Designverb

Category: green

Cocohon 555

January 22, 2011

Cocohon 555 celebrates a gathering to bring together a feast with 5 pigs, 5 wine makers , and 5 chefs.  I’m thinking about going to the one in Boston next sunday. They have dates in NYC, Seattle, Napa, SF, DC, Chicago, Denver, LA, and New Orleans as well. Looks pretty amazing. Has anyone here been?

“Cochon 555 is a one-of-a-kind traveling culinary competition and tasting event–five chefs, five pigs, five wine makers–to promote sustainable farming of heritage breed pigs. Each stop along the ten-city tour offers hard-working local farmers the opportunity to connect with like-minded agriculturalists, renowned chefs and the pork-loving public. Our goal is to help family farms sustain and expand their businesses and to encourage breed diversity. Cochon 555 is the only heritage breed pig culinary competition in the country.”

via cocohon555

Upcycling: Latex Roll Pouf

January 15, 2011

Pretty neat little reuse of wasted material. In this instance, sheets of latex used to cut out shoe insoles are taken, rolled up, and turned into seats. I’m curious how comfortable they are, but as usual, any bright colored, odd shaped material placed in a clean space looks rather cool. About $80 each. I guess they would be easy to roll around…leaving footprints. ha.

via inhabitat
buy at E-side.

Wine Punts: recycled wine glasses

January 9, 2011

Wine Punt turns everyday wine bottles into beautiful simple reusable glassware, 2 sizes. Pretty simple, and very needed! I think I’ll need a few sets of these soon. They also have a wholesale pricing for industries like restaurants seeking a sustainable  fresh approach at glassware….especially those with lots of wine bottle consumption =). A great piece with a great story behind them.

wine punt website
via  unconsumption

Jointmaker Pro

December 19, 2010

If I only knew about the Jointmaker during design school…. I love Japanese saws, but never thought about using them in the inverse where the saw sat static, and the wood was the object that moved to get cut much like a table saw.  Pretty creative and simple. It’s a table saw with no flying dust, no need for electricity, no ear protection or eye gear needed, and a cut as thin and accurate as a Japanese saw vs the wide width of a table saw blade. Only problem I find is the price at around $1,200, but thats what you pay for innovation I guess.

bridgecitytools

via youtube

Fashion Show with Google

December 3, 2010

Fashion Show with Google Image search! I’ve done something like this before, but I’ve gotta do it again after seeing this… Photo Shopping on top of someone is fun too!

via todayandtommorrow

Ecological Business Card Stamp

November 13, 2010

I always loved the idea in the Seconds Hand Business cards, but to be more sustainable comes a real reuse by creating creating a stamp to put onto existing paper materials!  I just might have to do this now.

“Fischer Portugal recently had the challenge of designing an ecological business card for an environmental consultant, Andrea Romani. Business cards are usually made of paper. But using paper, even recycled, is not good for the environment. To avoid this issue, the advertising agency decided not to print any cards at all. Instead they created a rubber stamp to turn re-usable material into business cards.

The Ecological Business Card was developed at Fischer Portugal, Lisbon, by creative director Diogo Mello, art director Marco Martins and copywriter Rafael Pitanguy.”

via theinspirationroom

Anti-Fly Sphere

October 18, 2010

hmm, interesting. I never knew that to be a reason people hung up bottles of water near food. Makes much more sense now!

“If you can’t stand the smell or deadly poisons that come with store-bought bug spray, then this surprisingly attractive Anti-Fly Sphere 2.0 may just the pest deterrent you’ve been looking for. Designed by Netherlands-based José de la O, the Anti-Fly was inspired by the taco kiosks in Mexico, which use hanging plastic bags full of water to ward off flies by confusing their sensitive eyes with amplified colors and movements through light refraction. A little fancier that a Ziploc full of water, José’s design is a totally revamped version that consists of a beautiful glass bulb and stopper. Gorgeous, green, non-toxic and kill-free — these are words we’d never expect to use to describe bug repellent!”

José de la O
via inhabitat

Spray-On Clothing

September 21, 2010

I’ve always thought about spray on clothing, but I guess it’s only now that I’ve seen a pretty viable solution above, where ya spray it on, and it dries to fit to perfection. You can even recycle it for another spray on. Anyhow, how about some spray on socks… I get those sock holes all the time, but you just next to spray on a patch now!

“Particle engineer Paul Luckham and fashion designer Manel Torres from Imperial College London combined cotton fibres, polymers and a solvent to form a liquid that becomes a fabric when sprayed. The material can be built up in layers to create a garment of your desired thickness and can also be washed and worn again like conventional fabrics.

In addition to creating instant fashion, the technology could have a range of other uses – spray-on bandages, for instance. “It’s a sterilised material coming from an aerosol can, and you can add drugs to it to help a wound heal faster,” says Torres.”

via newscientist