MILAN 2008: FUORI SALONE in Zona Tortona

With blue skies and sunshine to greet us, this past weekend in Milan took us to the Zona Tortona, an area in Milan outside the fair. We started the Zona Tortona journey with a brilliant, blue,

PREFAB FRIDAY: Custom Wieler Home by Dustin Ehrlich

Architect Dustin Ehrlich has created a custom prefab home near Chapel Hill, NC. Commissioned by his parents and constructed by WIELER, the structure mixes stone, wood, stainless steel and rusted

SMIT’s GROW: Solar and Wind Photovoltaic ‘Leaves’

Our friends at Ecolect, the go-to sustainable design and materials community, have launched a monthly spotlight on sustainable design called Limelight - and the first feature is tough act to follow.

GREEN GIFT GUIDE: Gifts That Give Back

It’s easy to get “wrapped up” in the holiday gift giving (and receiving) spirit. The holidays are about giving to those you love, so why not extend that tradition with one of these gifts

YiAhn Convertible Bassinet

Clean, modern lines and eco design define the YiAhn bassinet- but this early life sanctuary is designed for functionality well beyond baby’s first three months. Rather than buying into the high-priced,

INHABITAT GREEN HOLIDAY GUIDE

. . ................................................................................................................................................ . SUSTAINABLE STOCKING STUFFERS CUTE ECO

WAMBAMBOO Lucille Chaise Lounge By Kent Gration

Australian Designer Kent Gration's Wambamboo products make beautiful use of sustainable production methods including recyclable materials, water-based finishes, energy-saving fluorescent lamps, and

GREEN YOUR APPLIANCES! Coffee Makers

Overall, coffee machines and espresso makers are not the greatest energy drains on our monthly electric bill, so the green options are more subtle and complex than choosing a washer/dryer or refrigerator.

GREEN YOUR APPLIANCES! Dishwashers

The dishwasher is a modern convenience that saves us hours of cleaning and drying time, not to mention pruny dishpan hands. But is the dishwasher an extravagance in our eco-conscious age? You might be

STEVEN HOLL’S WHITNEY WATER PURIFICATION PLANT

One of our favorite projects mentioned in the AIA/COTE 2007 list of Top Ten Green Projects was perennial Inhabitat favorite Stephen Holl's Whitney Water Treatment Plant located in New Haven, CT. This

LIGHT WIND: Wind Powered Outdoor Light

Light Wind, the fabulous new design innovation from Dutch design house Demakersvan, combines lighting technology with clever Dutch design and the clean energy technology of Dutch windmills. Made of

LED WEBLIGHT by Korban/Flaubert

Best described by the designers as “a single zigzag line of light,” Janos Korban and Stefanie Flaubert’s Weblight is as visually arresting as it is energy efficient. Constructed of

FIRE FURNITURE by Schultedesign

For those of us who aren't blessed with Southern California weather, there's nothing more comforting in the dead of winter than a fire to warm our frigid hands. German furniture company Schulte poses a

NAKED ID FLAT-PACK DREIDEL

Wooden dreidels? Sure. Clay dreidels? Even the South Park kids know about those. But recyclable stainless steel flat-pack dreidels? Can hanukkah get any better than this? I think not. If everyone in the

GROW YOUR OWN CHAISE LOUNGE – Emily Pilloton’s Grow Chaise

Its grass lounger day at Inhabitat! Before summer completely fades from our memories, we thought we'd reminisce over some green grassy outdoor furniture to catch the fading rays of summer. Emily

MANUFACTURING IN INDIA WITH MICHAEL ARAM

Michael Aram is on the forefront of two of today's top trends: eco-inspired design and outsourcing to India. For the last 18 years, he has been creating exquisite decorative objects like these bark vases

RDAY Furniture

Next up on the BKLYN DESIGNS ticket: RDay, a Brooklyn-based boutique design house that specializes in luxury residential furniture. Designer Rob Day produces a beautiful, varied line using primarily wood,

UNAL AND BOLER BOOK HANGERS

In my recent move, the one thing I left behind was my truly awful bookcase, which I knew I'd hang onto if I didn't abandon it 1,200 miles from my new home. Unfortunately, my dreams of something original

PLI FURNITURE FROM BANGDESIGN

There are two problems with talking about office chairs: 1.) they're boring and 2.) Herman Miller's already got them dialed. But every once in a while, an office furniture company comes along that begs

ABITO

A company in the UK has developed a high rise apartment concept that is magnificently futuristic, yet so perfectly suited to the present-day lifestyle of modern young urbanites, it's sort of amazing

LUMEN TREE

Here is a good idea made just right. The Lumen Tree by Adam Frank is an oil lamp that projects the shadow of a tree onto your wall. The tree and the body of the lamp are made of acid-etched stainless

SOUL ASH SOLACE

Back in July, we wrote about the Bios Urn, a container for cremation ashes which biodegrades over time, distributing seedlings into the earth and sprouting trees in memory of the deceased. Belgian design

DESIGNS FOR FOOD

In the midst of our cries over environmental destruction and lessons in at-home chemistry, it seemed about time for a brief return to designs that highlight the simple pleasures in life. Above are two

ECOSMART FIREPLACE

Here's a quirky design guaranteed to warm up those chilly winter nights. The EcoSmart Fireplace is a flue-less, transportable, open fireplace which is ideal for apartment and city living. Designed to

SUBTLE SAFETY RING

When evaluating hypothetical responses to dangerous situations, it’s hard to know what will be an effective means of self-defense. There’s the classic “lawnmower” move –

WOOD PANELED SALT & PEPPER SHAKERS

The Danish furniture and gift company, Skagerak Denmark, uses wood, brass and steel to create pieces that reflect old shipbuilding traditions. The company holds strict policies around sourcing wood to

NEST – MODERN BIRDHOUSE

Modernseed, the baby store run by two modernist moms (and savvy businesswomen) offers “All Things Modern for the Mini,” both online and on-site at their storefront in Oakland, CA. There is

GEORGIE BENCH

54Dean is a Brooklyn based design duo making some remarkable furniture. The studio's Georgie Bench (named after George Nelson's famous slat bench), is made with sustainability in mind, thanks to a waste

MODERN BIRDHOUSES

Have you met Jr., Richard and Ralph? Three distant cousins of Beaver Cleaver? No, they are the three different models available from Modern Birdhouses, a small company manufacturing a sleek, modernist

RECLAIMED WOOD IPOD CASE

Berkeley based designer Peter Kinne makes wooden iPod cases (and laptop cases as well) from reclaimed materials. The wood in this Music Box comes from old hot tubs(?) and tables, and the stainless steel