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Freelance magazine writer Peter Stark and his modern-dancer wife, Amy, bought a forest in Montana and soon realized the small stunted larch trees dotting the landscape were actually preventing the healthy ones from thriving. The couple culled the sickly specimens, using them to build a backyard dance studio, then began harvesting the hale and hearty trees to launch North Slope Sustainable Wood, and the Treadlight brand of flooring, trim, and windows. Stark calls it "a solution to the ongoing wars" between environmentalists and the timber industry. He's not kidding—the local chapter of the Sierra Club is now supplying the company with castoffs from its restoration project in Lolo National Forest in Missoula, Montana. Known as the softest of hardwoods, small-diameter Western larch features a tight grain pattern of honey and cinnamon highlighted by dark pinhole knots. The ¾-inch-thick flooring panels are offered in 1-by-3-inch, 1-by-4, and 1-by-5 widths. More than 1,000 molding profiles are available in standard and custom sizes, along with complete systems for casement, awning, and fixed windows. Take that, Paul Bunyan. 406-327-1123; northslopewood.com. circle 425
As a 15-year-old during China's Cultural Revolution, Maria Yee watched her homeland destroy its historic treasures. The ruinous events sparked a passion in Yee to preserve the 7,000-year-old tradition of wood joinery, a mission she carried to California in 1988 when she launched her namesake furniture company. Safeguarding methodology was Yee's initial ambition, but environmental preservation just might be her most lasting legacy. Responsibly grown and selectively harvested chestnut is used for the Montecito Swift chair, measuring 28 inches long, 36 wide, and 34 high, and the Ojai armchair, clocking in at 22 by 32 by 21. For either, choose leather-covered cushions in seven colors. The same wood is paired with a steel base in the Menlo nightstand, 24 inches by 30 by 18, but goes solo in the Bodega bench, 76 by 17 by 15. 831-457-2900; mariayee.com. circle 424
Part of the Lulu DK line, Bette sports a barrel back and round seat, both covered in the company's upholstery. The legs are sustainably grown alder wood. Pair with the complementing four-legged stool. 800-826-9971; eliteleather.com. circle 423
The Oriental Turkish Patchwork collection gives new life to antique rugs that can't be restored. Salvaged portions are stitched together, creating floor coverings akin to quilts. No two of the more than 30 compositions are alike. Standard sizes range from 8 by 10 feet to 13 by 19 feet. Custom sizes are available and requests for color combinations can be accommodated. 212-752-9000; starkcarpet.com. circle 422
After working in the boat and automotive industry, Jolyon Yates sees his Ode chair and stool as a reaction to loveless and impersonal mass production. Each chair is handmade by the designer in Northumberland, U.K., takes about two weeks to produce, and is made of tulipwood, ash, or birch and resin, then finished with a clear epoxy coating. 44-1670-730-784; jolyonyates.com. circle 421
Designed by the collective Formstelle, and offered in all standard sizes, the solid wood Fusion bed is made of sustainable forested beech, maple, oak, knotty oak, American cherry, American walnut, European walnut, and African walnut, all finished with a light rub of natural oils. Complementing nightstands complete the restful ensemble. 877-278-4836; suiteny.com. circle 419
This movable feast of a furniture piece is a buffet of practicality. Multitasking as a bench, storage chest, and shelf, the Bench with Movable Tray has a solid pine frame fit with a cushion that supports a bent plywood tray. The three drawers offer discreet storage. Hardware is cast brass; measurements are 60 inches wide by 19 deep and 16 high. 877-272-8450; brastilo.com. circle 420
Adventurous designers take note of the geometrically patterned Angle Wall collection, which can be created at angles up to 75 and 115 degrees. The innovative ICE software used to produce the walls means that virtually any size is possible, from 4 inches to 5 feet wide and up to 10 feet high, though height can be extended circumstantially. Environmentally speaking, the software makes mock-ups obsolete, reducing waste, while prefabrication means less transportation pollution, construction, and renovation waste. 403-723-5000; dirtt.net. circle 598
This sultry Latin beauty is quite considerate of Mother Nature. The 52 ¾-inch-square, 15-inch-high table is made of seike—an Ecuadorian wood, similar to teak, which reaches maturity in just seven years—and is clad with a mosaic of hand-crushed coconut shells. Resin-sealed, it's named Café because the variations of color are similar to grounds of coffee. 305-572-9052; adrianahoyos.com. circle 418
Michelle Ivankovic forages through thrift shops for the glasses that comprise her Frosine line of stemware. To unify the various sizes and styles, she sandblasts them to create a milky white finish. Measurements range from approximately 6 to 10 inches tall, and the pieces are sold in mismatched sets of four. 800-387-5122; umbra.com. circle 417
Rather than using sustainable materials, Max McMurdo eschews common green design practice by recycling found objects into new furnishings. His Max loveseat, for instance, is a vintage cast-iron bathtub with an upholstered seat. And a discarded shopping cart finds new life as Annie, an armchair with padded seat and back. A variety of upholstery and cover fabrics are available for both pieces. 44-1-234-376-920; reestore.com. circle 416
The 12 upholstery patterns of Angela Adams's Green collection, available in nine colorways, withstand 50,000 double rubs and use both post-consumer and post-industrial recycled polyester fibers. Argyle has small-scale connected boxes; Arundel references the historic Maine town in Pulitzer Prize–winner Kenneth Roberts' 1930 novel; Birch is patterned after the tree; solid chenille Acadia is named for the national park in Maine that inspires much of the designer's work; and wavy Beach Grass flaunts Cradle to Cradle Silver certification. 800-621-0827; architex-ljh.com. circle 415
“Build us a 3-D business card.” This sentiment, though unspoken, drives many corporate building projects, sending some designers scrambling for a branding guru or graphics wiz. Matteo Thun & Partners, however, went straight to the source. As the firm plotted a 43,055-square-foot executive pavilion for German wood producer Binder, it employed Binder's own plywood in the building.
“We've been known for sustainable architecture for 30 years, and it all started with wood,“says Thun, the firm's principal and Interior Design magazine Hall of Famer. On a grassy knoll adjacent to a wood mill in Kösching, Bavaria, project leaders Bruno Franchi and Uta Bahn mapped out a straightforward and linear design to spotlight the company's signature commodity. It was the ultimate product placement.
They specified use of Binder's cross-laminated BBS for the entire complex. Spruce and larch overlap in alternating layers to produce the prefabricated sheets in a process that is energy efficient. The self-insulating composite absorbs sound and resists fire, with nary a whiff of carbon emissions. Sheets come in 13 different thicknesses, up to 10½ inches, at 49 inches wide.
On the single-story facade, full-height glass panels mix with BBS sheets, generating a give-and-take between transparency and substance. Slender office quadrants of glass and wood are wedged into a glass, central entrance hall, forming an “H” that also frames two outdoor courtyards. White wood walls and limestone flooring intensify the starkness of negative space in the reception area, which is bordered by the glass conference room and its SmartWood-certified, nut-wood-top table. All beneath a flat BBS roof, forcefully projecting over the courtyards like a wide-brimmed boater. It makes a spot-on finish for a corporate tip-of-the-hat. 43-5288-601-0; binderholz.com. circle 591
Manufacturer: Arndís Jóhannsdóttir.
Product: Fish leather.
Standout: Sturdy, dense, remarkably thin, and waterproof, aquatic hides can be spotted, scaly, or slightly iridescent.
The good thing about living on a sparsely populated island just south of the Arctic Circle is you rarely have to deal with Europe's scuttlebutts. Somewhat problematic, however, are those rare moments—some recent—when you're directly affected by the vicissitudes of the larger market.
Very briefly after WWII, Iceland found itself cutoff from Europe's already scarce supply of raw materials. Since plastics had not yet become a common production material, fish skin was tanned and used in lieu of traditional cow or horse hides. Nearly 40 years later, Reykjavik-based saddle smith Arndís Jóhannsdóttir unearthed some old fish leather in local cellars, and for nearly a decade, she used the skins. Eventually, however, the material became so well received that a fish tannery, shuttered for some 50 years, reopened.
While the tanning process remains a guarded secret, the resulting material is strong, pliable, and unique in texture and pattern. It's used most widely for shoes, purses, bowls, and wall coverings, but Jóhannsdóttir has a new application: tiles made from catfish. 354-8984925; kirs.is. circle 413
If you'd like to toast the 15th anniversary of Crypton, make it red wine. Or India ink. Or any of the dozens of stain-inducing substances the fabric so famously resists. Invented by textile vets Craig and Randy Rubin in the basement of their Michigan home, Crypton quickly became a health-care favorite for its antimicrobial and odor-resistant qualities. Hospitality clients, beginning with McDonald's, were smitten with the impermeable moisture barrier that deflects stains and water. Residential customers welcomed high-performance fabrics that were breathable and soft, thanks to Crypton's patented weaving process that eliminates the need for stiffening post-production treatment.
More than 60 million installed yards later, here's another winning quality to throw on the pile: A fiber packing this kind of punch actually doesn't degrade the ecosystem. The recyclable, no-VOC, ultra-low-emission fabrics are manufactured without using water. Crypton's plant in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, purchases renewable energy credits and uses air scrubbers to reduce pollution, and with the 2006 introduction of Crypton Green, the company joined the ranks of the eco-elite. Woven of highly sustainable fibers such as recycled polyester or heavy-metal-free wool, and produced under more stringent emissions requirements, the line is now SCS Indoor Advantage Gold-certified, and MBDC Cradle to Cradle Silver-certified. Plus, extreme durability obviously means a longer, greener life cycle. So bring on the rain, rhinoviruses, and ravioli—the Rubins are ready. 800-279-7866; cryptonfabric.com. circle 412
Although LV Wood Floors has been based in Upstate New York for some 25 years, the lumber sold by this family-run business is salvaged from demolished buildings the world over. Reprocessed for interior use, the wood is first run through a metal detector to locate fasteners and foreign objects, which are removed by hand. Next the wood is cut into even planks that are milled into flooring. Woods are kept natural, devoid of stains, colors, and dyes.
Domestic woods from the northeast generally including oak, hickory, chestnut, maple, and pine, often collected from barns and similar structures. A selection called flophouse oak is derived from exterior barn siding; its years of exposure to the elements results in flooring with a remarkably rich patina. The exotic Antico Cadore line includes ancient European larch, abete, elm, and oak from Italy's Dolomite mountain region. Pushing to the Far East, the demolition of a large monastery in Thailand yielded great planks of ancient teak. But what's an environmentally conscious designer to do if he or she seeks a sleeker style than that usually found with reclaimed wood? "Applying a custom whitening treatment to a salvaged floor is a great way to make the floor feel modern and provide a uniform canvas for other finishes and furniture," says principal and design partner James Caroll II. "Also, seeing something very old and utilitarian in a modern space is a pretty cutting-edge idea in and of itself." 800-381-9534; lvwoodfloors.com. circle 411
Plywood sits at the core of many environmental debates. Not only does the quotidian building material involve logging and waste, the chemical composition of its urea-formaldehyde adhesive has caused concerns about possible links to cancer and other health issues. A partnership between Columbia Forest Products, a manufacturer of hardwood plywood panels, and Oregon State University has been working to solve the green adhesive conundrum. The university's biomimicry research lab studied the small threads used by mussels to remain attached to shoreline rocks amidst pounding waves and discovered a protein with an unusual chemical composition. Later studies determined the mussel protein could be simulated by modifying environmentally benign soy protein. The result is the soy flour-based bonding solution called PureBond, which Columbia happily makes available to other manufacturers. 800-237-2428; cfpwood.com. circle 414
It's a hoary joke among patrons and proprietors of vintage shops and flea markets: This is the place where old furniture comes to die. But what happens to furniture that actually appears dead? Sam Baron offers an answer with his Tapern System, through which moribund furniture is revivified by wrapping it in plastic tape, mummy style.
To introduce the idea, the French industrial designer scoured secondhand shops for pieces with good bones. The 1½-inch-wide rolls of tape he used to create new skin for a host of chairs, lamps, vases, and tables is printed with three lighthearted patterns of his own design. Tapern white features gray Liberty flowers on a white ground, Tapern pink has pink polka dots on a grey field, and thin white hatches diagonally cross the black ground of Tapern black.
As the art director of the Fabrica Design Center, a communication research operation in Treviso, Italy, set up by the Benetton Group to promote cultural literacy by fostering innovative product design, Baron conceived the tape for anyone interested in swaddling his or her own salvage. As an eco-solution, the medium is a natural. "It's something in between wrapping, decorating, and repairing," says Baron. "Basically, it gives a new life, a new sense." 33-6-63-22-17-61; sambaron.blogspot.com. circle 410
Eco-sensitivity seems to run in India Flint's family: her grandmother used tea leaves, onionskins, and calendula to re-dye clothing; her mother crafted botanical drawings. So it stands to reason that, after wandering the world, this Melbourne native settled on a small family farm in South Australia's Mount Lofty Ranges and pioneered her own fabric dyeing process called the Ecoprint.
Flint stumbled on the method while experimenting with the Latvian technique of wrapping Easter eggs in ferns or leaves, then covering them in onionskins to create a fossilized effect. The designer adapted the idea for textiles by devising a water-based method of applying vegetable color to cloth using small amounts of plant material in a recycled dye-bath. All of the vegetation comes from Flint's farm while the cloth is woven from the wool of her own flock of sheep.
The result is a luxurious bohemian look, a profusion of muted color that resembles delicate, couture quality tie-dye. Look closely at the patterns, and the shapes of eucalyptus leaves and blossoms emerge. Flint's new Watermarks collection of billowy tops and dresses is entirely handmade. For every item she sells, the designer plants a new tree. 61-439-999-379; indiaflint.com. circle 409
When a manufacturer of the chic teams up with an eco-friendly company like Bella-Dura, Tides in Jaipur is the result. This vibrant pattern of pink stripes is fashionable enough for indoors and durable enough for outdoor and commercial use. This inert fabric is made from a byproduct of post-industrial waste. When it wears out its welcome (which might take a while, since it's stain-resistant and lightfast for 1,500 or more hours), the fabric is recyclable. 212-228-5942; hableconstruction.com.
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