Japanese Botanical Artist Makoto Azuma Goes Green With The Classic Aeron Chair.

Apparently, a rolling task chair does gather moss.



Japanese artist Makoto Azuma, known for his botanical creations, has collaborated with Herman Miller’s Tokyo store, to create this "green" version of Bill Stumpf's Aeron chair. The faux moss-covered chair will be on display in the store this summer.








The chair will be on display this summer at the Herman Miller store in Marunouchi, which just opened earlier this year. In addition to their standard line-up of products, the Marunouchi Herman Miller store is known for their one-of-a-kind collaborations with Japanese designers.

Herman Miller

GE Recreates Van Gogh Painting with Plants for London's National Gallery

above digital composite by Laura Sweet

GE (General Electric) and London’s National Gallery just unveiled an ecomaginative collaboration – an installation of Van Gogh’s famous A Wheatfield with Cypresses, made from over 8,000 living plants and on display on the western side of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.


above: 'A Wheatfield, with Cypresses' was painted in September 1889, while Van Gogh was a patient at the St-Rémy mental asylum.

above: More than 25 varieties of plant have been used to mimic the strong bands of color in the original picture.

The living painting has been constructed by specialist horticulture and design company ANS using over 8,000 plants of more than 26 different varieties. To create the artwork, each plant was selected for its unique colour to match the tones of the original painting.


image courtesy of GE

image courtesy of GE

image courtesy of GE

image courtesy of GE

image courtesy of GE

image courtesy of GE

image courtesy of GE

The living painting is a creative manifestation of GE’s commitment to the environment through its ‘ecomagination’ business strategy, which is concerned with meeting customers’ demands for more energy-efficient products.

The green doesn’t stop there: GE also contributed environmentally-friendly Jenbacher cogeneration heat and power engines that will help reduce the Gallery’s carbon footprint.

People can see the living wall in Trafalgar Square until the end of October.

Thanks to GE Reports and London's National Gallery for the info

Discarded Christmas Trees Become Stools In The Christmas Project

The Christmas Tree Project, London

In London alone, it is estimated that most of the 976,000 Christmas trees in the capital will be simply thrown away.



The Christmas Tree project, a continuation of Fabien Cappello's 2009 RCA graduation work, will see Christmas trees from across London being collected and reincarnated into stools.



Making the perfect Christmas gift, the gallery is inviting people to arrange an early January collection of their tree and place their order for a pretty handcrafted Christmas Tree Stool by rising designer Fabien Cappello.


images and info courtesy of Fabien Capello and the Libby Sellers Gallery

A percentage of profit from the Christmas Tree Project will be donated to the Woodland Trust.

The Libby Sellers Gallery is taking orders until January 6th
Please email or call for collection details
+44 (0) 7774 113 813
gallery@libbysellers.com

Vac From The Sea. Electrolux Turns Marine Debris Into 5 Vacuums.

Vac from the Sea is a project initiated by home appliance maker Electrolux, aiming at raising awareness about the immediate need for the world to take better care of plastics and support the heroes that do.



From Electrolux:
The environment is a concern and responsibility of everyone and marine plastic pollution is an issue much too big to just leave to politicians. Electrolux is in the homes of millions and can help raise awareness and affect many consumers. Plastic is the main raw material when making a vacuum cleaner. From a sustainable business point of view, Electrolux relies on an increased global supply of recycled plastic.

A limited number of vacuum cleaners will be made from marine plastic debris – harvested from the Pacific and other sites where the plastic problem is immense.

Below is the "green" Ultraone vacuum by Electrolux followed by 5 of the vacuums produced with the debris garnered from the aquatic environments (individual images below courtesy of inhabitat)





Depending on the local plastic situation the gathering of plastics will vary – from diving among coral reefs, clean-ups closer to shore to scooping up plastic directly from the water surface. The vacuum cleaners that are to be produced from the material gathered will be put on display for the world, decision makers and consumers to see.



At this point, there is no plan to actually sell the units produced. Separating the plastic cocktail is a great challenge and plastics in the ocean tend to act like sponges for other toxins.


The locations where plastic will be collected are in the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

The gathering of material will be documented on their site.

www.facebook.com/electroluxappliances
www.twitter.com/vacfromthesea

The Green Garmento Is 4 Eco Friendly Bags In One.

The Green Garmento is a smart and chic reusable drycleaning bag created to reduce the 300,000,000 pounds of single use plastic bags that fill our landfills and waterways each year.


above right image by Ann Johansson for the New York Times

The eco-friendly 4-in-1 reusable garment bag that helps simplify and “green” your drycleaning routine, is the brainchild of Los Angeles-based couple Rick Siegel and Jennie Nigrosh, shown above.

Lightweight, durable and colorful, the Green Garmento is made from a recyclable, breathable, water-resistant material, making it an eco-friendly, stylish, practical and affordable alternative to single-use plastic garment bags.




4-Bags-in-1
Here’s how it works: at home it serves as a hanging laundry bag or standard hamper, on your trip to the drycleaner it functions as a duffel bag, and at pick-up your drycleaned clothes will be hanging and protected inside your Green Garmento for the trip home – without a single-use plastic bag in sight!

Features:


* Made from breathable, water-resistant material.
* Wide gussets and a side zipper help to keep everything safely in placeand allow you easy access.
* Available in multiple sizes from 40 to 72 inches, and a variety of colors, there’s a Green Garmento to suit every need and lifestyle.
* Like a reusable grocery tote for your clothes that is eco-friendly, stylish, practical, and affordable ($9.99 retail).



The Green Garmento comes in six colors; Green Grass, Black Night, Burgundy Bliss, Blue Water, Red Buttons and Orange Sunshine.

It's a simple and simplifying lifestyle change that's practical, eco-friendly, stylish, and affordable ($9.99 retail).... not to mention helping to cut down on the 300 million pounds of plastic drycleaning bags that end up in our landfills each year!

Buy them here.

UPCYCLING: Stunning Bowls Made From Plastic Water Bottles.

Artist Gülnur Özdağlar creates elegant and unusual looking bowls transformed from PET bottles. She calls this process "upcycling". Her aim is to substitute with labor and artistic value the characteristics that the material loses during transformation, thereby obtaining a product of higher value. The collection is named Tertium Non Data (translated from Latin means: the third is not given) and is an alchemic term which refers to the process of combining two disparate elements to create a new, third element.



In this case the new, third element is a collection of diaphanous, attractive tabletop bowls that resemble organic creatures like jellyfish and sea anemones.




The elegant perforated and ornate bowls are created from a regular PET* water bottles. What looks like a flower at the base of the bowls, is the indent from the base of the bottle. If the bottles have a bluish tine, the formed bowls do as well.



Gulnar delicately heats and forms the edges of the bowl to create undulating forms and embellishments like flowers and petals.



With various perforations, cut shapes and added petals, she has managed to create numerous variations, like the ones shown below.











The artist's tools:


The bowls can be used as pet bowls, storage containers, jewelry holders or just as lovely objet d'art. She also makes upcycled jewelry as well.

*PET is Polyethylene Terephthalate, which is a thermoplastic polymer. It can be re-formed by heating. After heating process, it becomes more stiff, rigid, durable and glassy. It becomes even stronger and crystallized when perforated.


above: artist Gülnur Özdağlar with her daughters.

Gülnur Özdağlar studied architecture at the Middle East Technical University and has been active as an architect since she graduated in 1986. She has participated in architectural design competitions, together with various groups, and many of her designs have been recognized with prizes.In addition to being active as an architect, she has also worked in the graphic design and photography fields, and many of these projects have been published in foreign countries in magazines and books. She has received prizes in international competitions of digital art.

•Her website
•Her blog
•Learn to make your own bowls from PET bottles with her "how to guide" on Instructables
•Buy her jewelry or bowls and more at her etsy store