Deep-seated eco silliness

Swiss artist and furniture designer Michel Bussien is an environmental matchmaker of sorts — his recent creation the “The Growing Chair” offers humans a reintroduction to nature.
A fast growing Willow tree and a Russian vine is planted into a chair-shaped plastic greenhouse. The Willow tree forms around the chair supporting the structure and the vine helps hold everything together.
When the flora outgrows its lush greenhouse, it can be snapped open and removed.
Awkward introductions aside, this living chair shows that environmentalists maybe have a sense of humor??!
According to the artist’s Nature Manifesto:
“… To move further we need to incorporate the living matter that surrounds us. Let us use the complexity of living nature and include it in our creations. These creations will then redefine the way we reconstruct nature. Only then will we truly move forward…”
Then again, maybe not.

Pimp my outdoor space: Green edition

Vacations are so last year.
According to a recent survey, almost one-third of consumers are staying home during vacation time and 59 percent are cutting back on vacations. Enter the staycation, a fancy term for hanging out in your backyard. Many retailers are hoping staycations will translate into increased outdoor furniture sales.
To help cut through wooden outdoor furniture greenwashing claims, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has released its third annual Garden Furniture Scorecard. The Scorecard catalogs 16 retailers selling Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified garden furniture at various price points.
Retailers such as Cost Plus World Market, Crate & Barrel, The Home Depot, Lowe’s and Pottery Barn all scored 4 stars or better, which means that more than 70 percent of their tropical wood garden furniture is from responsible sources. This is the largest group of retailers to attain a score of 4 stars or better.

According to the NWF, The U.S. is the world’s largest single importer of wooden furniture from tropical timber-producing countries, with garden furniture representing about one-fifth of the wooden furniture market. U.S. imports of all tropical wood products have increased four-fold over the past decade. As a result, the once biologically rich forests of countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil are being depleted at an unprecedented rate.
NWF plans to continue its annual surveys of major outdoor furniture retailers to track the progress of making FSC-certified products available to consumers.

Reduce, reuse, then what?

Furniture designer Hugh Hayden’s Tennis Ball Chair is as green as it gets. Instead of throwing out flat tennis balls, she turned them into a chair. It’s eye-catching and clever, but what do you do with the chair when it’s ready for the curb? I know this chair is art and would never get thrown out, but it does stop and make you think.

Can a recycled product be recycled again?

Sustainable cabinetry options grow

While the environment and sustainability have taken a backseat to the economy and a potential global plague on the evening news, when it comes time to buy cabinetry or furniture consumers want green options. And manufacturers are listening.
Superior Woodcraft, a custom cabinet manufacturer announced all its products and processes have been certified by the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association’s (KCMA) Environmental Stewardship Program (ESP). The ESP promotes the use of lumber from recognized forestry programs, such as the Forest Stewardship Council, and low formaldehyde-emitting wood products. Other features of the program include rewards to manufacturers who implement educational and community outreach programs, and the requirement that companies annually review environmental practices.
Certification is just the latest step in Superior Woodcraft’s environmental efforts, in 2004 the cabinetmaker partnered with the KCMA and The National Arbor Day Foundation to help plant 50,000 trees. The company partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in 2005 to support the Hardwood Forestry Fund by planting more than 19,000 trees in the Susquehannock State Forest.

Flotation device or eco-chic chair?

Norwegian artist and furniture design student, Camilla Hounsell Halvorsen created an eco-friendly chair made out of recycled upholstery material and inner tubes.

Drop chairs have stainless steel legs with an inner tube covered with fabric. The seat is not permanently fixed to the under frame so it can be tilted by the user. The seat also can be removed from the frame and used as a cushion.
“The chair’s design has been inspired by the process behind making tassels. Drop introduces elements of childish delight and colorfulness into the user’s everyday life,” according to Halvorsen.
I just have one question: Can the chair’s cushion be used as a floatation device in the event of a water landing????

Meet the easy chair’s hot European cousin

There’s nothing like sinking into a comfy chair after a long, stressful day at work and zoning out on trash TV with a box of Girl Scout cookies. Of course, our European brethren like to relax just as much as we do, but they do it with a bit more style.
The Scharly Designer Studio is debuting the Frankfort Factory chair at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) from May 16 to 19 in New York. The modern chair was designed with a Zen concept—its ultra soft backrest adapts to everyone and memorizes the most comfortable position with its intelligent surface, creating an extraordinary relaxing sensation.
This lounge chair is manufactured with a very smooth foam that is covered by a fine layer of latest-generation soft polyurethane, which provides elasticity and light reflection. The seat is made with a very resistant yet lightweight material.
The chair was produced under conditions in line with sustainable and environmental development. Greenhouse gases not included.

Chicago throws down: Green Office Challenge is on

Why so grim? Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s press conference cronies look like they just witnessed the killing of the world’s last panda bear. Instead the City of Chicago, ComEd and various Chicago business leaders launched two environmental projects, the Green Office Challenge and Earth Hour, at the OFS Brands showroom in the Merchandise Mart.
The Green Office Challenge encourages tenants and operators of high-rise office buildings to save energy, increase recycling and water efficiency and reduce paper consumption. OFS Brand’s office furniture showroom has improved its recycling program for office materials including paper, electronics, light bulbs and construction materials, which is diverting 748 tons of materials from landfills per year. As a result, the showroom has achieved LEED Gold Certification.
Earth Hour to be held on March 28 is a nationwide event in which lights are turned off for one hour to call attention to the fight against global climate change. In 2008 more than 2.8 million Chicago-area residents turned out their lights for Earth Hour, which resulted in a 7 percent reduction in electricity usage during that time. Represent!
According to Daley, more environmentally efficient office buildings are critical to helping Chicago reduce its impact on the planet’s changing climate.
Special note: No pandas were harmed during the writing of this blog.

Lifestyle-driven architecture

It’s like the Guggenheim but homey.
LivingHomes, a developer of modern, sustainably designed, prefabricated homes, has partnered with Kohler Co. to present the Kohler LivingHome, which debuted at the TED Conference, Feb. 3 – 7, in Long Beach, Calif.
The new KieranTimberlake line of LivingHomes offers six “expandable” single-family residences and multi-family models that are designed for “infill” or inner city lots that have limited space and views.
Designed to achieve LEED-Platinum certification, the two-story, 2,200-square-foot home features furnishings, materials, products and technologies that showcases high design with a low ecological footprint. Some of these products include, Anderson composite wood recycled frame windows, Sherwin Williams no VOC and Low VOC paints and stains, Humabuilt Wheatcore doors, Trex decking, railing and trim products, Lyptus hardwood floors, Crossville recycled mosaic glass and porcelain tiles and Dupont Zodiac countertops.

Essentially a series of simple, stylish, stacked boxes, the modern aesthetic offers open and flexible interiors and promotes passive solar and day lighting. The design also reflects LivingHome’s Z6 Sustainable Building Goals for construction and operation: Zero water, Zero energy, Zero waste, Zero emissions, Zero carbon and Zero ignorance.
“As with all LivingHomes, the Kohler LivingHome features a comprehensive environmental program which dramatically reduces the water and energy the home requires for operation, as well as reducing construction waste and indoor air pollution,” says Steve Glenn, CEO of LivingHomes. “Once it is placed on a permanent site, the home will generate and store power, and it will be eligible for LEED certification.”
The home is valued at $675,000 but is being offered for sale at $499,950. That price does not include transport, install or foundation.
Photos courtesy of Visual Nomad.

Eco-friendly, affordable custom cabinets

Designing a green kitchen doesn’t mean sacrificing style or breaking the bank.
Robin Wilson Home is licensing its name for a line of affordable, eco-friendly custom cabinetry made in the U.S.A. by Holiday Kitchens. The line will launch at the April 2009 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show in Atlanta. The eco-conscious line features more than 100 door styles in green materials, such as bamboo, coconut, wenge and stainless steel. Classic hardwoods like cherry, maple and oak also are available. The manufacturer uses low-volatile organic finishes, paints and stains, and the frameless custom cabinetry has 10 percent more usable storage space compared to traditional framed cabinetry, according to the company.
Another area to consider is how the cabinets are made. And it’s hard to not be impressed with Holiday Kitchen’s green manufacturing principles. According to the company, its manufacturing process uses computerized cutting methods to reduce waste and 100 percent of its wood waste is recycled into cutting boards, animal bedding and landscape materials. Its cabinet lines also use sustainable woods and reconstituted veneer.
I guess it is easy being green.

Greening couch potatoes

Who knew soybeans could be so comfortable?
The furniture industry is introducing foam and cushioning made with BiOH’s soy-based ingredients to make your easy chair a little bit greener.
BiOH ingredients replace a portion of the petroleum typically used in foam production. For every 1 million pounds of BiOH Polyols that replace petroleum-based polyols in foam cushioning, approximately 2,200 barrels of crude petroleum is saved. BiOH Polyols produce 36 percent less global warming emissions, 61 percent less non-renewable energy use and 23 percent less total energy demand. Soy-based cushioning is also being used in bedding, carpeting and flooring products.
If you’re looking to lessen your carbon footprint, Crate and Barrel is one of the first retailers to offer soy cushioning in its Lockport sofa and chair collection. Klaussner Home Furnishing is now using BiOH Polyols across most of its product line. And many more furniture manufacturers are making the switch.

How green is green?

While many furniture companies tout their “green” products (sustainable wood, green finishes, eco-friendly fabrics) they fail to mention how much waste they are producing to make these green products. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a start and I applaud their efforts.
However, Argren is my kind of green. This furniture manufacturer's products are made from 95 percent recycled content. The photo of the home office features 100-percent recycled materials. The office is made from 100-year-old windows reworked into upper cabinet doors, drawer fronts and lower doors are reused five-panel door inner panels. Hardware is 120-year-old silver tableware fashioned into pulls. The desktop and shelving is from 100-year-old Douglas fir flooring and the wood framing is from a 90-year-old barn.
The company also uses low- or no-VOC finishes, operates a community recycling center and employs green practices in its production processes.
To reduce the amount of usable construction waste that ends up the landfill, the manufacturer accepts any wood and building materials, such as windows, doors, old decks, fencing or cabinets. Argren’s artisans incorporate some of the lumber and architectural elements into furniture pieces. Wood materials deemed unusable is chipped and used as animal bedding and garden compost.
Each furniture piece comes with a certificate of authenticity, which includes significant historical information on materials used.
While vintage/reclaimed doesn’t appeal to everyone, I think all decors should have one conversation piece.
One more thing, while salvaging wood from a teardown project, workers found a stray cat they named Tommy who is now Argren’s official shop cat. What’s not to love??!!