WOODEN LED CLOCK

Minimalist wood block + high-tech LEDs = one fabulous combination. We love the simplicity of this Japanese clock design: when the clock is turned off it resembles little more than a wood block. When

MEBEL FURNITURE: LUBLIN PIVOT TABLE

One good way to move toward sustainable living is to own less stuff. That’s why we’re excited about Mebel Furniture’s clever multi-purpose Lublin Pivot Table. This two-piece table

CO-LAB’S Post-Consumer Prototypes

Earlier today we gave you the low-down on Co-Lab Studio, the “integrated sustainable design” crew out of Detroit. In addition to their community-focused environmental design and garden

CO-LAB STUDIO: Integrated Sustainable Design

Since the auto market headed off overseas, some parts of the Motor City could use a little tune-up. Fortunately, there are innovators like Co-Lab Studio, whose urban renewal projects promise to

SALVAGING SWEDEN’S TIMBER

Last winter, Sweden was blasted by the first storm in recorded history to ever deliver hurricane force winds, devastating the country’s valuable fir and pine forests. It’s been estimated that

NEW MATERIAL: Alusion Aluminum Foam

Scott Bennett from housefish.com writes: I’ve had a sample of this stuff sitting around on my desk for a few years now, just waiting for the chance to use it. That chance still hasn’t come for

TWIN CREEKS SCIENCE AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER

The National Park Service kicked off the New Year by breaking ground on their Twin Creeks Science and Education Center. The First-of-its-kind facility will support all of the Taxa Biodiversity Inventory

PREFAB FRIDAYS: Side Breeze by Michelle Kaufmann

Michelle Kaufmann Designs has released another great prefab home, the Side Breeze. Fundamentally similar to the Sunset Breezehouse, the Side Breeze is slightly larger at 2,500 square feet and was

BEN FRANKLIN COFFEEHOUSE CHALLENGE

Now here’s an example of using the might of a corporate behemoth for good. The Ben Franklin Coffeehouse Challenge calls on community members to get together and brainstorm ideas for neighborhood

VESTAL DESIGN’S CONVERTIBLE KITCHENETTE

We can’t say enough about the benefits of a compact living space. It’s an instant clutter eliminator, a life-size jigsaw puzzle, and a laboratory for experiments in feng shui. But the best

KIREI MOD COFFEE TABLE

By now you may have heard of Kirei, the eco-friendly fiber board that comes from the discarded remains of sorghum stalks after harvesting. Generally used as a finishing material, Kirei functions in much

STICK SCREEN ROOM DIVIDER

If this isn’t the cleverest idea for a room divider, I don’t know what is. Instead of a boring old shoji screen in your house, you can have Globalhaus’s Stick Screen and be instantly

RECYCLED GEAR CLOCK

Who would ever guess that a flat bicycle tire could lead to design innovation? After getting a flat tire on the way to his recycling job, designer took the deflated inner tube and used it to hang speakers

MERIDA MERIDIAN CARPETS

If you’re one of the growing number of consumers concerned about the effects of VOC’s on indoor air quality, you may already know that carpet is a prime suspect. The synthetic fibers and

STUDIO LEUNG FLASH DRIVES

The ubiquitous USB flash drive has never been particularly prized for sexy design. Sure, there are plenty of novelty flash drives – (devil rubber duckies anyone?) – and corporate-branded

LA: Green Drinks, West Side

When: 7-10pm Where: The West Side Green Drinks location changes frequently. Please check the Green Drinks website to confirm before heading over (www.lagreendrinks.org). Green Drinks allows for anyone

ICOSA VILLAGE PODS

Despite looking like something straight out of Star Wars – Icosa Village’s collection of “Pod” prefab shelters are actually very down-to-earth. The pods are practical, affordable,

JAMES CUTLER / REVEAL DESIGNS

Reveal Designs has brought to market a new line of furnishings and hardware designed by Washington architect James Cutler (of Cutler Anderson Architects.) These elegantly designed chairs, tables, and door

The Ultimate Green Lab: C.I.R.S.

The University of British Columbia in Vancouver is developing what has been hailed as the most environmentally innovative and high performance building in North America. The Centre for Interactive

PREFAB FRIDAYS: The Clever MINI Home

They say that good things come in small packages, and where the new MINI home is concerned, we concur. The compact 480-sq-ft design from Clever Homes makes minimalist living efficient and elegant. With an

HOW TO: Turn a Parking Space into a PARK

You may have seen this blogging around recently, since the indomitable Rebar collective staged a brilliant urban intervention in San Francisco last month by rolling out some sod and building a mini park

PREFAB: MODULAR DWELLINGS

Avid readers of ReadyMade magazine may recognize the work of Edgar Blazona. The San Francisco based designer created a do-it-yourself modernist outbuilding featured in issue #10 a while back (see below).

JAPANESE PET PLANT

The Japanese are taking the world of botanical gadgets by storm. Just today I spotted this awesome tiny pet-plant on Japanese gadget site Compact-Impact. Its a mini cactus, in a little plastic vial,

WORD SPROUT – Magic Bean

Here’s a cute and clever way to say “I love you” – and just in time for valentines day. If you purchase a Word Sprout and give it to someone you love, when they first open the can

LOYAL LOOT: Hung Table

Although coffee tables are often the centerpiece of warm, comfy living rooms, they tend to be hard and angular – and anything but cozy. That’s why we were so taken with Loyal Loot’s

LOYAL LOOT: Canadian Design

“Canadian design” may not have the same cache of “Danish design” or “Dutch design”, but an up-and-coming design collective by the name of Loyal Loot seems determined to

AROMATHERAPY ALARM CLOCK

A stroke of genius led designers at AbioGenesis to create an alarm clock that can produce any number of different scents, activated through an essential oil diffuser that operates on a timer in your

ELASTIC CO.

Of all of the materials I wouldn’t want to wear, rubber is right up at the top. It doesn’t breathe, it catches the little hairs on your arms…but creating dancers’ costumes out of

COOL MATERIALS: Expanko Cork

Something old is new again! Cork enjoyed two heydays this past century: once in the roaring 20′s and again in the late 60′s & early 70′s. Overdue for a comeback, Expanko is leading

COOL MATERIALS: ALKEMI

Don’t you hate it when you’ve got a huge pile of aluminum shavings lying around after a big project and think, “What a waste! I should really do something with this glistening pile of

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