A lovely new kitchen, made of reclaimed materials, that looks absolutely classic. (re-nest)
GE has unveiled their latest technology in super efficient OLED lighting. (Inhabitat)
It takes 5,000 cocoons to provide enough silk for one kimono! And this guy is raising the caterpillars, spinning the silk, and weaving it all by himself. (BoingBoing)
And finally, the most adorable ad, made on a whim by an 11 year old girl, for Harmony Art organic cotton fabrics. Seriously, somebody hire this girl! (The Journey is the Prize)
A while back I signed up for a social media outlet known as Formspring. The idea behind the site is to allow people to ask questions (which can even be posted anonymously) of a particular person, and receive an answer that can then be viewed by anyone. Sort of like a Q&A Twitter, only without the 140 character limit.
The nicest thing for me was that I could put a little widget on our site where people could submit questions, and then my answers would stay available on Formspring for the foreseeable future. Beats getting emails, because with those I can only reply to one person at a time.
So I thought you might like to see a few of the questions (in bold) I’ve received in the short time it’s been up, and with luck, the answers I gave will make sense. And please don’t hesitate to submit your own questions anytime. I’m always happy to help someone with sustainable design! Read the rest of this entry »
I once went to stay with a friend in Japan for a few weeks. Although the plum trees were in bloom, the shrines were stunning, and I stood inside one of the largest statues of Buddha in the world,… in the end, it was the toilets I marveled at the most.
Nowhere I have traveled has the humble toilet been more intriguing. From the literal hole in the ground at a park rest stop, to the futuristic, captain of the Enterprise, push button laden, wash, blow and style model I was warned not to use at an acquaintances house, the Japanese are the masters of the W.C..
Other than the really comfy, but slightly disconcerting heated seats that seemed fairly ubiquitous, the single most logical thing I saw was the integrated sink.
“Why don’t we have these back home?” I exclaimed. “What an incredibly sensible way to save space and water! Where can I get one?” Read the rest of this entry »
This weeks guest blogger is David Johnson of Sidecar Furniture. An accomplished craftsman, David is also a member of LA Box Collective, a select group of professional Los Angeles based furniture makers, committed to environmentally conscious design and production.
To look at my furniture it’s obvious that I like Danish Modern. When we create we can’t help but let our influences show. Our work is a compilation of what we see and our imaginations. Certainly as a furniture maker I’m going to be influenced by the aesthetics of the styles of the past but I’m also going to draw upon why these furniture styles can to be.
I went to The College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program, in Mendocino, CA. The school is known for teaching a high attention to detail and balance and symmetry in design based on the work of James Krenov, Jim, as he’s known to the students. The program is set up like a European apprentice system where students start with the basics and then make pieces under the watchful eye of the instructors. Students must have their designs approved by Jim. Any deviation from his design sense may be dealt with by his sharp criticism. Rebellion is mild but highly noticed. It’s funny to look at the pieces I made during school to know that they were controversial at the time. Read the rest of this entry »
For our final post on Japanese craft, let’s take a look at the beautiful art of carpentry.
Japanese carpentry is known for its complex system of joinery, crafted entirely by hand.
The tools used to work the wood are as artful as the furniture they are used to produce. Unlike western carpentry tools, Japanese saws and planes are designed to cut on the pull stroke, rather than on the push. One advantage to this is that the saw blades can be thinner, and therefore make finer cuts, but the technique takes quite awhile to master. Read the rest of this entry »
For the third post in our series on Japanese craft I thought we could take a look at natural wall plasters.
Image via Japanese Wall
The traditional Japanese home’s interior is made up of an artful blend of wooden floors, tatami mats, shoji screens and natural plaster walls. Although most modern homes in Japan now use drywall and paint, the call for more sustainable building methods has created a renewed interest in the traditional plasters. Read the rest of this entry »
For the second in our series on Japanese artisan crafts, we will take a look at the 1,400 year old tradition of washi, or Japanese handmade paper.
Brought to Japan in 610 AD by Buddhist monks, the art of washi making spread across Japan, till by the late 1800’s, over 100,000 families were employed in the craft. However, once European mechanical papermaking techniques were introduced, the number of washi makers rapidly declined, until it hit a low of only 479 families in 1983.
Image via Precious Pieces
These remaining families have worked hard to maintain the traditions of their craft, and some artisans are considered to be national treasures of Japan.
It is the beauty of the paper though, that has given washi a new life in the world of interior design. Read the rest of this entry »
I thought it would be nice to do a little series of posts this week on some of the beautiful craft work that comes out of Japan. Perhaps no other country is so obsessed with both the past and the future at once, so it’s the perfect place to explore when it comes to using historical materials and methods to create more sustainable products.
All images via Kurikan
First in our series is the cloth ware company Kurakin.
After receiving a research offer from the government to see if it could find a way to use food scraps as colorants, the Tsuyakin Kogyo Company, of Ichinomiya, Japan, developed the “nokori dye” method. Read the rest of this entry »
The interioRevolution is a design blog devoted exclusively to sustainable interior design. Through product reviews, guest blogs by experts in their fields, special features and spirited discussion, the interioRevolution provides new knowledge and expands the dialogue on sustainable interior design.
