Each Friday, we like to kick back and highlight a product or industrial designer doing really interesting, really cool work. It’s not just that we like eye candy and want something nice to look at as we ease into the weekend; we think it’s important to know that there is a better way to do things. Better materials, better manufacturing processes and better designs built to last all add up to a lighter footprint, and that’s why we like to train the spotlight on companies like InModern [www.inmodern.net]: because they do it better than conventional alternatives.

Using FSC-certified birch plywood (FSC-wha?? Read this [www.sundancechannel.com] to get up to speed), finished with non-toxic lacquers, that doesn’t employ hardware (bolts, screws, nuts, or even glue) or tools to assemble, it’s all manufactured here in the US. They have the beginnings of four different collections so far; the Linear [www.inmodern.net] collection (coffee table w/magazine storage is pictured) is the most complete, and they have some good looking stuff in the “coming soon” section of the others, like the “rekindle [www.inmodern.net]“, “surfin [www.inmodern.net]” (the magazine rack is below, on the left) and “intown [www.inmodern.net]” (occasional table below, right) collections. It’s all very clean, simple-looking design, made with earth-friendly materials, waste-reducing, pollution-conscious manufacturing and built to last beyond the next trend. We don’ recommend going out and buying all of this furniture (or all the designs from previous spotlights, for that matter), but it’s still good to know that there are better ways of doing things out there, and InModern gets it right, from start to finish.

When you create a place marker in the Eco-mmunity Map, it’s very important to carefully consider the keywords you add to the marker. When somebody searches the Eco-mmunity Map, the keyword is one of the primary sections of the map marker information that is searched.

If one were entering a marker for a furniture store in Boise Idaho, then your list of keywords should at least contain the following words: post consumer waste, recycled, wood, furniture, Boise, Idaho, desk, chair, dresser, office, bedroom, table, cast iron, couch, lazy boy, coffee table, dining room. The list can go on for quite awhile but basically you are adding anything that is specifically related to your place marker.

Making a marker for an individual would work much the same way as a business except that you might describe yourself using the keywords. A person could describe themselves in many ways but lets take the example of a person who lives in a rural community in Ohio and is a farmer. Keywords could contain the following: recycle, conservation, Ohio, (county), vegetable garden, livestock, ethanol, vegetable oil, farmer, compost, corn, potatoes, greenpeace member, Jackfrost farms, catholic

The main idea with keywords is just to be as thorough as possible while only being careful of adding keywords that are extremely general, such as environmental. Chances are environmental is in the title of so many organizations that a search for that term will bring up a huge list of results. With this knowledge, you can be sure that your map place markers will be visible to the whole world.

One of the things TreeHugger tries to promote most diligently is that good sustainable design, while being green and fun to look at, can solve problems as well. While all of the designers we mentioned yesterday [www.sundancechannel.com] do that in their own way, there’s one trend that we’ve been seeing more and more of lately: transforming furniture.

Answering the basic question of “Why have two when you need just one?”, transforming or transformer furniture is just what it sounds like: designs that changes shape or form to serve more than one function. Most often, we’ve seen it in furniture, but that still leaves a lot of room for interpretation: it can be simple or dramatic, something as functional as a sofa/table combination or as conceptual as a chair whose metal frame “melts” to go from task chair to lounge seating and back again (really!). Akemi Tanaka [www.sundancechannel.com] is one such practitioner, creating some pretty groovy furniture that goes from seating to table and back again with just a quick flip. Need a couch? You’ve got it. Need a coffee table instead? Got that, too, all in the same piece. It saves resources, saves space, and can even save money (two pieces of furniture are more expensive than one, usually).

The Ulo chair by recent industrial design grad Ian Watson [www.embryo.ie] is another, even funkier (and cooler, we think) example of this phenomenon. Employing internally lockable “flex joints”, the chair goes from task chair to lounge chair in one smooth, rubbery (almost melted-looking) motion, with spring-loaded locks used to keep the chair stable in either position. It sounds wacky, but you really might just have to see it to believe it, and we recommend you do so, right here [www.youtube.com]. It doesn’t look like it’d be stable, but because of a couple ingenious design inventions, it might be the chair you’d choose if you could only have one chair to sit in to work, eat, read, watch TV and relax.

Want more? TreeHugger has a treasure trove of transforming designs [www.treehugger.com] in the archives to dig through. For just about anything you want, there’s a version that transforms, and is more than meets the eye.

When it comes to furniture and interiors, one of TreeHugger’s favorite design techniques involves furniture that can serve more than one function. Green sofas are great, for sure, but even better when, with the flip of a switch or rotation of a piece, it can become a coffee table or bench. It sounds a little wacky, but Brooklyn designer Akemi Tanaka has achieved stunning, super-functional results doing just that.

In Japanese, “Futaba” roughly translates as one seed sprouting two leaves, so it’s a fitting name for the above piece. Designed for folks who live in smaller spaces, but still like to entertain, the piece is meant to be used as a coffee table on an everyday basis. When guests come over and additional seating is required, up comes the top and the furniture converts from table into love seat at the drop of a hat. Tanaka hasn’t just stopped there, though; Futaba is constructed from plyboo (shorthand for bamboo [www.sundancechannel.com] plywood), and regular readers know how much we love that stuff.

Equally interesting is “Tagei”, which, true to the designer’s form, translates in Japanese as “versatility”. Again, this one word nearly perfectly describes what this table/bench combination achieves. Also constructed from plyboo, Tagei slides effortlessly between comfy seat and compact table, creating more space when needed and offering two totally functional pieces in one. These two are but the tip of the iceberg of Tanaka’s work; click on over to the designer’s site [www.akemitanaka.com] to see more thoughtful designs with a green twist.

From time to time, TreeHugger finds furniture or other interior designers who really ‘get it’ — that is, understand that being planet-friendly and looking sleek and modern are not mutually exclusive things — and we like to highlight their good work. San Francisco-based David Brunicardi is one such designer, but before we dig in, a quick disclaimer. While we know that we as a society cannot shop our way to sustainability, TreeHugger thinks it’s important to know that such options exist, so that when the time comes to buy new stuff (and let’s not kid ourselves, we all have to buy stuff at some point), you are armed with the knowledge and know the options that are available. That said, sometimes it’s good to have something nice to look at.

David Brunicardi produces suave, versatile, hand-made furniture with a decidedly modern aesthetic. Utilizing sustainably-harvested wood, quickly renewable materials (like bamboo [www.sundancechannel.com]) and reclaimed or ‘rediscovered’ wood, the collection of furniture offers a wide variety of looks while retaining top-notch functionality. We’re big fans of the Sande ‘Wave’ coffee table, at right; inspired by the flow of water, the table ‘flows’ from one layer to the next creating space for books, CD’s, remotes…whatever you need. Made from Sande wood, a sustainable hardwood from Ecuador, it’s the first in a collection using the wood, and one of our favorites.

Equally good-looking and versatile is the Sande ‘Mag’ coffee table, which functions equally well as a bench and offers a unique solution for storing your favorite magazines and other coffee table fare. Taking cues from nature (and utilizing the beautiful natural grains in the wood), the table, like the rest of his collection, is made to order by hand, allowing for lots of customization to fit your specific needs.

Representing a near-perfect marriage of organic and modern materials, the “Swamp Thing” series, with the dining set pictured, showcases the beauty that old wood can bring to new furniture. Made with ‘rediscovered’ 200+ year-old wood from a wet southern estate where over 1000 trees were blown over by a storm in 1998, the natural imperfections are left intact (knots, worm holes, pitch pockets, spalting, etc.) because they are what make the wood so unique and so real. Perhaps best of all, the wood is certified by SmartWood [www.smartwood.org], the Forest Stewardship Council’s leading forest certifier (more info on the FSC can be found in this earlier entry [www.sundancechannel.com]). There’s a lot more to see at David Brunicardi’s website [www.dbfurniture.com], including more furniture for sitting, sleeping and storage; some of his furniture is available online from Design Public [www.designpublic.com], and it can all be had with an inquiry through the designer’s site [www.dbfurniture.com].