Brelli: Bamboo Umbrella

Dave and Fabian of Holstee fought the rain this morning and came to visit me at swissmiss studio. As they were walking in I noticed Dave’s supercool umbrella. Knowing how careful they select products they own, I wasn’t surprised to hear that this was a fully biodegradable umbrella. And yes, it’s available in their shop.

Anyone who’s been in NYC after a storm has seen it – the streets and trash cans are filled with the super cheap black umbrellas, destined to sit in our landfills for hundreds of years. This is the worlds first fully biodegradable umbrella. It is made of 3 materials bamboo, organic cotton and a patented biodegradable bio film. It’s great to look at, but don’t be fooled, it is designed to withstand winds up to 40 mph – common street umbrellas will barely make it past 12mph.

Brelli: Bamboo Umbrella

#wishlisted

WASARA Disposable Tableware

Single-use, biodegradable, compostable and simply beautiful looking Disposable Tableware by Japanese company, WASARA.

(via pitch design union)

Biodegradable Pen

The DBA Pen is the only 98% biodegradable pen in the world. It’s also the only pen to use ink composed of simple, environmentally responsible ingredients. Produced at a wind-powered facility in the United States, it was designed as a responsible alternative to the wasteful and often toxic pens we use almost every day. And with its straightforward design and rollerball tip, the DBA Pen looks good and writes well too.

By the way, DBA is looking for an intern.

DBA 98 Biodegradable Pen from DBA on Vimeo.

The Recycled Wallet

When it came time to buy a new wallet, our friends at Holstee couldn’t find what they were looking for so they designed their own, the Holstee way:

The slim Holstee wallet design holds the essentials – cash, credit cards and even has a sliding window for your ID and Metro card. Working with a family-run non-profit based in India that works to collect and recycle litter off the streets of Delhi they were able to create their dream wallet.

This vegan (!) wallet is made primarily of plastic bags and newspapers, collected off the Streets of Delhi in India. Production of this wallet helps reduce waste in Delhi, provides fair wage employment and subsidizes healthcare and education for each employee’s family. Their packing is a minimal slide insert made of (at least) 90% recycled material.

How much do I love Holstee? (spreading arms faaar) Thiiiiiis much!

D.I.Y.Honey

Lena Goldsteiner came up with a beehive for your balcony, backyard or rooftop garden. Who said that living in the city means you can’t keep bees?

As a beekeeper, you are direct observer of the symbiosis of animal, plants and human. Inspired by Richard Buckminster Fullers theory of Synergetics and Albert Einstein direct and simple conclusion:

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe the man would only have 4 years of life left.

NO MORE BEES
NO MORE POLLINATION
NO MORE PLANTS
NO MORE ANIMALS
NO MORE MAN.”

– Albert Einstein

CounterEvolution

Walking down the hallway to my studio this morning I noticed a new studio neighbor. Their door was slightly ajar and I saw this amazing table and stool (pictured above). I walked in and introduced myself to Jim Malone, the owner and designer of Counterevolution. Jim designs furniture out of reclaimed and restored bowling alley wood. (!!!) I am all for furniture with a story and give CounterEvolution a swissmiss-thumbs up!

Welcome to 10 Jay in DUMBO, Jim!

Bobble | Water Bottle with Built In Filter

Have you ever gone completely gaga over a waterbottle? I did! I was given a Bobble and am loving it. What’s so cool about it? It has a built in water filter! So when you’re on the go you can just keep filling up your Bobble with regular tab water. No need to buy bottled water. Yay, right?

I have come across similar bottles before, but they were an offense to my aesthetics. Bobble looks fabulous! Its design is minimal, stylish and they come in a rainbow of colors. Bobble will be my new favorite gift!

swissmiss hearts Bobble.

your favorite tee could be a laptop sleeve

HelloRewind.com allows you to recycle your favorite old tee into cozy computer sleeve! Great gift idea, no?

Custom Sigg Bottle Design

How cool is this? You can now customize your own Sigg Bottle over at CafePress. Love it.

(thank you larissa)

ornj bags

Ornj Bags are made out of recycled construction fencing. Made me look.

(thank you Keren)

Hydropal Filter Water Bottle

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I absolutely love the concept of this Hydropal Filter Water Bottle which filters tap water so you don’t have to buy and throw away bottled water. But please, somebody come up with a snazzier design. (sigh)

Stretch Bag

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Stretch Bags are made from 100% colorful advertising campaign billboards. The minimal 2-D design stretches into 3-D to form the biggest bag with the smallest amount of waste.

(via holycoolnet)

Lunch Skins

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While visiting Portland OR my friend Jen took me to the lovely Grasshopper Store on Alberta Street where I discovered these amazing Lunch Skins.

Lunch Skins are reusable, colorful cloth pouches are made from a high quality, moisture-proof German fabric used worldwide in the food industry. They are food safe, extremely durable, grease-proof and can even be thrown in the dishwasher. And most of all they are incredibly stylish! I am thrilled to be packing Ella’s on-the-go snacks in these stylish pouches from now. Good bye to ZipLock Bags.

recycling awareness ribbons

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Love these Recycling Awareness Ribbons by swiss designer Mayari. RRR Ribbons are made from used beverage cartons. It’s all about upcycling. Reuse, reduce and Recycle.

Here’s how to make a RRR Ribbon: (It’s subtitled but she is speaking swiss german, in case you’re wondering!)

Case-Mate iPhone recession case

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Always good to see a company adapting to the current economy: Case-Mate iPhone recession case.

(via bblinks)

Park(ing) Day NYC

Park(ing) Day is an international event that reclaims parking spots and transforms them into engaging, people-friendly public spaces for one day a year.

Park(ing) Day NYC is a New York City Streets Renaissance collaboration which supports the conversion of parking spots throughout New York City’s 5 boroughs into human-friendly places for a single day. These small, temporary public spaces provide a breath of relief from the auto-clogged reality of New York City, and aim to spark dialogue about our valuable public space and how we choose to use it.

This.is.the.coolest.thing.ever.

Eco Warrior

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Show off your Environmental Activist in you with the Eco Warrior Bag. If you see people littering the streets, not separating garbage properly etc, instantly transform to Eco Warrior!

Pick Up Wood

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Now here’s a submission that put an instant smile on my face. Pick up Wood by Belgium based Alain Berteau is a simple hanger hook that requires you to take a walk in the woods and pick up a fallen branch to complete the object and turn it into a hanger.

The project was designed for the brussels based non-profit organisation Les Petits Riens, which provides social reinsertion via the collecting and selling of second-hand clothes and used furniture.

BigBelly Trash Compactors

Big Belly Trash Compactors could make a huge impact in today’s garbage and recycling in big cities, like New York. The coolest part: It has a wireless notification system that will tell a control center when it needs to be picked up. Geeky stuff. Love it!

Tube iPhone Case

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«tube» makes products that are almost completely produced from old bicycle tubes or remaining stocks.

«tube» was founded by swiss Steve Henseler and Marc Lounis and the founders of a Cubegrafik, a design- and communication agency in Biel.

How Green Is Your Takeaway Container?

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Your food can’t go everywhere exposed to the elements; it needs packaging. Unfortunately, that packaging often takes massive amounts of energy to create, and much of it doesn’t properly decompose. CHOW rated some common carriers on a scale from 1 (bad) to 5 (good).

How Green Is Your Takeaway Container?, by Elizabeth Gillian

(via coudal, via designapplause)

Repair Manifesto

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Repair Manifesto.

Crane Paper, 100% Cotton

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Paper company Crane & Co. has launched a new swatchbook, Crane Paper, 100% Cotton: The Definitive Collection. This is the world’s greenest paper. No trees or wood fiber go into it because is entirely made of cotton. The swatchbook itself is made from cotton paper as well, and was designed by a C&G Partners team led by Partner Emanuela Frigerio.

UPDATE: This post was originally titled “The World’s Greenest Paper”, hence all the comments below. A title I copied directly from C&G’s blog. This was obviously a misleading/false statement, my apologies.

Water Footprint

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As we become more and more aware that we may be using water at an unsustainable pace, the idea of water footprints—the amount of water an individual uses—is becoming more common. Water footprints can be hard to calculate, depending on how far up the chain of production you go, since everything you eat and buy used some water to produce (to feed cows for beef, for example, or to use in the factory that made your cell phone). With GOOD Magazine’s latest Transparency, they give you some examples of how much water is used in some of your daily activities, so that you can begin calculate your footprint and try to reduce your gallons. See the graphic in big.

Read the full article: Transparency: How Much Water Do You Use?

(via fab chrisglass)