We viewed dozens of innovative, noteworthy designs at BKLYN Designs last week. In fact, we were so blown away by the caliber of work we encountered that we wondered how we’d EVER single out 5 selections for our Editors’ Choice Awards. When it came time to choose our Best in Show honoree, however, we reached a consensus pretty quickly: EcoSystems. The green-to-the-core design firm’s two newly unveiled offerings — an innovative collection of ready-made furniture and one awesome transforming table — just blew us away.
We’ve long been fans of EcoSystems, which we first covered in 2007. Not only does the design studio source sustainable materials, use flatpak shipping to avoid packaging time and waste, and maintain responsibility for their products’ entire lifecycles, they also create innovative frameworks that engage and educate the end user.
The real show stopper, and the piece that secured EcoSystems’ Best In Show status in our minds, is the awesome transforming table they debuted. Made from reclaimed walnut, the table transforms into a bench with a few quick swipes of a credit card. How, you ask? Well, you simple insert the card into a thin slot in the table to engage and disengage the locking mechanism. Depending upon the position of the pins (locked or unlocked) the piece is either upright and fully flat, in table formation, or folded down into a bench. Genius!
Ecosystems also debuted their latest ‘snug-it!’ collection. Known for creating tool-free, hassle-free, easy-to-assemble furniture (remember their awesome Bamba and Tandem 1 chairs we featured after last year’s BKLYN Designs show?), Ecosystems has created a new line of chairs, desks, and tables named after the company’s new innovative joinery system, the snug-it (we previewed the collection here). These products are made from bamboo and FSC-certified sustainable wood, both with a natural oil finish. And, in addition to the ready-made pieces, Ecosystems will also sell the snug-it connectors separately for DIY’ers to use on other projects.
Inspired, user-friendly, eco-effective, EcoSystems is our pick for the BKLYN Designs Best In Show Award 2009.
For pictures of our other award winners, plus general footage from the show, check out our 2009 BKLYN Designs Highlights and BKLYN Designs photo gallery!
+ EcoSystems
+ BKLYN Designs
