sustainable style foundation*

This week I've been focusing on materials research as I've been working in my office to update our NBBJ NY Studio Resource Library with innovative and sustainable materials. One great resource is cradle to cradle materials - which is great! A few of the intriguing ones were: beautifully etched concrete, coated offset paper that's more sustainable, particleboard that's formaldehyde free, beautiful cork disk floor, acoustical wall fabric 100% wool, and drapery with natural fibers. Another great resource was developed by a former colleague of mine at NBBJ, Blaine Brownell. It's called Transmaterials. His second book, Transmaterial 2: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment, was just printed at the beginning of this year, and has a greater emphasis on materials with qualities that make them healthier than others. Have fun exploring...

Stopping in Barneys NY on a quest for some new candles I saw a beautiful display of Cire Trudon candles. It wasn’t just that the candles have been being made since 1643 in a shop on Saint-Honore, or that the 100% vegetable wax candles smelled beautiful, or that they had a candle called “Trianon” inspired by my favorite fashion guru, Marie Antoinette; it was the clever display. They had small cloches (bell-shaped glass domes) over each candle to preserve the fragrance. Apparently, just as they did in the original Paris boutique - tres chic! I loved the idea as much as the candles.

On my way to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum with weekend visitors, I found the cloches. What luck! They were in the old Tenement Museum gift shop that’s been repurposed into an Earnest Sewn shop on 90 Orchard. In the back of the store there’s a cool little florist shop called “Flower Girl” that’s run by Denise Porcano. She had several glass cloches protecting tiny gardens and arrangements – beautiful and perfect for a small apartment. I’m not houseplant kind of person, but love this fresh take on an old French starter garden tradition. Plus it’s a great way to connect with nature in a modern way. Now I am totally intrigued with this idea and am going to check out a Paula Hayes exhibit. She’s a Manhattan artist who’s taken this idea of the mini-garden further with her organic shaped cloches and modern terrariums.

The good people of Moral Fervor would like to invite you, your friends and family to their special holiday sale in New York City. There will also be other designers to choose from as well, including MAMMAmade, Carrente, Burning Sphere and Unique Jewelry by Adrina Garibian, just to name a few, and it's all accompanied by live music, a full menu and cocktail specials so you can shop and dine to your taste. Here are the details:

When: Sunday, December 10, 2 - 6 pm.
Where: Colors, 417 Lafayette Avenue

Moral Fervor will be donating 10% of their purchases to Nutripa, a non profit organization benefitting women and children in Rwanda. They're a very interesting company with a very compelling story and designs to match; we'll be featuring them in the next issue of SASS Magazine, coming out next week. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, check out their website for more. [Moral Fervor]

Ben Jervey's book, The Big Green Apple: Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Living in New York City, has been called the "bible of green living in New York City," and this Thursday (October 26th), from 7-9 pm, he'll be talking about it at SSF pal and sustainable super-retailer 3r Living. Join Ben, owners Mark & Samantha Caserta and other sustainable lifestyle enthusiasts for a quick discussion about the book & Ben's work, plus some snacks, organic beer, and 10% off everything at the shop during the event. 3r Living is at 276 5th Avenue between 1st Street and Garfield Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn (here's a map). Go feed your brain, have a drink and check out the latest from 3r Living. More details via [3r Blogging]

SSF's annual Membership Drive is moving right along; with the month half over, if you haven't signed up, we still need your support! Thanks to Greene Street Greetings, you have another reason to it; they've graciously offered our members a 15% discount off any purchase. They offer the perfect canvas to deliver any message while maintaing high standards of quality and consciousness, Greene Street's greetings are printed with soy and vegetable-based inks on one hundred percent post-consumer waste recycled paper that is processed chlorine-free. Their website is hosted on a solar and wind-powered server, and for customers located in Manhattan, they offer carbon-free bicycle messenger delivery -- now that's a green business.

Check out their holiday collection, or use your own photo or image for any occasion; they'll help you create something memorable and sustainable, and we think that's a great combination. SSF would like to thank them for offering their support to SSF, and we hope you'll consider doing the same. Check out what's in it for you and sign up right here. [Greene Street Greetings]

Recognizing the tremendous advancements made in industry, building, media and public policy that move the world toward a sustainable and secure future, Global Green's Designing a Sustainable and Secure World Awards will be presented tonight in New York City. The event features a reception and eco-auction, followed by dinner and a program that features a discussion with Green Cross International Chairman Mikhail Gorbachev. Award honorees include Goldman, Sachs & Co. (receiving the Corporate Design Award), Tesla Motors (receiving the Industrial/Product Design Award -- we've mentioned them not once but twice), Sundance Channel (receiving the Media/Entertainment Design Award) and Bank Of America (receiving the Green Building Design Award).

The event will include a presentation on Global Green & Brad Pitt's Sustainable Design Competition (check out our coverage of the winners) for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and awards will be presented by Edward Norton, Josh Lucas and Steve Curwood of "Living on Earth."

Much like SSF's Outstanding Sustainable Style Achievement (OSSA) Awards, Global Green (who received an OSSA Award in 2005) aims to recognize and inspire more of these achievements. They believe that the sustainable designs of these remarkable companies and individuals deserve to be applauded and celebrated in order to inspire others toward a similar path and to encourage our honorees to shine ever brighter in their endeavors. [Global Green] via [3r Blogging]

The final two Umbrella Inside Out Cradle to Cradle entries came down to the wire, but in the end, Erin McDonald's innovative Crayella was chosen as the winner! Read more about it, and take a glance at last week's winning re-used umbrella couture design! It was SSF's pleasure to be a co-sponsor of the competitions, along with TreeHugger and I.D. Magazine; if you'd like to see the designs in person, RSVP for the December event in NYC, celebrating the release of I.D.'s New and Notable issue, featuring our finalists. Again, congratulaions to Erin & Crayella! [Umbrella Inside Out Cradle to Cradle Umbrella Design]

SSF's annual fundraising campaign and membership drive is just over a week away; leading up to and throughout the month-long event, we'd like to take a moment to thank the organizations and companies who have given without being asked. Today we train the spotlight on Drapeta, a New York City-based t-shirt design outfit. Drapeta takes the notion that sustainability and style should go hand in hand, infuses it with NYC style and prints it on organic cotton t-shirts with all-natural screen-printing ink. The results are high-style t-shirts, made from socially and environmentally conscious materials, whose designs walk their socio-politically charged walk and do a bit of irreverent, subversive finger-shaking. It's all about sophisticated self-expression; "cutting edge New York City style and a worldwide environmental awakening," according to owner/chief designer Zach Baker.

We'd like to thank Zach and Drapeta for supporting SSF over the past year; SSF is a member-supported organization and we couldn't do what we do without the support of Drapeta and other like-minded organizations. If you like what you see here and believe we're doing important work, please consider

Everyone in New York City, take note! Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 7 for the fourth annual New York City Green Buildings Open House, hosted by GreenHomeNYC. Green buildings from across the five boroughs will open their doors to the public to show how aesthetics, quality, and affordability, can go hand in hand with environmentalism, human health, comfort, and well being.

There have been dozens of new commercial and residential buildings added to the tour since last year; with current success stories ranging from upscale apartment buildings to affordable housing; from rapid transit stations to courthouses and libraries; and from midtown high-rises to Brooklyn lofts.

The Open House is open to the general public, reservations are required through the GreenhomeNYC website. On the website you can sign up for free individual building tours, or for the low fee neighborhood walking tours, which are scheduled and led by GreenHomeNYC’s experienced staff. Building owners and architects will describe the features of their buildings, explain the way the buildings function, and examine not only the benefits of the green features to the residents and the city as a whole, but also the costs involved in making the project a reality.

Fur-free fashion designer Jay McCarroll, winner of season one of Bravo's fashion-based reality show Project Runway, has partnered with the Humane Society of the United States' (HSUS) Fur-Free Campaign to debut the designer's spring collection at New York Fashion Week in September. "I'm thrilled to work with The HSUS because I care about animals and love making great clothes that don't cause animals to suffer," McCarroll said. "With so many fun and fashionable alternatives, there's no reason to use fur. As a designer, I know that compassion is in fashion, and the animals need their fur more than I do."

McCarroll, pictured with Annie Judah, fashion industry liaison for The HSUS, will also act as a judge for this fall's Cool vs. Cruel fashion design contest, which encourages fashion design students to avoid fur and the animal cruelty that usually comes with it.

The HSUS-sponsored show will be McCarroll's first collection at New York Fashion Week as an independent designer. The Fur-Free Campaign works with the fashion industry to end the use of animal fur in fashion. The HSUS is a strong supporter of fur-free designers and has previously sponsored Stella McCartney and Benjamin Cho.