Category: eco
I spy x
Is it possible to be unflamboyant yet charismatic?
The washable paper bag Collection from Uashmama would shout a resounding yes!
The vaguely eastern exotic name is actually designed and handcrafted in Tuscany by a company created by 4 sisters in homage to their mother.
Made from a 100% washable cellulose eco-friendly material, the paper is made using virgin fibre from cultivation not deforestation, it’s lightweight but feels like leather and washes like a fabric and the price point is excellent: from £8 to £116 (the man who’s so hard to buy for? Nailed.)
(All pics The Future Kept)
Honest, thoughtful and self effacing: Feel the force.
Laters, Kate x
Elvis & Krasse x
Elvis & Krasse are one of those companies that make you wish you were them. At their workshop based in Kent, they rescue raw materials destined for landfill and recraft them into authentic luxury items. Donating 50% of their profits to charity means their Godly status is secured.
Two projects are their mainstays – working with de-commissioned fire hoses that once lived in hell and are now made in heaven.
And working with Burberry on the global issue of leather waste, using their cast offs to create inventive designs.
Their products are built to last, combining world-class handmade craftsmanship with timeless design. And they also repair for life for free. Yes. You can read that again and believe it.
Loved and honed into existence, this is one Company to remember.
Laters, Kate x
Earth. Food. Love.
Earth. Food. Love is the living proof that stereotypes get it wrong.
Set up by former footballer, Richard Eckersley and his wife, Nicola Earth.Food.Love is a revolutionary zero waste supermarket in Totnes, Devon, where all packaging is banned.
Customers are expected to bring their own pots, jars, bags to carry their produce home.
Amongst the razor blades and bamboo toothbrushes with replaceable bristles, there’s even a grind your own nut butter machine.
‘We want to live in a world where consuming doesn’t have to cost the earth. We believe returning to these simple ways will benefit not only our health, but the planet too.’
Fingers crossed this is the start of a new trend, coming soon to a High Street near you..
Laters, Kate x
The Cold Zone x
The pictures were a little bigger on Pintrest, but that’s not to say the idea isn’t. This electricity banning underground concept fridge by Studio Floris Schoonderbeek has been added to the dream board for a self-sustaining shack by the sea. Would lighting be solar..or a candle in a lantern? Nice problems to have.
Laters, Kate x
Magic Carpet x
If there’s a theme over the last few post it’s re-invention. And the carpet industry is ripe for it: 400,000 tonnes of unwanted carpet is buried in UK landfill every year.
Isabel Webb has decided thats where the rubys in the dust lie – she’s taking both domestic and industrial carpet waste and giving it her own unique twist through dying, tufting, embroidery and shearing to reveal new patterns and textures and expose the potential within.
(All pictures Isabel Webb)
Isabel only graduated in 2016 so this is the embryo of a work in progress. But we like it. And we need more.
Laters, Kate x
Small steps..
This weekend marks the start of moving towards a less wasteful life as inspired by this post. For me, it’s not about wearing a horsehair shirt but finding simple solutions that work and moving away from the total belief in mass produced, mass marketed products we pick up without thinking. The first experiment neatly fits in with my own eco philosophy – it involves dryer sheets – which to many would be an environmental oxymoron, but as a dryer works for us as a family it stays – and the spotlight goes onto what goes into the dryer..
From my research, there seem to be two basic methods – the first involves using ready made (you could make your own..there are recipes..(I’m not there yet)) fabric conditioner. Strips of old towels or sponges are soaked in the solution and then are used either wet, straight from the pot or can be dried before hand.
(All pics Pinterest and View from the Fridge)
The next method requires a larger leap of faith…the cloths are stored and left soaking in a mixture of vinegar and essential oils (any combination you fancy). They say, when the clothes come out, any smell of fish and chips has evaporated away…
The kids could be grateful it’s half term next week…
Laters, Kate x
First Step..
There was a brilliant article in the Evening Standard last night about our insatiable appetite for stuff, it described a worker in a plastics factory in China laughing at the crap products being churned out for the international market..only to see the order tripled the following week. It’s all around us..look through a Lakeland catalogue and see some brilliant ideas..but also some entirely superfluous ones, designed just because we think we need them..or (because we always have to show progression) over-engineered designs of something that already worked perfectly fine. But hey, that’s more money for the fat cats economy..particularly when you add in the modern power of build-in-obsolescence..with any luck it’ll break…and we’ll buy it twice!
I’d love to see a move away from vapid accumulation to less is more, quality over substance..and the best changes start at home. The wardrobe is having it’s first attack today…
All nightwear is heading the way of charity or cut up for rags, leaving just two pairs of pajamas and a dressing gown.
It’s a start.
Laters, Kate x
Bea Johnson x
Anyone else read the article in the Times yeesterday about Bea (pronounced ‘Baya’) Johnson and her zero waste lifestyle? The picture above represents the amount of waste her family have accumulated over a year…it’s an eye opener..
She’s been living this way since 2008..and it doesn’t make her a crusty hippy.
Her (and her family’s) wardrobe are small enough to fit into carry-on suitcases…which they pack, wheel away – and then their house is rented out to pay for their holidays.
But a small wardrobe doesn’t mean she doesn’t have style.
It’s just that they’ve made choices about what they really need against what society and big companies want them to need.
I think I’m going to have to read her book…
Laters, Kate x
Love Stack..
Some natural bling to shine in the grey…that won’t break the bank.
Made by two sisters in Canada with a shared love of nature and making wearable art.
The rings are cast in a handmade mould using eco resin – a biobased product derived from pine oils from the waste streams of other manufacturing products.
They’re left to cure for a week before being sanded down smooth using over 10 grades of sandpaper and polishing tools.
So each one is unique.
Find them at their Etsy shop Rosella Resin . With prices starting at just £24.95 plus postage it’s a tastefully environmental win win.
Laters, Kate x
A Green Summer x
Is there a place for fast, wallet-friendly fashion?
Can you really have your cake and eat it?
Monki would certainly like to think so.
There’s nothing in this post that costs over £50.
But this is a Company with principles..their Care Label represents their ideals regarding organic cotton and their better cotton initiative which is to ensure the cotton they buy uses less chemicals, less water and gives the people involved in production more benefits. It also stands for their Code of Conduct, which all their suppliers must comply with, to ensure decent working standards and conditions for the employees of their suppliers. And finally it’s a promise to minimise the impact of fashion, both in production and regarding landfill, by re-using existing materials and re-cycling them into new cotton, polyester and wool.
With designs like these…..it’s cream teas all round..
Laters, kate x
Maison Bentley Style 