(Via Boing Boing and Make)
Etsy seller StilNovoDesign makes lovely furniture out of recycled oak wine barrel staves from France. The family-owned California (why not in France?) designer/manufacturer loves the fact that they’re able to help the environment by recycling the raw material while turning it into an object of practical elegance.
The natural arch of a barrel stave confers striking finesse to the silhouette of each of our designs. The red wine previously held in the barrels stains the underside conferring its particular character to it.
Indeed…
What really gets me is the stupidity of anyone who thinks they do the environment a favor when they transport wine barrels from Europe to the opposite coast of the US as a raw material. Especially since California probably has a few of its own wine barrels to recycle locally. Statements like this really give environmentalism a bad name.
Fair point… I was a bit surprised too to learn that the company was in Cali as opposed to the other side of the pond…
~w~
Your readers may be interested in submitting a design to the 2010 IDEA program, which includes a category for ecodesign…among many others.
The IDEA® (International Design Excellence Awards) program, sponsored by IDSA and Fast Company, is the premier international competition honoring design excellence in products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts.
For 2010, IDEA has partnered with The Henry Ford. Winning and finalist submissions will become part of the Museum’s permanent collection.
Visit http://www.idsa.org/idea for more details. Deadline for entries is JAN.25.2010.