If you ask me, when it comes to embellishing my living space, the only thing better than stylish objet is stylish objet with a story behind it. These stunning, hand-painted Bamboo boxes are much more than just home décor: They are the fruits of unrelenting artistic ambition and a brilliantly creative mind.

An only child raised by farmers on the island of Bali, Wayan Genep always aspired to become an artist. With the help of his fellow villagers, Genep learned to skillfully carve and paint. When he made the decision to partner with Novica, his eye-catching crafts became available to décor aficionados like us around the world. (Set of 3 available at Novica for $104.95.)

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Color's a powerful thing. Our moods are tied in with the colors of the seasons - and that's why I'm a fan of seasonal redecorating (as Tina is, here). Does the hue of your room suddenly feel out of place? A lick of paint is the quickest of makeovers.

Except there's an even quicker method - spray-painting. Now, you may remember a few issues around the word "aerosol" - namely, the volatile organic compounds that are equally good at coating walls and the inside of lungs. Happily, the industry has innovated itself out of a corner, and much lower-toxicity paint (not zero, not yet) is available in the form of the Krylon 21-colour range of latex sprays. Get some on the carpet by accident? Soap and water is all you need.

If your trigger finger is itching to begin, here are a few suggestions:

Start looking at second-hand furniture not for what it looks like - but what it could look like. It's a whole new spectrum of recycling.

Remember: the color wheel is your friend. You can download a variety of them in different shades from TigerColor here.

Get some nice wide Sellotape (it's compostable - which is why the WWF happily sells it). Use the tape to create those arresting borders between colours, and protect the furniture. And don't forget to put papers down - spray paint drifts in the air!

Keep that mask on! Eco-friendly sprays are more eco-friendly, not totally so. Ventilate the room as best you can, creating through-draughts between back and front door. Play it super safe.

Read twice, spray once. Look at the work of others, such as this resprayed lantern over at Dose of Design. Hunt down a book or two (say, this one). Don't spray a drop of paint until you know exactly what you're making. Imagining is half the fun, like a kind of window-shopping - so have fun.

Sara’s shameless plug: Hi, it’s your editor. De-lurk, dear reader, and leave this fabulous writer a comment. (We love chatting.) You can also share this post with friends – just click your favorite social bookmark listed below. New reader? Be sure to sign up for the weekly newsletter to win free eco goodies! You can also subscribe to any RSS feed your heart desires.

Image: sarae

I’m all about sitting. I’m a mover and a shaker when the occasion requires, but when it’s time to call it quits I bet my butt finds a chair before yours.

How can I be so sure? Because I was master of musical chairs in kindergarten. I would somehow throw my little body into place just as the music stopped. Ok, I may have pushed or shoved a bit but I never left a bruise.

As you might imagine, I don’t play musical chairs much these days, but I do appreciate a good eco-chair when I see one. Check out this round up of funky, edgy designs:

Once a Door is a beautifully proportioned chaise lounge made from a reclaimed timber door - get it? British artist Claire Danthois cleverly creates wood furniture and names it after whatever it used to be in its first lifetime. Once a Ladder, Once a Gate, Grandma’s Bed, for example. She is currently working by commission only. Contact the artist for prices and more information.

Another eco-wonderful eye-catching chair is Stomach, designed by Bannavis Andrew Sribyatta for PIE. This bamboo beauty is sexy and simply stunning, as well as green. It measures 26.5” deep x 21” wide x 26.5” high and is available for $1,200 at vivavi.

This next eco-chair is oddly alluring - I couldn’t resist it. It’s called Inkuku (Zulu for chicken) and was designed by Ryan Frank, a South African now living and working in London. Inkuku is made from - are you sitting down? - plastic shopping bags and recycled aluminum. It might be a bit noisy to sit on, but more than likely it’s comfortable and definitely a conversation piece. Email the designer for prices and more information.

On a more conventional note, the Hollow Dining Chair by Brave Space Design is an eco-seat worth every eco-penny. It’s made of solid bamboo (amber and natural) and features a hollow storage space below the seat. It may be difficult to appreciate the elegant details from a picture - the shaped version features ergonomic cutouts in the seat and back with a contrasting grain direction in the bamboo. This style is available for $900; the flat seat and back version is $650.

Last but definitely not eco-least is the Droog Rag Chair by Tejo Remy for Droog Design. It may have been designed 1993, but this chair is as hot today as it was 15 years ago. Why? Because green isn’t trendy and eco isn’t going out of style. The concept is quite simple - the Rag Chair is made of rags. Recycle your own discarded clothes or rags to be included in the design, and get yourself a unique, personal piece to last a lifetime. $5,500 at greenergrassdesign.

I have a confession to make. Recycled cardboard gets me all hot and bothered. I mean this in the greenest, most eco-friendly kind of way.

It occurred to me recently when I stumbled upon these amazing pendants - appropriately called scrap lights - designed and hand-made out of repurposed cardboard boxes by two guys in Seattle who call themselves graypants (a.k.a. Seth and Jon).

Architects by trade, their passion seems to be making stuff out of scraps - of newspapers, plywood and cardboard boxes. Hot.


Each scrap light is unique and available in a variety of sizes, priced from $135 to $325. To order, call 206-409-5316 or email. Their online store should be up and running by mid-June.

If the lights aren’t enough hot for you, check out their scrap table. The prototype was constructed out of recycled cardboard, followed by a version made of layered plywood scraps. I love its elegant, curved form - trés cool from every angle. It’s a single, unique piece (and available for purchase). More importantly, it’s a great example of cutting edge designers experimenting with eco-materials.

If you happened to be driving through the desert outside of Joshua Tree California and suddenly came upon Noah Purifoy's 7 1/2 acres of desert sculptures, you might think you'd stumbled into Burning Man after a mysterious, mass alien abduction.

Strange structures emerge from the sun-bleached landscape and burn themselves into your retinas. There is no sound save for the wind rustling through constructions made of discarded rain gutters, bicycles, chicken wire, glass, and old porcelain bathroom fixtures. There are no humans, no cars - nothing but you, the sculptures, the bees, the bunnies, and the wind.

It's a little creepy and a lot mind-blowing. Purifoy started creating assemblage sculpture in the 50s and this spot in the desert was the culmination of his life's work. His art includes commentary on our consumer culture, racism, and other social problems, as it incorporates materials that would have otherwise been trash.

As I walked through the landscape of discarded detritus, I was stricken by how us humans impose ourselves on nature. But nature still has the upper hand. Bees and birds find places to build nests within the structures and life goes on.


Purifoy died a few years ago, but the Noah Purifoy Foundation continues to protect and preserve his work.

Images:
Structure, Nest: Vanessa Barrington
Legs: Susan Fleming

Is there such a thing as copying nature a little too closely?

You're looking at the remarkable work of Julie Roberts, a designer from the UK. She's hand-fashioned these lampshades from recycled paper and natural textiles, in varying colours and to order. And her inspiration?

Yes, well, there's the rub. Good decor is all about stimulating the imagination, and...this lampshade certainly does that. It screams "recently vacated cocoon", and brings to mind a host of creatures from spiders to Aliens. (Perhaps that's just a guy's perspective). There's no denying its unique beauty, but neither its slightly creepy air - Ecofriend were similarly bemused.

If you want to go for a cocoon-style eco lampshade that won't have you checking under the furniture with your shoe in your hand, try this square lamp from Kwytza Kraft. It's made from recycled chopsticks, in a range that seems inspired by moth cocoons.

Textile & Paper lampshades via ProductDose; image from Pure Design.

Remember when everyone was clamoring to be the new Martha? Instead of just one uber-maven of the domestic and decorative arts, we’ve seen a whole plethora of talented designers, chefs, sustainable lifestyle guides, and experts come to the fore with aesthetic gifts and business smarts.

In the design realm, Kim Parker is one of the best. A classically trained musician turned textile designer, Parker aims to help you create an “interior garden” with her graphic, modern floral pillows, rugs, dinnerware, fabrics and prints.


Kim Parker Home offers a window into the design process - she improvises with water-based paints, and the freedom and joy of her method are evident in the results - and are completely contagious. Parker also makes brilliant and liberal use of flea-market finds, recovering, reclaiming and boldly mixing cultures and eras. This book is a must-have if you love intoxicating, pretty floral print and textile design, if you’re looking for inspiration for flea-market and thrift-shop decorating, or if you simply enjoy reading about how successful artists find their creative spark and thrive.

If Nature is an artist, she works at a very advanced level. All that asymmetry, scattered tumbling shapes and apparent chaos...but when we stand back, everything clicks into place in a most unconventional way, in patterns almost beyond our comprehension - and suddenly we're staring at breath-catching beauty.

Simone Lourenço really sees this. Her work is an organically complex mix of chaos and order, lines and swirls, the kind you see in plant life. Into the mix she's worked such diverse elements as Indian miniature painting and Japanese flower design.

Intrigued? Her work is currently on exhibition at the Overtones art gallery in Los Angeles, until June 21st - so go and take a closer look. (Just don't forget to stand back as well.)

Image: Simone Lourenço.

Glass artist Kathleen Plate has elevated glass bottles to high fashion. Inspired as a young girl by the sun-catching textures of stained glass, Kathleen has emerged as a pioneer in eco-design with her recycled glass jewelry design group.

The coca-cola line features glass circles and hoops made from rescued glass bottles, like this three-ring lariat necklace - a piece of unmistakable casual elegance.

The recycled glass line features one-of-a-kind pieces hand made from recycled bottles in a stunning range of colors inspired by traditional stained glass hues. Bottle sources include soda and beer bottles, as well as other sources. Kathleen's works are handcrafted using sterling silver fixings and chains. Vibrant and simple, they add a cheerful punch to your accessory inventory.

There's even a handsome pendant perfect for the guy in your life...just so you don't feel guilty when you snap up all the pieces in the women's section! (Earrings, shown, $58.)

Image/purchase: Smart Glass Design

Weekends are precious things: we don't work them. But we'd still like to click around and have some fun during the week, right? So...

Explore how you feel about the way cities blend into the natural world, by watching it happen with Chicago over at urban/rural/wild, hosted by walkinginplace.

Eco-houses are hotting up the property markets - and Cate Trotter at Inhabitat spotted this scorcher from the UK, going for a princely $14.2 million.

Avoid using cell phones if you're pregnant. That's the findings from new research into the effects of phone radiation (which is something we're all concerned about), as reported in the Independent. Thanks to Healthbolt for a word in our ear. 

The natural world is full of scenic, thrilling sights. However, this gorge-circumventing path is terrifying and utterly bonkers. If you feel a little faint after watching the video, blame environmentalgraffiti. 

First law of BBQs: you're only as good as your grill. And grills aren't all that eco-friendly...until now, with the release of the first hybrid grill (via The Daily Green).

Dave Holmes isn't impressed with the ways our cities work, and he wants to see a healthier, more responsible urban landscape. Read his manifesto for change here.

You may have noticed our love of quirky sustainable bookcases. So you'll understand why these 20 designs over at Web Urbanist flipped our pages. (How about the invisible bookcase?)

Here are a few species bobbing around the Mediterranean that you might not be aware of. It's Klas Ernflo making this serious and grisly point (with a twist of snark). 

One answer to the world food price problem is in our own backyards. Anne Marie Chaker at the Wall Street Journal looks at the growing popularity of growing your own (and what better way to really, er, dig food, so you can't bear to throw it away).