EcoBye » Homewares

Intown Magazine Rack by Inmodern

James — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:00:02 +0000

Inmodern is a brand from The Simple Furniture Company and the produce ranges including tables, shelving, media centers, desks, seats and other accessories. All their products are made from FSC approved and Rain Frorest Alliance certified SmartWood. This helps to provide a credible link between responsible product and consumption of forestry products. Unlike many other ready to build furniture manufacturers, all Inmodern products are made from real wood rather than a particle board based laminate that involved the extra use of chemicals.

The Intown magazine rack is a combination of environmentally friendly materials and a simple yet appealing design. It comprises two pieces of wood that can be assembled in seconds. Of course it also has the patented no tools assembly method. No glue is needed, the wood is 100% formaldehyde free and the UV cured finish minimises greenhouse gases. It packs flat for easy shipping or storage.

Further details at the Inmodern website.

Green Glass Co. Cactus Tumbler reclaimed beer bottle

James — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:00:37 +0000

Green Glass are the market leaders in repurposing beverage bottles into tumblers, vases and other glassware. Recycling is great, however, reuse or repurposing is even better because it often involves less processing, transporting and other actions that can contribute to climate change issues. Green Glass has its origins in South Africa back in 1992 and has emerged as the global market leader in reclaimed glassware.

The Green Glass Co. Cactus Tumbler is created for reclaimed Sol beer bottles. A good beer will last an average ten to fifteen minutes and is then usually discarded and little though it given to what happens to the bottle. It either gets recycled or worse, straight to landfill. The Green Glass Co provides the perfect process to turn these discarded bottles into tumblers whilst retaining the printed label on the bottle. With Sol beer originating from Mexico, what better name for the product than the Cactus Tumbler. Sold in sets of four and dishwasher safe.

Further details at the Green Glass Co. website.

Arzu hand woven Hope Signature rug

James — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:55:30 +0000

It is impossible not to know about the hardships faced by the people of Afghanistan. Arzu, meaning hope in Dari, is a not for profit organisation that follows the three principles of employ, educate and empower. They do this by working with the Afghani women to produce magnificent hand woven rugs. The company provides weaving looms to households on a ‘rent to buy’ arrangement and this allows them to earn an income whilst still being able to look after their families at home. This kind of arrangement is open to child labour problems so they have implemented rules that are more stringent than the government laws.

All the rugs, including the Azru Hope Signature rugs, are 100% handmade with natural fibres and dyes. The wool comes from sheep bred in central Afghanistan that is handcarded and hand spun. They dyes are derived from natural plants and fruits and thus, no harmful chemicals are used in the process. The use of handspun wool also means the dyes give a variegated appearance to the wool and so each rug is truly unique. The floor rugs are available in a variety of sizes to suit most areas.

More details about the work they are doing and the other rug ranges at the Azru Rugs website.

SKN organic reusable tote bags

James — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:53:23 +0000

SKN Design (pronounced skin) is a personal home accessory design company. They cover the two ‘s’ words, style and sustainability. As a company they are aware it is not only things like products mode from sustainable resources, it is business processes that also need attention. For example, they use USPS Priority Mail where possible as this is the only US mailing/shipping company to achieve cradle to cradle certification by MBDC.

You probably have plenty of reusable bags around the house, however, if you need ore then consider the SKN organic tote bags. A perfect replacement for the plastic bags that don’t biodegrade and paper bags that aren’t made from recycled materials. Normal grocery bags aren’t currently made from recycled paper because it isn’t strong enough.

The organic cotton bags are made from 100% organic unbleached cotton and strong enough to hold up to 40lbs. They are gusseted to fold flat when not in use. They are easy to maintain and machine washable and drip dry.

Available in five styles with different prints and also a non-organic version.

More details on the SKN website.

Hand woven baskets and bowls made from telephone wire

James — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:16:45 +0000

The Zulu women in South Africa are well known for their basket weaving abilities. They have applied these skills to making great looking baskets and bowls of various shapes and sizes, from telephone wire. The discarded telephone wire provides a great raw material and because of the different colours, each bowl is slightly different.

As well as utilising an obsolete material, the proceeds from sales is helping the Zulu communities support themselves rather than becoming reliant on government and foreign aid. Many of them have been affected by HIV/AIDS and the money helps them receive health education in addition to the basic education needs. The locals own the businesses and it is not simply a case of a business person taking advantage of the Zulu women.

You can view more designs and buy the telephone wire woven bowls from the Original Women website.

Earth Friendly Moving

James — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:38:25 +0000

Earth Friendly Moving offers a complete moving solution that does away with having to buy cardboard boxes, plastic bubble wrap and tape that all usually ends up in landfill. That’s Spencer Brown the founder and owner sitting on boxes made from recycled containers that you probably bought many of you household cleaning products in. The pallet underneath is made from about 500 recycled baby diapers. That’s just a couple of the many products.

The boxes pictured are RecoPacks and available in four sizes that you can rent for “a buck a week”. The Poopy Pallets help when loading into trucks. Then there are the packaging items like RecoCubes that replace the polystyrene beans or peanuts. They are made from recycled paper sludge, sugar, starch and vitamin B-12. B-12 is a plant food vitamin so when you are finished with them, just toss them in the garden.

It’s not only these products that make Earth Friendly Moving a stand out business. Their fleet of vehicles are veggie oil and bio fuel powered and when the trucks are driving around they are generating power that is then used to help make the Geami packing paper.

They also claim this method of moving will save you time and money, plus the environment. The RecoPacks are cheaper to rent than cardboard boxes and because you don’t spend time assembling and flattening them it takes less time to move. On average about 37 hours according to their calculations.

They are based on California and more information at the Earth Friendly Moving website.

Lauren Spa Organic Sheets

James — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:09:15 +0000

The Lauren Spa collection by Ralph Lauren is a line of bed and bath wares made from organic materials and eco-friendly dyes. With the funds behind the Ralph Lauren organization it means they can take this very seriously and go to the extra effort of having all their products certified by SKAL. This certification covers the manufacturing, processing and storage of organic products.

The Spa Organic Sheeting is pure luxury with the added benefit of being long lasting. This is one of the reasons many luxury resorts around the world use these bed sheets. It is recommended that regular detergents are used and not ones with optical brightening agents. Actually, these detergents should be avoided anyway as they are not biodegradable and have been found to cause skin alllergies in some people.

The sheets are available in both fitted and flat with matching pillow cases and in eight different colours. There are also other bedding accessories in the organic range such as a duvet cover, nightspread and sham.

See the full Spa Organic range at the Ralph Lauren website.