand new 1stdibs showroom on the 10th floor.  For those of you who don’t know what 1stdibs is, it’s an online shopping destination for one of a kind vintage pieces.  It started out as a way to connect the numerous antique furniture galleries to potential clients and has since transformed into a marvelous curated website of all things beautiful.  You can find anything from the aforementioned furniture to home accessories, jewelry and clothing, all of which is valuable and most of which is vintage.  1stdibs’ latest transition has been from an online shop to a real showroom full of real pieces.  Each gallery owner maintains their own booth, but patrons can come wander the aisles and see everything in person.  Such an important thing when the piece you’re buying is, say, $30,000.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the showroom.  I mean maintaining a website is one thing, but an enormous showroom full of one-of-a-kind furniture is quite another.  It looks like it’s not quite complete (they were painting the entry area), but there’s plenty of furniture to spend hours wandering and dreaming.  I took a few (okay, a lot) of pictures to show you what 1stdibs in person is all about.  Enjoy!

I just got back from a design meeting with Laurent Charlet, owner and founder of Charlet Design, a small custom furniture company based in Brooklyn.  His furniture pieces are really beautiful so I just had to share  it with you.  Laurent makes everything to order and sources reclaimed wood where possible.  You can specify the wood in an oiled finish rather than polyurethane, which is the non-toxic and, I think, much prettier way to go.  Plus if you live in New York, both the production and the delivery are local.  These are a few of Laurent’s pieces from his website, but since everything is custom, you can really get whatever you want.

Coffee table

Sideboard

Dining table (the picture is deceiving, the top is 10 feet long!)

A detail of the dining table

Another sideboard

Photos from Charlet Design

I spent most of yesterday walking through the very crowded Architectural Digest Home Design Show at Pier 94.  I’ve attended the show for many years now and I have to say this was the best show I’ve seen in terms of quality of products and number of attendees. Maybe it’s due to the addition of Margaret Russell to AD (formerly the editor in chief of Elle Decor) or maybe it’s that projects have started to pick back up.  Whatever the reason you could feel the buzz and excitement in the air.  And the products and vendors I saw were absolutely the best of the best.  Of course I love looking at everything, but it’s always the eco-friendly or socially responsible products that really catch my eye.  Since this year’s show was so great and I found so many amazing things, I’m going to break my pics into two posts.  Check back tomorrow for more!

These are my top eco-friendly finds, in no particular order:

These gorgeous pillows come from D. Bryant Archie Textiles who also won an ASID Imagine Top Pick for her presentation.  Her wool blankets and pillows have always topped of my list of favorites and this award couldn’t have gone to a more deserving, talented and lovely person.  Her newest line made from metallic vintage fabric as shown in the two pictures on the right, is super chic.

This awesome little console table comes from Jeff Soderbergh, who if you remember, also made the beautiful reclaimed wood table featured in the 2010 House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year.  This new console is made from wood taken from the hull an antique schooner that was built in 1885.  I love the copper nailheads spotted all over the wood which gives it such character.  Jeff has plenty of this unique wood left so hopefully we’ll be seeing more pieces from him soon.

I’m really in love with these clocks from Palo Samko.  I’ve always known him as an incredibly talented furniture maker, so it’s great to see that he’s added accessories to his repertoire.  I would mind time passing by quickly if I had one of these clocks to stare at.

This gorgeous chandelier comes from Elizabeth Polish Design and it’s made entirely of paper (except for the framing of course).  I just love the organic feel of this fixture and I can only imagine the soft light it casts in a room.  Custom options are always available for any project.

How cool is this table from Studio Roeper?  I love the contrast of the salvaged bleached wood and the metallic faceted legs.

I have to say that my pictures don’t do any sort of justice to these stunning art installations from Moran/Brown.  They’re made of small copper tiles that have been heated so they change color into these vibrant shades you see here.  And all without any chemical processing.  You have to take a peek on their website at some of their larger pieces to really get an idea of what Moran/Brown can do.  I’m not sure I’d want Lady Gaga hanging on my wall, but you get the idea of their capabilities.

I’m always a fan of the industrial vintage look so I’m loving these light fixtures from Strawser & Smith who are based in Brooklyn.  Each one is made out of various industrial parts like chains, pipes and cogs.  The glass is also hand blown right here in New York.

And of course, I’m always a fan of the New Traditionalists and their elegant and tailored line of eco-friendly furniture.  They have a few gorgeous new finishes which was great to see in person.

Sometimes you find a company whose products aren’t what you would technically call eco-friendly.  But the intention behind their creation is so much more meaningful and important that it doesn’t even matter.  Case in point, Alpha Workshops.  This decorative arts studio was started in 1995 by Ken Wampler as a way to help the homeless living with HIV & AIDS.  He knew that by providing a creative outlet plus a meaningful job would mean all the difference in the lives of these people.  Fast forward 16 years and it has.  Alpha Workshops is going strong with a staff of 35 and decorative installations in a lot of amazing places like the Gracie Mansion and Prince George Ballroom.

This installation is at Lifetime TV’s New York office.

This is from Takashimaya, the Japanese department store, which is now unfortunately closed.

An installation of a faux marble floor.  It’s even better than the real thing!

Alpha Workshops’ main work includes gilding, decorative paint, Venetian plaster, faux finishes and other specialty treatments.  But what about the rest of us who can’t afford a skilled artisan to install something amazing in our house?  Thankfully Alpha Workshops also makes handmade wallpaper in a bunch of beautiful colors and patterns.  It’s sold through Thibaut in their Artisan line.  Here are a few of my favorite patterns.

Loom.  I’m also loving the drapery in this room.  I wonder where it’s from.  If you know, pass it on!

Maryse

Reverie

Verre Eglomise

One of my favorite products from Alpha Workshops in their new line of colorful furniture finished in the Negoro Nuri style.  Traditionally this finish is done with a black lacquer base and red lacquer top coat.  The red is brushed off to reveal patches of the black underneath.  But instead of these traditional shades, Alpha Workshops has branched out with some really gorgeous colors.  Love it.

Photos from Alpha Workshops & Thibaut