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Design for a Living World: The Nature Conservancy + Cooper Hewitt

If you are in New York between now and January, make sure that the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum's current exhibit Design for a Living World, presented in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy, is on your Museum Mile drive-by. The exhibit's vision was to send noted industrial, fashion and accessories designers like Stephen Burks of readymade, Ted Muehling and Isaac Mizrahi, among others, to various parts of the world let them develop new uses for the local materials/resources. What I love about this exhibit is that each designer seems to have married his or her modern design principles while leveraging the local, functional ways of doing things. For example, Yves Behar designed a micro-plane-like product that would enable locals to harvest cocoa, and collect shavings to minimize waste. Repurposeful design at its best.

(Photos courtesy of Cooper Hewitt; Design Addict)

Repurposeful Lessons from the Great Depression

From a recent Home  & Garden story in the April 1st New York TImes. Life in the households of those who group up during the Great Depression included darning socks and other resourceful practices.  

The Revolutionary Zipcar

Zipcar was ahead of its time. Everyone's familiar with the concept--Zipcar membership allows you to reserve and essentially share a neighborhood car for an hourly or daily price. Smart and sustainable each Zipcar takes 15-20 personally-owned vehicles of the road. When you multiply that by 5000 it yields a big number. In San Francisco (of course!)

 Zipcar includes a plug-in electric hybrid in its fleet. The company was founded in 1999 by a 42-year old mother of three, Robin Chase. She'd just learned about the concept of car sharing from a friend who'd traveled to Berlin. As the March 5th New York Times Magazine feature notes Chase began in 1999 but seemed to have 2009 in mind. Her "savviest move was to tap into her constituency’s desire for an old-fashioned sense of community." We urbanites long for that.

Putting the Garden Back in Garden State

This is a great building I am lucky to work on--a LEED-registered converted coconut manufacturing and storage facility called Garden Street Lofts in none other than Hoboken, NJ. I can vouch for the functional and thoughtful design, as well as the high ceilings and space galore, unheard of by Manhattan standards. How's this for compare and contrast-- the terrace spaces alone off one of the Penthouse's is 1400 SQ FT! Now you can hear how great it is straight from Inhabitat. 

Read & Repurposed

A sampling of cute, not too crunchy, furnishings and accessories that repurpose magazines and newspapers.

The Pulp Bulletin Board from Uncommon Goods allows you to slot memos in between the magazine edges or rock a traditional push pin. Designed by Adin Mumma and retails for US$20.

Modern Furniture's Recycled Magazine Wall Mirror is chic and one of a kind, crafted by artisans in Indonesia. Hate to send you here, but since it's out of stock, you can find a similar product at WalMart that retails for US$38.88.

This Translations Wastebasket courtesy of The Container Store is kitschy chic. Let's also be clear that the fact that it's repurposed from Japanese magazines makes it super cute. US$24.99 and found in the Earth Friendly Organization section.

 

Finally, made from recycled newsprint these Recycled Newsprint Pencils from the MoMA store's Destination : Seoul collection. Designed by Hyunjung Park these pencils (US$5 for non-members) are part of a MoMA-exclusive collection highlighting designers from South Korea.

Repurposeful Fashion: Preloved

Love the retro-chic look of Canadian designer Preloved's collection, constructed from reclaimed fabrics. Courtesy of Inhabitat. For a menswear option, I LOVE Alter in Greenpoint from an earlier post.

Repurposeful Tabletop: Riedizioni on auto.

 

Courtesy of auto., a unique modern home furnishings and accessories shop in the Meatpacking District, feast your eyes on the Riedizioni collection by designer Luisa Cevese Riedizioni. These "Textile+Plastic=The Material" placemats use textile scraps and recycled industrial waste to create beautiful one of a kind tabletop designs. Her use of textile scraps create interesting textures, patterns and works of art.

Gloss Marks The Spot

I know there's some scientific process by which you hang art. Maybe there's a tape measure involved? A pencil? A leveler? I'm no handyman. However, I do have a new-found trick. Take your nail hook thing, dip the tip of the nail in some lip gloss. Then steadily hanging the frame directly on the hook, place it gently against the wall where you'd like to hang it. Touch the nail to the wall, and there you have your spot. Nailed it!!!!

Shoe Stow

Problem: Quick and easy shoe changes, sans the constant ungraceful process of retrieving the heels from the plastic bag.

Solution: A repurposed promotional tote bag is sturdy enough to withstand heel puncture and lays neatly (and quietly) inside your bag.

I often find that it's impossible (especially in the winter) to do quick shoe changes in New York. There's always a cumbersome situation--unwrapping a plastic bag, pulling out your heels, switching out the shoes and then shoving it back in your bag.All the while, stuff's flying out. 

So....since I had an old promotional tote bag lying around....

I cut down the two side seams, cut off one of the straps, and folded one side into itself. Leave one strap still attached, so you can easily grab it from the bag abyss, unflap the fold and gracefully grab your shoes out. The things we NY girls do.

President-Elect Talks Sense

In presidential style that we have come to know and love, Pres-Elect Obama delivered his plea to Congress today. He said he intends to "save and create" 3 million jobs in the near term. His first stop--"computerizing" all medical records, which will create jobs, but will also streamline the bureaucratic, costly healthcare rigmarole or as he puts it: save lives, money and jobs. I  remain optimistic and without any jadedness or cynicism.