I love wooden toys, especially ones that force you to have a little bit of an imagination. The little bean race car from Nest is just abstract enough to capture the imagination of any kid. It’s not just made of wood either. It’s green wood, and I’m not talking about the color. Each toy is made from local maple that is sustainably harvested and then they are finished off with a non-toxic yet durable finish. It is available in 4 different colors and sells for $22.

Available from Nest for $22.

In keeping with the holiday spirit I thought I would finish the week off with one more Christmas post. This one comes via treehugger. Designed by Australian Designer Buro North, the “X-Mas Tree” is the first contemporary artificial Christmas tree I have ever seen. Instead of trying to make it look like a real tree, Buro focused on making it look good. What a novel idea. This mod little tree is made of plywood and CNC routed. Not only does it look good, but it’s good for the environment as well. Buro has done an entire LCA analysis and states that his tree is 80% more green than a traditional Christmas tree. This flat packed beauty is available in three sizes and prices.
Small $69 AUS - 400mm ($60 USD 16″)
Med $229 AUS - 930mm ($201 USD 36″)
Large $1619 AUS - 2300mm ($1425 USD 90″)

Available directly from Buro North

We have been seeing more and more products made out of bamboo lately, and why not. It is fast growing which makes it very sustainable, and it is hard which makes it very durable. Seems kind of like a no brainer to me. While I have seen lots of bamboo bowls, I think that this is the first bamboo fruit ring I have ever seen. Handmade for Chiasso, this ring is 11.5”dia. x 2.5”- 6”w. It’s also 100% eco friendly. The price is a little steep at $38 but you’ve got to admit it’s a lot cooler than what you put your fruit in now.

Available from Chiasso for $38.

In a market that is absolutely flooded with iPod and iPhone accessories it’s hard to get my attention when a new product comes out, but Vers has done just that. Vers currently has only one product in their line, but its a good one. The 2x is a stereo for your iPod/iPhone with a similar shape and design of Apples Hi-Fi. Instead of plastic though, Vers has elected to go natural. The enclosure is made of beautifully crafted eucalyptus and pine with a cherry veneer. The packaging is also just as natural, made of 100% recycled paper. No idea yet on how it sounds in real life compared to the Hi-Fi, but priced at $179 it is sure to be a big competitor.

Available this fall at Target and others for $179.

I stumbled across this pendant looking for some good “green” modern furniture over at Green Culture. It is actually in Green Culture’s sister site Eco-Lights. I was excited to find the site, thinking it would be full of unique recycled glass lamps etc. The simple shape and minimal materials of the Fiona Pendant caught my eye right away, but the only thing that I can find that makes this light “green” is the fact that it uses a halogen bulb. It is however, a very nice looking lamp, you can never go wrong with glass and chrome, especially for $162. It is currently 30% off, along with everything else on Eco-Lights.

Available from Eco-Lights for $162.

I was checking out this Boxhouse designed by Rob Pyatt and noticed it looks like they used a similar rainscreen detail on the exterior of their house. It’s interesting to see it with white underneath instead of black. It makes it look very light and clean. I can’t say I envy the person that will have to maintain all that wood though. Boxhouse is an award winning University of Colorado College of Architecture & Planning ( research + design + build ) project.

Check out more pictures here.

With prefab houses failing to deliver to those who are looking for affordable modern architecture shipping containers have stepped up. People have been talking about it for a while. I used to anxiously read over at fab prefab in the shipping container section waiting for someone to actually build. It seemed like lots of people talked, but very few were actually doing anything. Luckily times are changing. This six pack from Atlanta Georgia has recently gone up and is looking good. Not the best container design I’ve seen (it lacks a little creativity) but the build price is rumored to be around $75 sq/ft, which is awesome.
Head on over to Materialicious to read more about it.

Check out a video here.

This one is for all you pet lovers out there, you know who you are.
Before we had our son Arrington, our dog was our child. Going to Petsmart used to be a shopping black hole, we could never leave there with just a bag of dog food. I’m sure our goldendoodle Ainsley would approve of these bowls and stand. The large bowls have a bone embossed on the bottom, and both sizes come with a white food bowl and a blue water bowl. The bamboo stand helps keep thing neat and tidy where they belong.

Available exclusively from Red Envelope for $35 - $55.

This last week was the outdoor retailer show here in Salt Lake. I always try and get down there to see if there are any interesting new products coming out this year. I was hoping to run into Terra Plana so I could get a peak at their Dopie Sandal, and as luck would have it, I did.

Not only did I get to see this unique sandal in real life, but I also got to talk with the brain child behind the sandal Matthew Harrison. He was a little jet lagged as he had just barely gotten in from London, but it was still a great conversation. Matthew explained that in designing the sandal he was trying to simplify the concept of a shoe as much as possible. The result is the Dopie. For my full review, read on…

Read more

As one of my favorite artists, and a sponsor of Grassrootsmodern, I keep a pretty close eye on Avalisa. I knew she had been working on some new prints, and it looks like they have finally made it to her website. Her Animal Patterns series takes silhouettes of different animals and repeats them in a pattern that is quite visually soothing. As with all of her artwork, each print is available in different sizes, and different colors. Some of the animal patterns are even available as a zoomed in version such as this Cool Deer Pattern Zoom shown here. Prices are as usual quite reasonable.

Available from Avalisa from $59 up.

Read more