Drink it, sit on it

I'm a bit barmy for a good chair, and pretty much anything from Emeco makes the list fo' sho'. Love their story (the aluminum Navy Chair was first made for US submarines during WWII) and love how they've hooked up with big names like Starck, Gehry, Foster and Putman and now, errr, Coke. Stay with me here people. Emeco's latest just-launched-in-Milan chair is the 111 Navy Chair, made of 111 recycled PET plastic 20oz Coca-Cola bottles. The 111 is seriously gorgeous, ultra light, has a great green story - Emeco has the potential to recycle 3 million plastic bottles a year - and comes in six swish colours selected by Laura Guido-Clark. Oh, and the extra sweet part is it'll be about half the price of the original aluminum Navy Chair (which, btw, contains 80% recycled aluminum). Fancy getting hooked up? Then pop on over to DWR, since they'll have the exclusive.

Guest blog / Julia Black: Just for the (green) taste of it

Julia Black: Coca-Cola Classic cans might always be, well, classic but the iconic red and white striped pop could be going naked. The design team of Ryan Harc have created a green alternative to the can, albeit a chic silver kind of green. The guys behind Ryan Harc, Ryan Loon and Harc Lee, have designed Colorless, a monochromatic all-aluminum Coke can with a pressed, convex logo, all without any toxic paints and finishes. In forfeiting Coke's bold colours their proposed design will reduce air and water pollution, and takes out the secondary stage of removing the can's ubiquitous paint job once it's sent to be recycled, saving a whole bunch of energy in the process. Although the Colorless concept has yet to be picked up by the folks at Coca Cola, you can visit Harc Lee’s BehanceNetwork portfolio page here and click to give your seal of approval, and - who knows - we might just see the colorless cans on shelves sometime soon (in time for Earth Day?).

To read more posts from Julia click here, click here to check out her cool blog, and then you should really click here to check out Julia's Green Geek video post for HGTV.ca!

Guest blog / Julia Black: Follow that sign

Julia Black: Boris Bally has a talent for discovering a second life for one of the most mundane things that surround us at - ahem - every turn. Street signs. An extraordinary industrial designer and metalworker, he continually creates pieces that provoke conversation, and often times, a chuckle or two. His humorous yet sophisticated furniture, installations, jewellry and even flatware mashes up recycled street signs, scavenged weapon parts and found industrial materials in a process he calls humanfactured. I love how on-trend his pieces feel from both a green angle (Bally reckons he's upcycled close to 70 tons of signage in his career so far), as well as how they'd add a lovely jolt of colour and wit to a space. Click here to check out all the galleries that carry his work in the US, Canada and further afield. From the top: BroadWay Armchairs, Small Square Transit Tables, Transit Chairs.

To read more posts from Julia click here, and to check out her cool blog click here.

 

Guest blog / Julia Black: It's in the grain

Julia Black: John Ross might as well win a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Truth be told he might not exactly be an athlete, though he is a supreme representative of the Canadian way. With his overwhelming compassion for nature, his creative brilliance, and his oh-so stylish designs, what more can you ask for? As logger for nearly 15 years in British Columbia, John decided to channel his passion into high-end one-of-a kind pieces crafted from cast-off wood. You might have caught his work in Oprah Magazine and Canadian House & Home, and to actually get your hands on his furniture and lighting you can pop into one of my fave Vancouver shops, The Cross. John currently resides on Vancouver Island, so those of you lucky enough to be on the West coast right now be sure to check him out! Who knows, maybe you’ll come away with an extraordinary, and very Canadian, piece of furniture.

To read more posts from Julia click here, and to check out her cool blog click here.

   

  

Pretty clean

Jerry was the last worker to sand anything in the house which (yay!) means the reno is finally complete and we can get onto the 'pretty' stuff. We've had a painter quote on the trim work and my absolutely great wallpaper guy, Rod Dunn, came by to look at all the papering that'll be happening in the house. In the meantime, we set about with a top-to-bottom clean of the house tryng to rid it of any remaining bits of construction dust that might be floating about. Of course drywall dust is the death knell for any vacuum cleaner so a microfiber duster and good all purpose cleaner will definitely do the trick. One of the latest cleaners we've been trying out is the J.R. Watkins natural plant-based All Purpose Cleaner. It not only does the trick it looks pretty doing it, plus I loved reading on their website about all the ingredients it doesn't have in it (lol). Have a boo below at some of the products in the line.

  

Urban goes garden

I know, it's all bare branches and frostbitten ground out there (at least in this neck of the woods) but soon enough it'll be time to think green and garden, and guess what? Last year Urban Outfitters rather slyly opened up a new home and garden concept called Terrain that would be totally worth the drive to, errr, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania (outside of Philly). Terrain at Styer's is the full name, since they've set up shop in the old Styer's nursery and the goal, says Urban Outfitters, is 'to transform the local garden center into an experience that celebrates the beauty and abundance of nature, while offering an eclectic mix of garden-inspired products tailored for the contemporary customer.' This is all especially exciting since the plan is to eventually open up to 50 locations across the country, though sadly, who know's now whether that'll go ahead...

Take a boo below to get a taste of the place - It's eclectic, rustic and thoughtful and yes, it all looks gorgeously lush and inspiring. On site there's a hothouse, a seasonal exterior plant area, landscape services, and a cafe (what a pretty place to tie the knot!) as well as a beautifully merchandised store. [Images 2, 4, 5 by mytoenailcameoff on Flickr]

      

3x modern kitchens, 1x sexy chair

I'm apparently well and truly kitchen obsessed. Now any glimpse of a swish new cabinet or sleek countertop has me all googly-eyed, so of course, when I caught sight of DWR's latest - a capsule collection of cabinetry (pardon the alliteration) - I was, well, drooling.

Designed exclusively by Nilus de Matran for Design Within Reach, DWR: Kitchen is set to order in three finishes; black oak, white and walnut. The line is entirely free of exterior hardware, which is thankfully one less excruciating decision if you ask me and, since the cabinetry is designed as a modular system, it's built to be portable, so when you move it can come along with you!

Of course I can't leave it there. Another DWR exclusive for /09 is a petite group of chairs designed for Emeco by iconic French designer Andree Putman for the recently redesigned Morgans Hotel in NYC. The Morgans chair, handmade of 80% recycled aluminum, is available in a trio of sexy finishes - brushed anodized aluminum, satin black and gloss white. Mmmmm, is all I can say to that.

Trash talk

I love an art intervention, something that can shake up daily life a bit and make you think, so was super interested in the work of artist Adrian Kondratowicz when it flickered across my screen the other day. It's all about trash - garbage, rubbish, refuse, call it what you like; we've just got too much of it and keep on dropping more at the curb.

So, rather than getting all apocalyptical, Kondratowicz has been working on bringing wit, humour and even a bit of glamour to idea of thinking about reduce, reuse, recycle and how much we actually toss on a daily basis. His project "Trash - anycolouryoulike" has been hitting spots around NYC, most recently in the Meatpacking District, and has caused quite the stir. Well, how can you ignore pink polka dot trash bags?

Check out his work here, you can buy the bags too (they're biodegradable and naturally scented to repel insects and vermin) or commision Kondratowicz for your very own trash intervention.