Thanks to a new “British Invasion”, there is now an affordable, attractive, environmentally friendly solution for Plantation shutters.  Originally started in the U.K. as, of all things, The California Company, the British born shutter business saw an opportunity here in the U.S., and opened shop here in 2009 as The Shutter Store.

Designed for the do it yourself homeowner, The Shutter Store provides custom made, FSC certified wood shutters in just about every color and finish.  In fact, they will also match their paint finishes to any Sherwin Williams color – so black, white or hot pink, they can create what you’ve always wanted.  There is even the option of leaving the wood unfinished (at a 10% discount), which is great for those who want to go completely natural and use only an oil or wax finish.

For their painted shutters, they use fine grained FSC certified Poplar, but for the unfinished and stained shutters, the stronger grain of FSC certified Elm makes it the wood of choice.

For those who aren’t quite sure about ordering and installing shutters by themselves, The Shutter Store provides helpful videos and instructions to get you through the process.  And, if you really aren’t the DIY sort, you could always hire a local handyman to do the installation for you.

There are some real benefits to using The Shutter Store, such as the shutters all being made to order (reducing waste), the fact that all the wood is FSC certified, the large range of styles and colors, as well as the cost savings compared to other wood shutters.   Of course, some of that savings may come from the shutters being manufactured in China.  I was assured that the factory is operated with a fair trade policy, and that shutters are shipped via sea freight to conserve on fuel.  While I would love every item that is used in a home to be made by a local artisan, I think it’s important to recognize that economic realities make that impossible for most families.  The Shutter Store is offering a quality product, at an affordable price, made from sustainable materials, and I think that is a big step in the right direction.

What do you think?

From time to time I run across some innovative or creative ways to lesson the overall impact of all this sampling, and I though I would share a couple of those ideas here:

Primer from Tricycle, Inc. on Vimeo.

Product development company Tricycle tackled this problem by creating Tryk, a process for high resolution, color accurate flat samples, to be used for preliminary design work.  This system cuts down enormously on the amount of material and space needed for samples by carpet companies such as Tandus, Interface, and Shaw.  In the initial design stage, these samples can be used for color and pattern, and can be applied easily to mood boards.  Later in the design stage, an actual sample of the desired carpet can be requested for final approval.

Here is a different way of approaching the sampling problem.  The other day my sales rep for The Woven Company stopped by with their new sample set.  While their actual format hasn’t changed, the box definitely has.  And what a great sample box it is!   Not only is this woven grass container attractive to look at and easy to use, it has the potential for a truly useful life long after The Woven Company has moved on to other things.  A picnic basket, a child’s overnight case, perhaps a place to store yarn for knitting?  I have half a mind to call them up and ask if I could buy a few more!

When the rep dropped it off, it really got me to thinking about how wasteful all those sleek, logo encrusted sample kits manufacturers regularly send me are.  Once the product line is no longer valid, what do I do with the container, much less the actual samples?  I’ve donated many to local design schools, but they will still wind up in the landfill someday.  Wouldn’t it be nice if all these samples came in something useful?

If you have any ideas for great ways manufacturers could provide samples to lessen their impact, or another fun sample container idea, please feel free to share it in the comments below!