Starting as a fishing chair. Quite like a director chair. But ending up a little more.

director chair with a twist

Designed by Spanish studio Mr. Simon, these chairs can be stacked into a sideboard (they refer to it as a desk), thus serving as a multi-purpose piece of furniture.

Cóm-oda is made from wood and cotton, the chairs detach from the whole and provide additional seating for impromptu guests.

Cheap and fast and modern(ified) decor

Ever wondered how could you add some interest to your collection of figurines or some wooden/china animals? Perhaps you just don’t want to trash them up or store them somewhere only to add clutter to your already crowded living space. I once wrote about a

Straw Collective piece of lighting design that won my admiration

Simple like it grew there by itself, very natural looking (it makes me think of a bird nest and tree branches), the design from Straw Collective is really an inspiring  design. Congratulations, I’m loving it.

DIY air-dried porcelain

Perhaps you’ve stumbled upon one of my previous articles on ceramic lamps and if you read my blog you know that I always try to find great designs which are functional and eco-friendly. That’s why I bash petroleum-based plastic and other toxic materials. Clay/Porcelain  is easier to obtain than glass or metal but it’s still energy intensive while making. Air-Dried Porcelain would be a dream come true for DIYers. Consumerism is a plague these days so anything self-sufficient and sustainable is a blessing.

Originating from Argentina, this Cold porcelain, aka “porcelana fria”, is a

Ever dreamed a late dinner cooked with solar power? It might just become true…

Sun Leftovers for late dinner cooking

After spending some time in Nigeria, where people rely mostly on wood to cook their meals, which  leads to all kind of respiratory illnesses as well as pollution,  MIT professor David Wilson designed a solar cooker that stores the sun’s power in the form of a melted mineral salt which can then deliver the heat for 25 hours at a time with constant  temperatures of above 450 degrees

Good news on the mushroom green materials from Ecovative front

green packaging, compostable car parts

Just want to quickly point this out: ecovative, the company that has developed the green packaging and insulation materials made using mushroom mycelia, and which I have already covered in a couple of blog posts, have made some significant steps to go into mainstream products.

First they have teamed up with

Snapkeys seem to be the holy grail of keyboardless devices

Snapkeys Virtual Keyboard

I was so amazed by this technology that I had to write about it on my blog. After seeing it briefly on an article that came in my feed reader, it fixed itself into my brain and wouldn’t let go. I’ve spent so much time trying to find an ergonomic keyboard that can be used with one hand or allow typing when jogging or

Like DIY? Get (shhh!! make shh!!) one of these

keep it clean

All DIY lovers out there, this one won’t have any fancy description, just the picture.

Admired it? Ok, now go clean up the table and see what difference this might make.

Laptop stand for the frequent traveller

Traveler's "office" - a better way than bed-working

A while back I changed my job  (which involved a lot of traveling) in order to have a few years (no plans to go back to hectic traveller’s life but who knows) of quietness, stability, sense of belonging to a place. I was even asked at the interview why switch, as the current position didn’t suppose traveling. All good. A few months. Too few.

The project I was on was just kicking off and the company needed a boost so they proposed a

Grated soap dispenser promises better sanitation and a happier earth

Another breed of soap dispenser is born

This is another example of  “why didn’t I think of that”, so I won’t rant much on that but I will at least give credit for this simple but ingenious product and the philosophy behind it to Eindhoven grad Nathalie Stampfli who got inspired by cheese graters and peppermills. Nathalie explains that:

My personal BIO-based foam quest has its first positive result

Bio-based foam to replace petroleum plastics in several applications

I’ve been studying this area of bio-based foam products pretty actively over the last year and unfortunately no good news on this front happened. But this one from Case Western Reserve University scientists in Cleveland, Ohio, developed a new type of bio-degradable foam that could end up in all kind of products including furniture cushions, insulation, packaging, and many other products, displacing the petroleum-based foams that need hundreds to thousands of years to degrade in the environment, leaching many toxic chemicals in the process.

Visual Pesticides : no household flies killing involved

Visual Pesticides: modern scare-fly by Jose de la O

In different parts of the world it’s already a cheap and well-established method of scaring away household flies, involving a plastic bag hanged in front of the window or door. For example the owners of outdoor taco kiosks in Mexico use this ingenious form of pesticide based on light refraction. The plastic bag full of water hangs from the ceiling, amplifying the

Soy-Glue to rescue the increased toxicity of composite wood panels (like particleboard)

new wood glues based on soy proteins bring woodworking to new green heights

As sustainability grows into people’s consciousnesses and as the 8th largest economy in the world and 1st in USA, California, sets new rules on toxic chemicals and becomes more environmentally friendly each year, manufacturers are forced to follow and mobilize their herds of scientists to develop new products that meet the requirements.

Wallpaper that absorbs pollutants in homes could mean healthier environments

clean indoors with hi-tech absorbents

German Scientists at Blucher Technologies have created a “breathable, glass fiber/polyester nonwoven paper-like covering” with absorbent properties that can clear common indoor air pollutants like PCB, PCP, pesticides, and radon.

Flux Chair: a solution for gatherings in space challenged rooms

folding chair by Flux

Douwe Jacobs has designed a fun, stable and seems pretty confy too chairthat can adapt to as many spaces as you can imagine, from outdoor fun to office meetings as you can learn from the link below. Built from some kind of plastic by injection molding it isn’t exactly green -unless it’s recycled plastic, of course – but it wins strong points