Utilizing the Urban Forest (fallen trees = lumber)

When a tree falls in the city, where does it go? More than likely, it is made into firewood or mulch, but it could be utilized as hardwood lumber thereby saving old growth trees and forests. These trees fall for various reasons ranging from storms, old age, insects or construction, but we could use this lumber for furniture, building, cabinets, and even paper products.
According to Stephen Bratkovich, a forest products specialist with the USDA Forest Service, using these trees could satisfy 30 percent of the country’s hardwood needs. Really all we need is someone to mill them into lumber. Bruce and Erica Horigan have a mill, Horigan Urban Forest Products, just North of Chicago and say “we are committed to the environment by reducing the number of trees removed from the forest, the amount of fuel consumed for transportation, and the amount of carbon that is released into the atmosphere by sequestering it as hardwood lumber. ”


The wood produced is very beautiful, has character, and the user knows exactly where it came from. This chair was made from an Ash tree that was infested with the dreaded Emerald Ash Borer, a wood eating beetle. Also recently, a synagogue in Evanston, IL used the maple trees cut down in construction for the new building.

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Don’t Trash it, Sit On It

Recycled plastics are making there way into numerous consumer goods these days and a creative offering from the UK is reclaiming our old coffee cups and shampoo bottles and transforming them into high quality chairs and tables. Re-Form Furniture’s designs are conceived with simplicity and sustainability in mind. They are designed to be durable, fun and raise environmental awareness.

Along with post-consumer and industrial recycled plastics such as HDPE, and PET supplied from the innovative firm Smile Plastics, Re-Form uses locally sourced timber and natural oils in the production of their furniture. Their products are designed for easy disassembly and use minimal glue. Re-From furniture’s unique offerings highlight the potential of recycled plastics and help reduce the strain we continually place on our landfills.

Re-Form Website

Shearyadi’s World Blog on Re-Form

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Cassette Tape Furniture

With the advance of technology, significant changes in ways we value our possessions has become an inspiration for designers like Patrick Schuur to create a furniture piece built entirely out of 918 old cassette tapes, wooden frames and aluminum. Originally made to serve as a space divider and storage device, the cassette tapes are individually screwed onto the wooden frames which then provides access to the storage space.

Schuur explains that the reasoning behind using old cassette tapes was not only because its aesthetics, but to remind people of how good the technology used to look in the old days.

For more information, please visit creativebarn.nl.

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Would You Ever Sit on a Sony Playstation?

Pli Design Ltd, a sustainable furniture firm based in London, U.K., has come up with a practical solution to the increasingly common question of what to do with plastics from discarded consumer products.  With the Reee Chair, comes the first chair back and seat made entirely of recycled plastic from a single source - nine old SONY PlayStation®2 cases go into each chair, in addition to the frame and legs made of powdercoated steel.  Founder Christopher Pett, notes that each chair prevents 2.4 kg of plastic from being landfilled, the design accommodates ease-of-disassembly for maintenance and recycling, and all parts are locally sourced, within the U.K.  In an example of what American companies could do with a similar initiative in place in the U.S., the PS cases are acquired and reprocessed under the guidelines of the European Commision’s Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which states that all electronics manufacturers must take responsibility for retrieving their products at end-of-life.  The Reee Chair is ultimately the result of a discussion among Pli Design’s staff at the Eden Project suppliers conference in Cornwall, England, about how to effectively use high quality recycled plastic from discarded electronics.  Upon determining old SONY PlayStation®2 consoles as their material source, Pli partnered with Sprout Design, a sustainable design consultancy, to develop the chair.

Pli Design Ltd

WEEE Directive

The Eden Project

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Recycled Cardboard Made Into Furniture

Krooom focuses on environmental performance and makes products which are produced with at least 60% recycled paper. Their technical team has developed and invented patented technology that has enabled the creation of products which are strong, sturdy and lightweight. They ship folded flat and require no tools for assembly. According to Nitzan Bertele, their Chief Design Officer, “advanced patented technology ensures no visible corrugated edges. Our products are completely printable, and meet many of the standards for moisture resistance.  Their production facility in China is supervised by our own staff, strictly working under international and local labor laws.”

In a typical re-manufacturing process, recycled cardboard is dropped into a water-based solution in which it dissolves, contaminants (tape, staples, dirt, etc.) are removed by gravity, flotation, or filtration, the recycled pulp is blended to produce a mix with the characteristics required for production of a specific paper product, and the pulp is pumped to a paper machine where the final product is manufactured. Paper production from recycled cardboard consumes less energy, produces fewer emissions to air and water, and generates less solid waste than production of similar products made from virgin fiber.

Please visit Krooom for more information.

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A Twist On The Classics

SKATE STUDY HOUSE, also known as ‘SSH’, is a line of products conceived through the eyes of a skateboarder. The furniture aims to mix contemporary lifestyle, art and sports culture, and align with some of the bestselling modern furniture, while paying tribute to the renowned Case Study House. “The SKATE STUDY HOUSE finds its inspiration here by recreating furniture, and giving a feel of déjà vu-with-a-twist by incorporating skateboard decks. The introduction of this new element responds to the popularity of action sports, street art and design culture with a consciousness on our environment.” You might ask where they got all of these decks from which to construct the furniture. It’s easy to realize when you discover that the project is a collaboration between Jim Gray and Jonjon of ACME, Steve Lake of Sector 9, Chris Bullard and Al Collins of Premier Displays, and designer Eric Crandell.

Learn more at skatestudyhouse.com

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ICFF 2008: The Report

This year there were several pieces that considered the environment and stood out from the crowd. More than ever there was a reoccurrence of manufacturing in the New York metro area. Several designers we spoke with mentioned that their products were fabricated or produced in Brooklyn and also sold locally. We were also very excited to see an increase in the amount of recycled materials being used in the production of furniture.

Ayako Takase, Cutter Hutton and Chris Specce of Kaiju Studios in Providence, RI released the Airia desk and media cabinet, for Herman Miller this year at ICFF. These pieces are part of Herman Miller’s Lifework Portfolio series and strive to create a remarkable, quality design that is far from disposable and very desirable. Takase mentioned that through the design, ergonomics, materials and construction quality, they intend the furniture to be something “you’ll keep for the rest of your life and pass on for generations.” The desk and cabinet are both designed for easy assembly/disassembly and are made from walnut, featuring a plywood laminate top surface and cast aluminum legs.

Kaiju Studios

Akemi Tanaka is a Brooklyn based designer and a recent graduate of the Industrial Design masters program at Pratt. She launched her line of eco-friendly furniture this year at ICFF. The three new products that she released at the show include Ori, Sachi and Curve. They are locally made in Brooklyn and primarily sold to customers in the New York area.

Akemi Tanaka

Meredith Goodwin created the SURA table. A simple, modular coffee/side table piece designed for small spaces. SURA is fabricated out of a strong aluminum alloy with an Indian inspired design cut into the metal. SURA is made from Aluminum and produced locally in Brooklyn, New York.

Goodwin Design

Diane Ruengsorn, Founder and Director of Domestic Aesthetic created a line of housewares that use sustainably forested and reclaimed woods while being locally made in Brooklyn. Our favorite product uses scrap mahogany which is reclaimed from a local window manufacturer.

Domestic Aesthetic

With the rising cost of fuel and labor oversees, material companies such as IceStone, are using production facilities in the United States. IceStone manufactures Cradle to Cradle certified eco-friendly surface material used for countertops, bathroom vanities, and flooring for commercial or residential projects. The material is made from recycled glass and concrete and is produced by an environmentally friendly manufacturing process at a factory in Brooklyn, New York.

IceStone

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Droog Does Materials

I am here in Milan, Italy reporting from the Fuori Salone di Mobile. I’ve seen quite a lot and walked even more! Yesterday we went to see the Droog exhibition close to la Triennale on Foro Buonaparte. The title of the exhibition is post-sustainability. Although I generally gush over the ideas generated through the Droog community, I was a bit apprehensive to see what they produced for Milan under this theme seeing as how all the “green” themed shows have been nothing more than disappointing.

Contrary to my apprehensive feelings, the show was wonderful. It was quite small but thought provoking. The two that I enjoy the most are of a new materials nature. The first is a fence for your yard or a highway made of refused plastic bags (see image above). The bags are strung through a series of vertical, flexible cords that are held taught by a metal frame. Depending on the size and density, some bags are layered, some are overlapping, and some stand a lone. Another beauty in this piece is that the control of design and aesthetic is left up to the owner. Now this fence may not keep enemies apart from each other but it has the potential to serve as a sound barrier or simply a way to draw a line.

The second object is a table made of shredded Elle Magazines. Even today in the digital age, somehow we still fall victim to the magazine collection problem. It made we wonder what size chair we could make if everyone pooled all the magazines and paper propaganda collected at this show- certainly a chair no human could mount alone. Most importantly, what I appreciate about this table is that it is attainable and easy to create- any teenager forced to clean up her room and realizes she has a stack of magazines to the ceiling could simply create a vanity table out of them and not throw away a scrap (not to mention have to carry them all downstairs to the trash)!

It is the simplicity and engagement that really makes Droog objects special. I hope that other attendees alike had a similar reaction. If you were there, by all means share your comments with us! For the rest of you, stay posted, I will be reporting more…

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