Recyclable Fashion

The fashion industry has been around for ages, but what most people are not aware of is that it produces alot of waste by tossing the scraps of textiles that are not used and that is harmful to our environment. China is the largest production of clothing in all of the world, they waste around 234 tons of fabrics into its landfills every year. This year, during Hong Kong Fashion Week, a competition was launched called the EcoChic Design Award China 2012 which designers were to create fashionable clothing that would not cause a big , harmful environmental impact. The winner of the contest was  Gong Jia Qi who designed all of her garments completely using tossed fabrics. Although this was only a competition, this is also another issue that should be taken into consideration because it harms the environment and fashion designers should be aware of and take the steps to change this cycle. Most iconic fashion houses like Chanel, Dolce & Gabanna and Versace create unique pieces of clothing that involve very expensive & original fabrics and cannot use recycled fabric scraps, they should analyze a way that they could waste less material but still achieve their customer demand or can their products, once completely used can also be recycled, and not only high end fashion houses but any type of fashion manufacturer should take this into consideration so that all industries can work together and contribute to making a more sustainable world.

Some of the unique looks that were created by  Gong Jia Qi.

All info and images from: http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-fashion/ecochic-competition-brings-sustainable-fashion-shanghai-fashion-week.html

Indoor Lawn Lounge

As the school semesters are coming to a close, I know how stressful it can get. Being an interior design student, projects can pile up, the only type of food you consume is coffee and Redbull, and the only all-nighter dates you're attending involve stacks of drawings, foam core boards and Power Point slides. It can  get very stressful for students and many colleges and universities are implying programs which relieve some of the stress that comes along with school. Some colleges are creating programs that will involve bringing in cute animals such as puppies, kittens, rabbits etc.. and students are able to pet and play with them. The library of Cornell University in New York has designed a stress reliever that is both Eco-friendly and connects students with nature. They have installed a real lawn in the lounge area where students can sink their feet in, roll around or maybe even have a summer picnic in.This is actually all part of a experiment that the professors of the Human ecology department are testing in which they research the benefits of restoration that nature has. These type of stress reviler programs should be implied in all colleges and universities, by literally  incorporating nature into an interior space, it can really have a relaxing effect of the people who use them, and it also contributes into the restoration of nature which has been a huge problem in the past few years. Even if we can start to covert our spaces into a greenhouse-like atmosphere, we can not only use it as a lounging area for us to enjoy but we can grow plants and trees that can be eventually introduced into the environment  It's a win win situation, students are happy and the environment is restored.

Students enjoying a break in the lawn lounge area.

All info and images from: http://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/cornell-installs-lawn-indoors-de-stress-students-finals-week-photos.html

Fog= Drinking Water

Many Canadians are very privileged to have running water accessible to the  24/7, but in many countries around the world that is not the case. Most developing countries do not have clean, drinkable water for people to consume, and they will end drinking water that is filthy and can harm their health. A Canadian organization called Fog Quest have been able to supply a new way of producing clean, drinking water for these countries, the technology is called fog catching and how it works is that large, fine nets are installed vertically on a filed with a gutter at the bottom and when fog droplets hit the net they are trapped and collected in a container which can supply running, clean water to many villages and homes. Although this is such a great product that can be beneficial to many developing countries, this can also be applied in many developed countries as well since we do live in a time where we are running out of fresh water globally so we have to come up with new ideas (almost like a plan B) that we can produce fresh drinking water that will help us if in the future we were to run out of it.

Vertical nets that capture the fog drops




Woman collecting water from the fog collection technology

Video Explaining Fog Quest's Mission

All info and images from: http://www.sustainableideas.it/2011/07/27/fog-catching/

Soda Bottle Light Bulb

Being born in Venezuela and living there for 9 years, I remember visiting my grandmother (who lives in a small village 8 hours from the capital) and having to adjust to the power outages they would have every couple of hours and would last for about 2-3 hours, this would happen since there was no maintenance being done to the power sources in that area and I remember being frustrated since you would have to stop your activities such as watching TV,  drying your hair or  even cooking until the power came back on. Recently, I came across a story about some students at the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology who invented a super cheap way to produce light with a soda bottle, chlorine, purified water, roof sheet material and rubber sealant. The product is called the solar bottle bulb and it works by combining the water and chlorine into a pop bottle and by exposing it into the sun it can illuminate a small space, they also can last for about two years  and it can produce the same amount of light as a 60 Watt incandescent light bulb. This is such a great product for developing countries such as Venezuela that have very limited access to electricity  since it doesn't take many materials to make and are also accessible. Gotta remember to show this to my grandma next time I visit her!

Below, I have added the instructions into making these unique light sources:

1. Fill the clear soda bottle with purified water and adds 3 tablespoons of liquid bleach or chlorine. And tightly seal the cap. Note that purified water is needed because moss will not grow in it, unlike tap water.

2. Cut a hole in the roof sheet as big as the diameter of the bottle. Make sure that the other half of the bottle, starting from the cap, is exposed so that it could capture sunlight.

3. Make a hole in your roof, the same size as the bottle (not the roof sheet).

4. Insert the bottle with the roof sheet in the hole of your roof and seal it with a rubber sealant to prevent leaking due to rain.

It will produce light when the bottle is exposed to the sunlight. It is expected to last for 2 years before you need to replace it.

All info and images from: http://www.sustainableideas.it/2011/11/20/solar-bottle-bulb/

Unique Approach Bookshelves

Although this has nothing to do with sustainability, I wanted to share this unique design of a bookshelf. The dutch-based designers, Altelier 10  have created a unique approach of incorporating the storage and lounging experience that comes along with reading a book. It is a curvilinear bookshelf that its length is long enough to accommodate a comfortable seat along the bottom, interior perimeter of the bookshelf. The exterior has been painted a bright green, the bookshelves are a clean white and the interior perimeter are a colorful orange. They have also incorporated a dangling light bulb to provide its readers with plenty of reading light. This unique design could be great for book lovers who live in a space limited area such as a condo or a loft apartment and could definitely be an ice breaker and your next house party!

All info and images from: http://www.treehugger.com/interior-design/bookworm-bookshelf-doubles-place-read.html

Shipping Container Home

In the last post, I talked about a woman who used a shipping container as her home. That video turned on my in-depth-google-search skills and I came across an article where shipping containers were actually being used as home construction in Canada. Not most of us know this, but shipping containers are designed to hold a lot of weight and are also fireproof, weatherproof and mold-proof, so architects and designers decided of a way that this great structure can be applied in the spaces we live in. A company called Maison IDEKIT, owned by a coupled named Bernard Morin and his wife Joyce Labelle  wanted to take the idea of using a shipping container as part of the structure of a home and make it livable in the Canadian weather, and that's exactly what they did. Along with a team of engineers, they were able to design a 3,000 sq ft home that incorporated about seven shipping containers along with regular building materials such as spray foam insulation, plywood etc... A regular 3,000 sq ft home can cost around $400, 000, but this home only cost $175, 000 and only took about ten months to build! . The small downside to this type of project is that internally, the flaws of the shipping containers are visible ( such as graffiti, serial numbers, dents etc...) but nothing a little paint can't fix!. This is an example of a way we can incorporate these containers appropriately into our building structures, and it makes sense. They lower the pricing of the house, take a short amount of time to build and removes the unnecessary waste of shipping containers, but it really all comes down to launching this product so that it can have a global impact and we can change our attitudes on how we build the spaces we live in and how to re-use materials that can withstand certain elements and issues. 

The Exterior of the shipping container home.

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Staircase area


living/dining, kitchen area

All info and images from: http://www.lowimpactliving.com/blog/2009/07/07/affordable-shipping-container-house-in-quebec/

Woman Lives in Shipping Container

An Argentinian woman named Lulu and her daughter are currently living in a 360 sq ft shipping container that has been completely remodeled for it to be livable in a Californian farmland. It includes a small living area, a play room for her daughter, a separate  bedroom shack for herself and her daughter and a working kitchen & bathroom. She attained the shipping container for free and spent a total of $4000 to remodel the whole space. Lulu chose this lifestyle when she got fed up with working hard to pay her rent and make ends meet so she decided to get creative, took a trip to the junkyard and created this small but livable area. Although the idea is outstanding, this type of design might not work in areas where the winter temperatures are below 0 degrees (the dreadful Canadian winters, buurrr!) but the idea of re-using materials that some consider to have no purpose (aka recycling) into our building projects can be very beneficial and lower the consumption of materials that are harmful to the environment and could this possibly be applied somehow in the housing industry? would it have a positive or negative effect for both the environmental and economic purposes? hmmm! something to consider....

Check out the 9 minute video below, interesting stuff!