I’ve just recently come across an interesing company, Way Basics, that’s making eco-friendly furniture blocks called zBoards.  zBoards are made from post-consumer recycled paper and can be recycled with no waste when their use is over.  Their website markets the zBoards with one, main, simple statement: No Waste.  No Rules.  No Tools.  And it’s a compelling premise, especially if you’ve ever spent some time putting together an IKEA drawer or something.  zBoards and blocks are put together using a super-strong adhesive tape (not sure whether the tape is low-VOC or anything like that).   

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I find the stories behind green homes to be quite interesting.  I was at the gym and happened upon this article in Home Magazine about Adam Coulter, a 27 year-old screenwriter and actor living in LA.  He successfully battled cancer in his teens and has been in remission since that time.  But since his bout with cancer, he’s always attempted to live in the healthiest environment possible.  This third-floor condo is an example of Couter’s quest for healthy living — it’s been renovated with bamboo flooring, organic linen draperies, recycled glass tiles, zero-VOC paints, and locally produced, sustainable materials, etc. 

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Recycling The Past is a vintage/antique building supply store located in New Jersey.  The store offers a wonderful variety of products ranging from mantles to hardware to doors, all of which may be viewed online.  Two of my favorite products are the sinks and the tiles.  There are nine pages of stunning tiles in a range of shapes, colors, and styles.  The collection of decorative tiles is incredible; some of them are amazingly detailed. 

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Surfing Cowboys, located in Venice Beach, California is a hip spot for vintage shopping.  The store offers furniture, accessories, lighting, artwork, and a unique collection of vintage surfing and skateboarding items.  And if you can’t make it to Venice Beach, you can shop their store online. 

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About ten years ago, I worked at UPS in their "boneyard" — a place where all the pallets were unloaded and strewn in huge heaps on an asphalt parking lot.  We’d neatly stack the pallets, place them in a trailer, and UPS would get rid of them, netting about $0.25 per pallet saved.  At the time, I didn’t realize the amount of pallets in circulation around the globe.  It’s estimated that there are about 2 BILLION ordinary unit load pallets in circulation globally, and about two-thirds of these are only used once.  It’s further estimated that U.S. companies throw away roughly 4 billion board feet of wood pallets every year.  Pretty crazy, I know. 

So HDR Architecture came up with Unit Load_Redux, a temporary exhibition intended as a probe for sustainable living through the redux of pallets and the use of bicycle energy.

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