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One of my fondest childhood memories was playing with a brand new refrigerator box with our neighbors in the front yard. This large box was a space ship, a school bus, a house, etc. Parents know that kids love boxes, and sometimes these corrugated containers are more interesting than the toys they contain on birthdays and holidays. Kidsonroof has combined children’s love of cardboard boxes with dramatic play to create the MobileHome.
The MobileHome is made from recycled cardboard, is biodegradable, five percent of profits are donated to UNICEF, and is made in China. It has eight secret rooms and is easy to take with you to the park, on vacation, or around the house. My children immediately integrated their other toys, including their children’s yoga mat, into dramatic play with our MobileHome.
By Deb Hiett •
June 24, 2008
Eco-Friendly, Biodegradable Tableware from Let’s Go Green
Picnic in green style this summer with eco-friendly biodegradable plates & bowls, and compostable utensils and cups from Let’s Go Green. Made from sugarcane fibers, these bowls and plates are 100% biodegradable, but sturdy enough for your sloppiest Joes. Their 16- and 20-oz. plastic cups are made from corn, and their PSM (plastic starch material), compost-certified utensils will naturally decompose back to organic elements. Let’s Go Green also offers 100% recycled lunch and dinner napkins, recycled without chlorine bleaching.
Save big when you buy their Picnic Sampler, which includes 50 each of knives, forks, spoons, and 9″ plates — all for only $19.99.
Let’s Go Green has dozens of wonderful products for every room in your home. In fact, a great housewarming gift is one of their Green Home Starter Kits….
From A to Z and across the globe are earth-friendly status bags for every imaginable purpose. I start with Alchemy Goods where founder Eli Reich combined his green lifestyle with a misfortune in Seattle. His stolen messenger bag story inspired him to become an accessory designer who combines bicycle inner tubes, car seat belts, and billboard vinyl.
The company was honored to display their messenger bag beginning May 15th at the Sustainable Fashion Symposium in The Design Museum of University of California at Davis, which runs until July 13th, 2008. So exciting that a blog was created just for the event.
I’ve been told that artistic Seattleites in the Emerald City are famed for introducing grunge music, and that the craze made unkempt appearances a trend. This cool unisex bag can style you either way; vogue or grunge!
By Skye Kilaen •
June 10, 2008
This week in Fabulous Fabrics, I’m venturing a little outside the normal to include a recycled fabric product that’s halfway between fabric and paper. On Kim Kight’s yummy fabric blog True Up, I saw this recycled paper/fabric hybrid from a company called Soolip. It’s a wallpaper weight paper made out of “recycled cotton rag that comes from unused off cuts of clothing from India’s garment district.” Kim speculates that it might be good for sewing projects as well as the gift wrap that Soolip suggests.
You can see all of the patterns here - but make sure you notice there’s a page two, navigation is in the upper right. Most of them come in additional colorways and you have to click through to see them. Each sheet is about 22×30, and they sell for $6 or you can get 3 sheets of the same pattern for $12.
By Skye Kilaen •
June 5, 2008
Ah, the journal. I have about 5.2 billion of them scattered throughout the house, much to the annoyance of some other people who live here and don’t understand that when I ask for “the green one,” I mean that green one and not that green one. I have a journal for notes on films, a journal that reminds me what to look for when thrift shopping, and a couple of journals with notes from conferences I’ve attended in the past couple of years. Journals are so lovely.
Kelly has written about Ex Libris journals and Night Owl Paper Good journals, and Tara tipped us off about her friend Nicole’s recycled wallpaper journals from Freshly Blended Press. I took a spin through Etsy to see what other upcycled, recycled, and handmade journals I could discover…
Holy cow, it’s insane over there!
I had to narrow it down to journals that use recycled, found, or scrap paper inside as well as recycled material in the covers, because otherwise my brain was overloading. I didn’t even scratch the surface, but here are some of my favorites:
Editor’s note: This week, our friends at Life Goggles take a look at a very cool (and very green) accessory: the Mighty Wallet. If you’re looking for an alternative to leather or other less-green materials, and want something that can go right into the recycling bin after its useful life is over, this product is definitely worth checking out. This post was originally published on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008.
The Mighty Wallet is another alternative to using a leather wallet.
Made from a single sheet of Tyvek paper (like that’s used for express envelopes) it containing 25% post consumer content (water and milk containers) and is 100% recyclable (grade 2). The wallet is also apparently virtually indestructible. It’s certainly tear-resistant as I couldn’t tear it with my bare hands (looks like my phone book tearing days are over), and it’s water resistant too. It’s incredibly thin and light, but has lots of slots to put cards in and the wallet will expand just like an stuffed envelope.
Editor’s note: This week, our friends at Life Goggles make another find: Couronne Co glassware. The company’s decorative items (vases, jars, bottles, etc.) are all beautiful, affordable and sustainable: they’re made from recycled glass. This post was originally published on May 14, 2008.
Couronne Co make glass bottles, vases, jars, bowls and candle holders from recycled glass. I was sent some fantastic products, a gerbera bud vase, a blue glass ball vase and a diamond red bottle.
Their website explains that Couronne prides itself on a vast selection of glassware and home décor products that are both eco-friendly and affordable. They recognize the importance of recycling glass, because it not only conserves the environment but it also saves energy. The process required to produce glass is quite simple as it is composed of sand, soda, lime and a lot of heat. The obvious benefits of recycling glass is to reuse and save our natural resources, but the most important benefit of recycled glass is that it requires considerably less energy than that which is needed to melt raw materials.
Or perhaps more importantly, what is your wallet made of? How is it made? By whom is it made?
Well, if it’s a Jimi, then rest easy. Not only is your wallet made of recycled and recyclable material, it is also made sweat shop free in the US by a company that gives 1% to the Planet. Jimi, the “wallet for people who hate wallets” comes from a socially responsible company with [...]
Editor’s note: We’re pleased to start a new content partnership today with Low Impact Living, a very comprehensive site dedicated to “helping you lower the environmental impact of your home and your daily life.” The first post we’re publishing definitely belonged here at Feelgood Style: LIL co-founder Jessica Jensen profiles four decorative artists working with recycled materials. This post was originally published earlier today (April 28, 2008).
We have recently come across the outstanding artists who are using found and recycled objects to create their masterpieces. Their work is gorgeous, intriguing and sustainable– what could be better?
The first we want to highlight is the “mosaic fusion” of artist S A Schimmel Gold. She collects junk mail and incorporates it into her stunning portraiture. Some are pure pop, some are moody and moving. I saw them “in person” at the AltBuild Expo last week and was floored. The artist says of herself and her work, “I am a rabid recycler - I am compelled to upcycle unusual resources to create my art and give others’ images and words a new life in my work. Look closely for menu items, cruise itineraries, gallery openings… stand back to view the sum of the parts - a textural representation of beauty.” Please review the Schimmel Art collection here.
By Deb Hiett •
April 15, 2008
This Spring, update your patio, porch, or deck in one easy step. Mad Mats are fantastically chic outdoor/indoor woven rugs made from 100% recycled plastic (disposable bottles, packing wrap, etc.). Created in Thailand under Fair Trade conditions, Mad Mats will not work with factories that employ children or produce environmentally harmful waste.
The mats are washable (just run them under a hose), reversible, and really comfy underfoot. The flat weave and soft [...]
By Kelly Rand •
April 7, 2008
Based in Birmingham, “Owlbama,” Night Owl Paper Goods is a letterpress stationary company that gives a hoot about the environment.
Their letterpress designs are printed on sustainability harvested yellow birch, creating unique postcards and journals. The wood is sliced thin to produce a large number of cards from a small amount of raw material. Each piece is different due to the variation in the wood grain and very little water and power is used in [...]
