Improving Office Life With Chic Furniture That Integrates Plants. [Images via Offecct] From our friends at Fast Company, "bridging the fuzzy border between design and business. " There are countless reasons why your indoor office should look more like the great outdoors. Research has shown that vegetation can purify the air, improve employee productivity, and create a natural sound barrier between you and your neighbor's interminable sniffling. Unfortunately, a single, sad little cactus on the receptionist's desk isn't going to cut it.So the Swedish manufacturer Offecct has created a way for people to easily and stylishly usher mother nature into the workplace: Oasis, a collection of ultra-modern furniture, including pedestals, trays, and even sofas, designed explicitly to display plants.
Okay, we realize how absurd that sounds: Furniture... for plants??? Offecct's collection seems to have all the bases covered: One piece, designed by Stockholm-based Front, is a planter raised up on coltish legs that doubles as a room divider: -by Suzanne LaBarre. Green Materials Guide: An Intro to Green Flooring. Photo credit: Getty Images / flashfilm We all walk on it every day, but don't often think of it. It's underfoot, and, for many of us, out of mind. But just because you trod on it doesn't mean you shouldn't pay close attention to the materials that make up your flooring. Here are a few tips to find the best green material for the job; check out the full Green Materials Guide for Home Flooring over on Planet Green to get all the details.
Decide on the Durability You Need in Your Floor A properly installed hardwood floor is going to last a lot longer than carpet (but it'll be more expensive). Beware of Moisture Exposure to Your Floor Just as each material isn't as durable as the next, too much exposure to moisture can wreak havoc on your flooring if you match a wet area with a dry material. Get the scoop on a variety of flooring materials -- which choices are best for which locations, the pricing levels for each, and more -- in the Green Materials Guide to Flooring at Planet Green.
Trees Aren't Straight; With BoleFloor, Neither Are Floorboards. Images Credit Bolefloor Why are floorboards straight when trees are not? Dutch flooring company Bolefloor says "It wasn't nature that created straight floorboards: it was the limitations of technology. " They have a really interesting idea, using "wood scanning systems, tailor-made CAD/CAM developments and innovative optimization algorithms for placement software developed by a Finnish engineering automation company and three software companies in cooperation with the Institute of Cybernetics at Tallinn University of Technology.
" This is not simple to do; they have to calculate the most efficient cut and piece it all together like a jigsaw. Just as Gutenberg's invention literally freed the book from monastic confines, Bolefloor technology makes natural curved-length flooring available at a price not considerably more than today's fine wood flooring. Although it is tongue and groove like conventional wood flooring, I can't imagine that installation is as easy. Amerikkalaiskeksintö: Huonekalut syövät lihaa ja tuottavat sähköä - HS.fi - Ulkomaat. Hiljattain hollantilaiset tutkijat ehdottivat, että maailma pelastuisi jos söisimme hyönteisiä.
Nyt kaksi amerikkalaista muotoilijaa ovat vieneet ajatuksen pidemmälle: Miksi emme syöttäisi hyönteisiä huonekaluillemme ja tuottaisi samalla sähköä. Kyseessä ei ole vitsi. Amerikkalaiset muotoilijat James Auger ja Jimmy Loizeau ovat kehittäneet toimivia huonekaluja, jotka toimivat lihansyöjäkasvin periaatteella. Ne houkuttelevat huonekärpäsiä ja tuottavat niistä energiaa mikrobiologisissa polttokennoissa. Vaikka Augerin ja Loizeaun projekti on enemmän taidetta kuin tiedettä, heidän laitteensa saattavat osoittaa millaista tulevaisuutta kohti olemme menossa, kun opimme jäljittelemään luonnon nerokkutta energiantuotannossa. Augerin ja Loizeaun keksintöihin kuuluu digitaalinen seinäkello, joka toimii huonekärpäsillä. Kärpäset lentävät paperiin hunajan houkuttelemana ja jäävät siihen kiinni. Toinen keksintö on led-lamppu ja lampunvarjostin, jossa on pieniä reikiä. Muualla verkossa: The T-shirt Chair by Maria Westerberg Wins the 2011 Green Furniture Award in Sweden (Photos)
The T-shirt Chair by Maria Westerberg Swedish designer Maria Westerberg's T-shirt Chair won this year's Green Furniture Award. According to the jury, "the chair weaves together a meaningful story using worn textiles. This up-scaling of the classical 'rag rug' becomes an unique way of upholstering. T-shirts from friends together with other textiles such as grandma's curtains, the favourite but now worn out jeans etc, melt together visually to form a colourful symphony of one's personal history". I like the way Green Furniture Sweden explain why they award some designs and honour others, and what those designs are missing that don't make the first prize. Materials, production methods, efficient use of materials and ways of disassembling and recycling play important roles but the jury is also looking for "a piece of furniture to keep and treasure; with a story to tell, that ages in a nice way, that can last beyond current trends and have the potential of becoming a classic".
Gig is "Four-Track Furniture" For Small Spaces. I am really beginning to look forward to the Interior Design Show in Toronto in two weeks; all kinds of interesting stuff is coming in over the transom. Designer Davide Tonizzo shows his new Gig, transformers that he calls "four-track furniture. " He tells us: "As the world becomes more urbanized and energy efficient, spaces will become compact. As interiors get smaller, furniture has to get smarter. Gig is actually four different furniture pieces in one product.
I like the video and the music. "There was something musical about the piece. This would feel right at home in LifeEdited. More at Davide Tonizzo More at the Interior Design Show 2011Crowdsourcing Creativity and Community at IDS2011. Use Eco-Friendly Furniture (Going Green Tip #12) – Planetsave.com: climate change and environmental news. The task seems so big that it would be easy for everyone to throw up their hands and proclaim their inability to change the environmental problems that are currently ongoing. These include the depletion of forests and other natural habitats, the pollution of the air with greenhouse gases, the poisoning of water sources with toxic chemicals, and the loss of valuable land as it is converted into new garbage dumps to hold the mountains of refuse being thrown out each day. This Earth, however, is worth fighting for, and every individual act of green living can make a cumulative difference to future generations.
Consumers who want to be a part of the eco-friendly movement to slow the deterioration of the environment should consider recycling, restoring, and reclaiming the furniture they place in their homes. The following ideas should help those looking for green ways to furnish their homes: Recycling Old Furniture • Neighbors, friends, and relatives. • Yard sales and flea markets.