Smart Design

One of the hallmarks of design innovation is the ability to take something that’s mundane and transform it into something new and exciting. Well we can’t think of a more fitting example of that than the wildly creative and fun dumpster pools that popped up on one of New York City‘s busiet streets, Park Avenue, this summer. Made from actual dumpsters that were cleaned out, painted and fitted with all of the appropriate parts, these unlikely watering holes really made a splash with the public. Talk about taking something that is trash-y (literally) and turning into treasure through the magic of smart design! read more

Many of us have tried to do our part in eliminating plastic bag usage, toting along a varied assortment of trusty reusable bags on shopping trips (or guiltily buying even more from their omnipresent hangout next to the checkout counter). But often every item we toss in those bags is contained within layers of packaging. Taking this into consideration and taking the leap to eliminate most food packaging, Catherine Conway opened the Unpackaged Grocery Shop in London.

The shop is essentially a thoughtful expansion of the small bulk foods sections in regular grocery stores. Most of the store’s product is sold sans-packaging, and the small amount of goods that do have packaging are easily recyclable. Customers are encouraged to bring their own selection of containers to fill as needed, and reusable containers and bags are available for purchase and/or borrowing when needed.

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Anytime an article about alternative building methods makes it way to my desk or rss reader, I’m fascinated about what I learn — and about what’s happening in this hopeful field. But I’ve never been as intrigued as I am by the building method I learned about last month: Superadobe. read more

Fucillo’s composting bin for the freezer.

Though the step of separating recycling from our trash has been demanded and (relatively) well implemented for years, composting has been slower to catch on. One big de-motivator to bringing composting into our daily routines is a lack of resources, especially in urban areas. But some cities have finally leveled the playing field, facilitating composting by putting citywide programs in place. San Francisco, Minneapolis, Toronto, and Boulder all have curbside composting programs in place, and in San Francisco separating compost has been mandatory since 2009. read more

As consumers, we are in a state of constant craving, guided by our radar for all that is new. Sadly, this insatiable desire is not in keeping with a sustainable lifestyle, so a product that allows us to show the world our latest face without disposing of an item and replacing it with something new is a real treasure. Meins Taschen is just the ticket.

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What if you could pack a lamp in a suitcase or briefcase? With no protective bubble wrap. No foam peanuts. What if it took up no more space than a folded pair of jeans? It sounds very Jetsons to me, but clearly, the future is now. If you have a 100 foot extension cord and Craighton Berman’s DIY Coil lamp kit, you can have a good-looking table lamp whenever and wherever you’d like one. read more

As ubiquitous as traffic lights are, they’re a technology with a history that is surprisingly sparse and lacking in history. In 1869, the first red/green traffic light was installed, outfitted with gas lights that were manually turned on at the base. In 1912, there was an upgrade to electric, and in 1920, yellow was added to the mix. Which brings us to 2010, when we’re still using virtually the same system as we we did 90 years ago. read more

Look in your kitchen; those handle connections on the pots and pans under your sink are kinda icky. For one, any seam between two different materials (even those lovely rivets so popular on the interiors of name-brand frying pans) serves as a gather point for bacteria and gook. Some super-high-end cookware even uses external weldments rather than rivets to moderate this problem. Such connections, however, while extraordinarily sanitary, also happen to conduct heat quite well, so the handle is often hollow, but then rarely comfortable. Those handles become a liability when users transfer the pot from browning on the range to cooking in the oven, since oven mitts (with their own set of problems) are needed for removal. An alternative solution is to use plastic, but for baking, that same plastic handle will chip or wear. Further, for those of us who machine wash our pans (yes, you, even though the instructions tell you not to), the external handle often takes up unwanted washer space, occasionally blocks the spray nozzle mast, and sometimes breaks stemware (see, we told you that you weren’t supposed to put that in there). read more

Does it get more eco friendly than a light that literally uses sunlight? Sure, by this definition a skylight is a light too… but in a way, isn’t it?

The Tunnel Solare VELUX by Lovegrove is just like it sounds… a sun tunnel! From your ceiling to the outside world… and the light comes in, bounces off the hanging pod, reflecting up to the larger fixture ~ and illuminating the whole room ~ creating anything from an ambient glow to a pretty bright room depending on the weather conditions. Industrial designer Ross Lovegrove in the video on the Velux site seems to take quite a bit of pride in creating something “neutral but not boring… and that’s not easy” ~ and i agree it is certainly key to “not to use energy, when we absolutely do not need to use energy”

Here’s a video of Ross Lovegrove talking about the Sun Tunnel!

See more pics of it in use and close up on the next page…

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As sustainability becomes an increasingly inevitable design element, designers are approaching this unwritten brief from various directions. In our last post, we looked at lighting design from an almost purely granola perspective (or edible, at any rate) – this time the point of view and execution are solidly industrial. Both will appeal, but perhaps to different users.

There may be an element of playfulness to the Allsteel Link light designed by Peter Stathis of San Francisco’s Virtual Studio, but the energy-saving aspect manages to outshine the task light’s good looks and fun factor. The combination of sustainability, performance and style led to the ICFF Editors Award for Best Lighting at New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in 2008, when Link was first unveiled. read more