Illuminated Porcini

Mushrooms inspired this set of ‘Porcini’ Lamps, bringing a series of organic shapes together to form this sustainable lighting. Created using naturally sustainable materials; Tasmanian Oak, a non-endangered timber species sourced from Australian sustainable forests finished with natural Australian beeswax, and 100% pure new wool upholstery, which is both biodegradable and renewable. The hand-crafted feel of these items reflects the elements of its nature.

Butterfly Eco Candles

How pretty are these sweet candles by the St Eval Candle Company ‘As Nature Intended’.  The range of four coloured/fragranced candles each has a beautiful butterfly flock pattern on the glass and comes in its own presentation gift box.  Each candle contains natural vegetable wax, a cotton wick and essential oils to be ‘as nature intended’ and has a burn time of approximately fifty hours. Perfect for late summer evenings or a gift for a stressed out friend.

Donate Your Knickers For Africa

Hey, here’s a good reason to increase your eco knicker consumption…

Donate your (new) knickers and bras to Knickers for Africa which supplies underwear to people in Africa who are unable to afford new knickers, pants and bras who are forced to buy much cheaper second-hand/used underwear. Some governments have banned the trade of used underwear, but these garments often find themselves back on the market stalls as there are currently no cheap alternatives: People need underwear, and as you know Africa survives on the free market forces of demand and supply.

‘Knickers 4 Africa’ hopes to collect and transport donated new underwear to places in Africa that need it most, help support this good cause.

Eco Bamboo Bikes

Zambikes, the brainchild company setup by two Californians and two Zambians, creates beautifully made bamboo bikes, which are strong enough to handle many different types of environments.

Perseverance and an innovative approach to product design and working practices have helped Zambikes put down strong roots enabling a Zambian community to work and prosper and the eco properties of bamboo to be explored further.

Miracle Workers In Need of a Miracle

In September 2007, ‘Wholly Horses’ became ‘WOW! World of Whispers’ and moved into a small rented premises in the Vale of Glamorgan to establish itself as a pioneering Social Enterprise with a workable business model. A series of unforeseeable events has resulted in the project faltering and with every personal resource exhausted it faces termination in September 2009 with the horses being sold at market or euthanised as a result.

Over a six year period ‘Wholly Horses’ welcomed around 800 guests from across the globe, providing uplifting experiences with the herd that in addition to being developmental, educational and therapeutic offered a sense of freedom, friendship and fun. As a Social Enterprise, the work could be expanded to include more people of all ages particularly children and adults with terminal illness, learning difficulties, social disadvantage and disability.

The project urgently requires an injection of capital to survive in the immediate term, one or more investors keen to be involved in a visionary project in the longer term and a new location so that grants and funding can be applied for. In the current climate, when people are in need of hope, upliftment and inspiration WOW! is a proven approach that offers it. If you are able to offer any assistance or can link WOW! with individuals who might be interested in discussing this opportunity further please contact Helen Wingstedt via La Luminata.

The following websites offer more information about the project:

www.equamigo.com

www.worldofwhispers.com

www.helenwingstedt.com

ReBurbia

Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat.com have teamed up to create a design competition dedicated to re-envisioning the suburbs.

For all future-forward architects, urban designers, renegade planners and imaginative engineers: design how you would re-invent the suburbs!  Dwell & Inhabit want to see how you’d design future-proof spaces and systems using the suburban structures of the present, from small-scale retrofits to large-scale restoration—the wilder the better!

Live Well, Buy Organic

Ochre & Ochre’s range of made in Europe, organic homeware products are just gorgeous and simple. All of the linen and cotton products have been made using 100% organic farming techniques. I just love these adorable organic aprons, they bring out the inner domestic goddess!

The Homemade Collective

Never be stuck for creative thoughts again with this amazing ‘Homemade’ book which will give you literally hundreds of ideas for things that you can make and do on a budget. Even better, give this book as a gift and you will be the most thoughtful friend in the world…

Honey Pot Lighting

One of my favourite sustainable furniture designers Tom Raffield has created this new lampshade called ‘The Hive’, with inspiration taken from our winged bee friends. The spiralling shape allows light to flood through the grain of the wood creating a unique and beautiful lighting effect.

Customize & Keep!

Now here’s a great idea, a reusable water bottle that you can customize from several fun designs. Meaning less plastic bottles and less waste, if only there were public water stations where you could fill up your water bottle then this might do away with bottled water forever…