There is a plethora of products now on the market that address sustainability, air quality, or energy conservation without sacrificing aesthetics. In fact some of them are downright stunning. I hope you are as excited about these products as I am. Enjoy!
Glass as a green building material often comes with a predictable ‘speckles in substrate’ look. Ellen Blakeley Studio elevates the medium to a high art by creating one-of-a kind mosaic glass products that are as beautiful as they are green. The studio uses local recycled glass to create slabs & tiles which can be personalized with colors, photos, text, wallpapers, fabrics or other objects.
Depending on the collection, grouts can be colored to contrast or blend with the glass, offering plenty of creative options in any project.
Tagawa Sangyo has come up with an environmentally conscious and durable lime plaster tile. Lime, being a truly green material, renders the product breathable and mildew resistant, while absorbing carbon dioxide & VOCs from the ambient environment.
Textile Designer Yemi Awosile developed an upholstery fabric made from cork – yes, the ‘stuff’ used for capping champagnes and wine bottles! In fact cork is a highly renewable resource that is also flexible, light and soft, and sound absorbing. Think of all the restaurants that will benefit from cork upholstered seats: Can you hear me now??
Lighting designer Ali Siahvoshi created a whimsical chandelier, Cascading Hanger Light, from 500 wire hangers and LED tube lighting. It’s an ingenuous way to repurpose these lowly cast offs, with the metal wires serving to conduct electricity for the fixture!
Suzuran Corp. has come up with a paint made from powdered Japanese washi paper, scallop shell, titanium oxide, natural pigments, and seaweed glue. These ingredients are super environmentally friendly – they purportedly control humidity, inhibit bacterial growth, and absorb pollution. The plaster-like product is available in choice of textures, colors, and integrated natural grasses.
Sensitile uses leading edge technology to create products with fiber optics embedded in various recycled medium. The newest is made with energy efficient LEDs and light conducting channels integrated into a concrete substrate. The tiles and slabs can be used for walls or counters, and comes in several minimalist grid-based light patterns. At a time when almost everything under the sun has been embedded into concrete, a light filtering concrete is the final frontier!
Another Sensitile product magically delivers an interactive (if potentially psychedelic) experience. The more active the surrounding shadows, movements, light, and colors, the more rapidly the surface reacts – all this without need for any power! 100% recycled PETG polymer give you the green creds.
Last but not least, is 3-Form, an extremely innovative and prolific company. One of its latest endeavors is to make translucent panels with razor thin veneer patterns. The plastic substrate contains a minimum of 40% pre-consumer recycled resin. Now you can have your wood and see through it too…