Striped icebergs in Antarctica are bang on nautical trend

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Eco on Thursday 11 October 2012

Bah, humbug! Did Willy Wonka make his way to Antarctica or what? Oyvind Tangen, a Norwegian sailor, was on board a research vessel 1,700 miles south of Cape Town and 660 miles north of the Antarctic a few years back, when he spotted the striped eye-candy floating on the waters. The stripes are formed naturally over centuries. Nature clearly got the memo about nautical stripes coming back in season.

Read more

Rooftop farm in Durban, South Africa

The Urban Grocer Contributor

By The Urban Grocer in New Eco on Saturday 11 August 2012

Bright green rows of organic vegetables cross lush herb tunnels and a bounty of indigenous plants. That’s not exactly your quintessential urban fare. But this thriving garden, bursting with flora and fresh veg, sits atop a booming tower in Durban, South Africa. The rooftop haven grew out of a project by Durban’s eThekwini municipality focused on transforming the inner city from a rundown, crime-ridden area into a welcoming and generous space. And how generous it is. Organic aubergines, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, basil, strawberries, and more are grown here then donated to kitchen soups, orphanages, and schools or sold to local kitchens. It’s a project that’s not only giving to charities but creating jobs too.

Read more

Non-profit art gallery housed in an old mechanics garage

Lauren Carroll Harris Reader Find

By Lauren Carroll Harris in Cool Travel on Friday 13 July 2012

The art projects that inspire me most are the ones that combine utopianism and pragmatism in equal measures. The second last project that did this was Renew Newcastle, which installed artists and small local wannabe businesspeople into vacant commercial properties in that rundown Australian port city. The latest like-minded endeavor is Sebastian Goldspink’s ALASKA Projects. [...]

Read more

Badass supertrees in Singapore are green conservatories

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Eco on Tuesday 19 June 2012

Now that Gardens by the Bay is set to open this month, we’ve been transfixed by its concrete and steel supertrees, which look like badass trees that survived science fiction. Fitted with solar panels and hanging gardens, these function as green conservatories for plants from all across the globe.

Read more

Socially conscious jewelry design by The Love Project

Tanja M. Laden Contributor

By Tanja M. Laden in New Eco on Thursday 7 June 2012

The Love Project is both an eco-friendly jewelry line and a charitable collaboration between a pair of Washington DC-based designers. Jennifer Elizabeth Miller and Melissa Lew are the eponymous Jem • Lew: two socially conscious artists who designed The Love Project’s signature piece: a four-heart logo that’s hand-painted on bamboo and stainless steel. Percentages of sales from each of the baubles are donated to various non-profit organizations. It’s finally possible to buy jewelry and say it’s for a good cause. And it’s true.

Read more

Upcyclist: a website that features eco-friendly designs

Philip Dunne Reader Find

By Philip Dunne in New Eco on Saturday 5 May 2012

The environment is one of the most important things in my field of vision and my thought processes right now. I love the concept of upcycling, it will have great socioeconomic resonance for years to come. There are so many exciting and beautifully made concepts on it. It’s even motivated me to reuse a lot of my old unused sketches to create to new work and to regenerate old ideas that I once considered unworkable or redundant.

Read more (1 comment)

Bringing light to the poor regions of the Philippines

Chiang Lup Hong Reader Find

By Chiang Lup Hong in New Eco on Wednesday 11 April 2012

A Liter of Light is an inspiring project to bring lights to the poverty-stricken regions of the Philippines. Dwellings built too close to one another made natural lighting almost impossible, while electricity is unaffordable. The project aims to light up these houses by creatively reusing plastic bottles, filling them with water and bleach, then fixing [...]

Read more

Sunglasses made from recycled material

Contributions Reader Find

By Sean in New Products on Friday 6 April 2012

These are eco-friendly sunglasses with frames made from 100 percent recycled material. The frames will have a unique surface design not seen on any other pair of sunglasses. The hinges and lenses are the same used by many top designers in the industry. The glasses ship in recycled cardboard boxes and pouches made from reused clothing. Sweet, huh?

Read more

Designer Treehouses by Baumraum

Contributions Reader Find

By Jessica Clements in Architecture on Monday 8 August 2011

There are two gifts from my childhood I’m still asking for, and one is a treehouse. Enter German treehouse-making company, Baumraum. They build impressive architecturally designed and adult-friendly treehouses incorporating sustainable materials and specially engineered cables that avoid damaging the trees. The company has just published its first illustrated book, containing design details for both their realized and fictional treehouse designs. Now, that just leaves the carousel.

Read more (2 comments)

Life-sized endangered animal drawings

Contributions Reader Find

By Ed in New Art on Friday 29 July 2011

The life-sized animals in Melbourne-based artist Adriane Strampp’s most recent project exhibition — Erlösung: The Animal Gaze — are not cute. They are solid, monumental creatures drawn life-size, yet they remain fragile and exposed, vulnerable to the encroachment of mankind.

Read more (1 comment)

Home made 1970s TV

Contributions Reader Find

By Liz Terry in New Trends on Wednesday 8 June 2011

My neighbour, John Evans, an 88-year-old electrical engineer, built himself a TV in the 1970s and watched it until digital took over.

Read more

Tie-ups plastic belts

Contributions Reader Find

By Serena in New Products on Friday 11 March 2011

Italian-made Tie-ups is the first belt to be wholly realized in fine plastics: resistant, flexible and with a minimal and versatile design. Tie-ups is an accessory adding a note of freshness and innovation to any clothing style, and is ecological, recyclable, and waterproof.

Read more

Illuminated Steampunk Terrarium by Industrial Radical

Contributions Reader Find

By Spanner in New Design on Saturday 5 February 2011

Steampunk design house Industrial Radical is showcasing an awesome prototype steampunk terrarium. It features an illuminated glass lid, lots of copper and brass, and a rotating magnifying glass for a closer look at the ecosystem inside. Also in the jar is a steampunk flower made from old clock parts. Puts the ‘culture’ in ‘horticulture’!

Read more

Trashion

Contributions Reader Find

By Merzipan in New Fashion on Thursday 27 January 2011

From simply refashioning old or damaged clothes into chic new ensembles (refashion) to creating glamorous gala wear out of old filmstock, plastic bottles, or fashion magazines themselves, Bloomington, Indiana’s Trashion club is one of many around the world promoting clothes that are wildly creative, one-of-a-kind, and a whole other level of recycled.

Read more

This Is Now A Poster design for Eco Heaven Bazaar

Contributions Reader Find

By Anastasia Gerali in New Eco on Wednesday 26 January 2011

Lovely work by Leo Burnett Kuala Lampur copywriter Paul Prabhakar for an Eco Heaven Bazaar, where junk is hand-printed and re-purposed into posters to publicise the event.

Read more (1 comment)