Eco-Friendlies
These bright, fair trade bracelets coming out of South Africa are made using upcycled flip flops. They’re dirt cheap, eco-friendly, and the perfect lighthearted accompaniment to all that studded, metal arm swag everyone seems to be wearing this fall. No two are alike. Get a set of ten from Paper Source and rock the 80’s vibe.
Here in NYC, the summer already seems like a distant memory – but there’s always the chance of a final freakish weekend of Indian summer weather. So here’s a bit of swim-ready style to keep in reserve for our return to the beach or that rooftop pool. London Fashion Week was certainly bursting at the seams with colorful, exuberant patterns, and the collaboration between swimwear/lingerie designer Auria (Diana Auria Harris) and illustrator Margot Bowman was a standout favorite for the Lo’s List gang.
Care about the planet? Might as well be cute about it. Let your green credentials shine with this golden shopping bag by French designer Frédéric Perigot. It tucks away adorably into a little matching golden bear when not in use. We’d bust it out to shlep around our farmer’s market provender – or, better yet, to hold a heptathlon of Olympics-watching treats: Ritter Sports bar, Kind snacks, Volvic, TJ’s trail mix, watermelon, gum and Ella’s Kitchen squishies for the little guy.
So you’re a city dweller on the go. And a coffee fiend. And a tree-hugger. You can’t do without your daily brew (or two… or three…), but you hate seeing to-go cups piling up in the recycling bin. What you need is a KeepCup – the nifty, reusable coffee cup from Melbourne, Australia.
As motherhood inches nearer, I find my mind is preoccupied: where to put the crib, what to put on the iPod for our (hopefully short) stint in the birthing wing of Roosevelt Hospital, whether little Pipsqueek will be as boisterous as his/her cousin Lir, the baby’s college fund, where we’re sending the little munchkin to preschool…
The kitchen is such a happy place in our house: full of anticipation, tempting aromas and (mostly) great results – thanks to head chef YZ. I’ve always had quite the weak spot for kitchen supplies but, with my klutzy husband breaking most of the japanese glassware and ceramic treasures of my past life, I realize that my attention should now turn to accessories of a less breakable nature. Already a big fan of beautiful wood objects, cutting boards are a great culinary object to focus on.
“Each year, nearly 1.5 million barrels of oil are used to make plastic water bottles. Most of those bottles end up in our landfills, in our oceans, littering our sidewalks.”
With stats like that, the fact that these water-filtering bottles are so slick is superfluous.
I’m a big advocate of cloth over paper products, if only that it nurtures yet another one of my collections: dish towels. So, like our inaugural Lo’s List post on the little Japanese cloth squares called Furoshiki (commonly used for gift-wrapping), their textile-sibling, the Tenugui (手拭い), is a shot to the heart…
Ah, the Trojan Horse… It’s never too early for kids to discover the classics and what better place to start than with Virgil’s The Aeneid: a classic tale of military strategy. Count on the Dutch, this time by way of Amsterdam-based KidsOnRoof, to design eco-friendly playthings that are pleasing to both child’s and parent’s aesthetic…
An earthy little reminder at the bottom of a bowl of organic fruit or veg is a great way to start and end a day. Smiling Planet’s collection of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable bowls and plates, printed with non-toxic inks and free of bpa, phthalates, pvc, and lead, allows your little one to nosh, worry-free, and get in touch with his or her inner conservationist at the earliest age.
“Creatables is a company and network of engineers and designers that negotiate prices for industrial surplus materials from which we and our fellow designers develop nice consumer products. When you buy a Creatables product you reduce the effects of over-consumption and cast an important vote towards a sustainable development.”
While on today’s redecorating, de-stressing binge I stumbled across these breezy, ephemeral terrariums from Lítill. The delicate landscapes use some of Lo’s List’s favorite desert survivors — lithops, tillandsias, craspedias — all housed in hand-blown glass orbs…
A little bit Steampunk, a tad industrial loft makeover, these upcycled KOZO lamps are being produced by a 7-member collective called DEMO Design Clinic working out of Florentin (Tel Aviv’s Williamsburg doppelgänger)…
While perusing the child-centric wares of one of my favorite Tel Aviv shops, Carousella, I came across these oversized baskets by Franco-Senegalese company Europ’Africa Deco…
Our baby niece Lir is pretty much the apple of YZ’s and my eye, making it hard to resist buying her every little cute thing that we come across. But, when we stumbled upon a beautiful striped bunny by Tel Aviv label Timo in a boutique in Jaffa, we just had to add the critter to Lir’s collection of toys. Totally in line with Lir’s parent’s philosophy of hugging (not mugging) the earth, each toy is…
