A hundred years or more ago logging teams all over the American Southeast harvested Cypress trees, binding the logs into rafts to be floated downriver to the waiting wood mills.  Sometimes the rafts would break up, and the ancient logs would sink to the bottom of the river, there to sit, inviolate and perfectly preserved, for decades.

Ironically enough, as recovery teams reclaim those logs for use, that beautiful old-growth Cypress helps rescue forests from logging today.

In crafting what the company calls its “Handmade Modern” furniture, Edwin Blue is one of several companies making use of this half-forgotten treasure.  Read the rest of this entry »

So, I’ve gone and done this…

That’s right, I’m able to meet with clients online now.  So excited!  I love helping clients solve problems and find ways to incorporate sustainable design principles into their projects, and this will allow me to reach out to even more people.

To celebrate this latest endeavor, I’m giving away two Hulan Design online consultations!  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below, or send a tweet to @RachelHulan by  this coming Sunday, February 26th.  It’s that simple!  I’ll announce the winners on Monday.

Good luck, and thanks for visiting!

Rachel

I don’t know about you, but I could definitely go for a bedroom like this…

I probably have an acute case of biophilia I guess.

With so many articles pointing to the positive effects spending time in nature provides us, it makes sense to get outdoors as much as we can.  However, for many of us (yours truly included), time outside is at a premium.  So why not bring some of the great outdoors in?

You can start small, with a terrarium or two.

Or go big and grand, like this living wallpaper. Read the rest of this entry »

Part of sustainability is simply making use of what’s on hand: the ancient art of sourcing from nearby bounty.

The founders of Bunaco understood this well.  For over fifty years the company, based in the Aomori region of northern Japan, has made use of the beech trees plentiful to its area.  From a base product line of lacquered tableware, the designers at Bunaco have continually expanded their vision and created a legion of useful interior goods.

Their most recent brain-child is the Faggio loudspeaker, which debuted just last month at the 2012 Maison & Object Show. Read the rest of this entry »

I felt blue this morning, so opened up Jan DiCintio’s blog and within five minutes all that blah was washed away by her cheery, cheeky attitude and the philosophy surrounding red flowers.

An artist’s soul is inextricably wound up in their work, but this seems particularly true with Jan and Daisy Jane Fabrics.  While researching this profile I wandered onto her blog, and before I’d even touched my tea her infectiously sunny, positive, let’s-do-it voice had led me six pages deep.  That doesn’t happen often.  So let’s meet this wonderful lady and see what she’s all about.

The focus of Daisy Janie is the design of original patterns for use on organic cotton fabrics, with wholesale collections released twice a year, spring and autumn.  The product is produced with cotton that has been grown, harvested, processed, and woven according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).  Both the low-impact pigments and pigments used in the printing & finishing stages are similarly in accordance.  And, in addition, the fabric is produced in a Fair Trade Certified facility.

That’s the dry version.

What it doesn’t capture is Jan’s enthusiasm, or her passion for pattern, line, texture, and form, or her “fiery personal philosophies for ecofriendly living”.  And, just as certifications and standards can’t express the personal depth of her business practices, so words can’t adequately express the spring-like joie-de-vivre of her designs.  Only pictures can do that. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember being a kid and sitting down with your trusty box of crayons and a nice big inviting expanse of white paper?  All that great, creative possibility at your fingertips?  Yeah…

The owners of Dutch company WallArt must remember, too, because they’re given designers a grown-up version of that moment: 3D embossed wall panels in friendly do-something-awesome-with-me white.  Check out these brilliant examples from their Projects page while I tell you about the product itself.

It starts with sugar.  Rather, it starts with bagasse, the fibrous residue left over when sugarcane is shredded to extract the sweet stuff we put in our coffee every morning. Read the rest of this entry »

So, if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you might remember this…

My office before

and this… and finally this.  That was back in March of last year.  I’m sorry I left you hanging.  Still, I thought you might like to see the final result. Read the rest of this entry »

The glass panels are clean, contemplative, luminous… and evocative of spring?

Well, yes, all that.  There are a many sustainable glass products out there, but this creation by Coverings Etc. is impressive in a quiet, well-grounded, Zen kind of way.

Seen close up, Bio-glass evokes carpets of emerald moss, the dark, bare beauty of trees after an autumn rain, the shimmer of ice and snow.  As part of a project, it’s sumptuous, striking, and restful all at the same time.  Take a look here. Read the rest of this entry »

“Demolish another building, it just gives us more to work with!”

John Stein is into demolitions, but not in the way one might think.  The founder and president of California-based Kirei USA has a knack for finding the possibilities inherent in the unwanted.

This vision shows clearly in every Kirei product, including the newest line, Windfall.  These engineered panels are produced in partnership with Windfall Lumber, which takes Douglas & Hemlock Fir from deconstructed buildings in the Pacific Northwest and brings the reclaimed wood to fresh, new life.

“It’s great to reuse demolition material that would otherwise take up space in the landfill,” says Mr. Stein.  “Having it become beautiful wood panels is even better.  This is old-growth wood that just can’t be found any more, and we get to bring it to designers.”

Windfall is manufactured in the United States using low-VOC adhesives.  The reclaimed wood is milled into strips of differing width, which are then randomly stacked to form the panels and cut to size.  Panels are available either solid or 3-ply with a NUAF/FSC-certified core.  They may come unfinished, with a clear coat that shows off the natural grain, or stained and prefinished in Anthracite, Mocha, Ivory, and Leather colors.  The result adds to any interior.

Read the rest of this entry »

Often those who work with sustainable design find themselves working against some all-too-common misconceptions.  Namely: that environmental consciousness and luxury are incompatible, that “natural” means “limited palette,” that an Earth-friendly wall is dull.

With their line of wallcoverings, Weitzner Limited neatly puts all that nonsense to rest.

Although certainly luxurious in the sense of being well-crafted, Weitzner’s creations are also, by turns, whimsical, arresting, soothing, classical, or all of these at once.

“We like to challenge our client’s perception of what a wallcovering can be by creating innovative materials that evoke curiosity, calm and beauty,” touts the company website.  “Then we add environmental consciousness and performance (class A ratings) into the mix.”

Read the rest of this entry »