As artists continue to draw inspiration from childhood fears and fairy tales, it comes as no surprise that classic stories like Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (more commonly known as Alice in Wonderland) are being tapped. Coming up on the 2010 film lineup is Tim Burton’s much anticipated ALICE IN WONDERLAND with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter (who else?), Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. But Burton is hardly the first to put a unique spin on Carroll’s tale. With the first official photographs of WONDERLAND released last week, photographer-extraordinaire Annie Leibovitz’s editorial for Vogue US December 2003 have “resurfaced,” thanks to the efforts of bloggers everywhere.

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Vancouver, BC-based molo design [www.molodesign.com] are experts at starting with something that’s static and two-dimensional and creating a design with structure, style and life. “soft” is a collection of products whose look is hinted at by the name, as they’ve created very smooth, organic shapes that look delicate, but not fragile. Their media of choice — paper and textiles, for the most part — allow for incredible versatility, and their design inspiration — honeycomb — makes for maximum structure with minimal materials.

So, let’s say you’re sharing that big open loft and at times there is nothing you crave more than a bit of privacy, but you do not want to build permanent, heavy or immovable partitions or wall. “softwall” [www.molodesign.com] is right up your alley, made of 400 honeycombed layers of fire-retardant translucent paper, it dampens sound, absorbs and transmits light and is modularly expandable, folding out from just 1 inch to over 20 feet. As artful as it is functional, it owns a place in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Of course, you’ll need somewhere to sit in your loft; for that, we like “softseating.” [www.molodesign.com] The modular paper pieces can be used for stools, low tables, side tables and chairs; again, the honeycomb design allows for both modularity and superior strength for its weight. Made of 50% recycled (and 100% recyclable) craft paper, each of the pieces can be folded up like a big book when not in use, allowing for lots of furniture when guests are around and lots of extra space when they’re not.

“softlight” [www.molodesign.com] follows a similar pattern to the other soft elements, utilizing the flexible paper honeycomb pattern to maximize strength and efficiency while minimizing materials. The honeycomb works particularly well for this design, creating a really neat effect with just a single lightbulb; we really like how the look grouped together. Of course, we have to recommend popping a compact fluorescent lightbulb in there. There’s a lot more good stuff over at molo’s site [www.molodesign.com], and many are for sale from Unica Home [www.unicahome.com].

The Danko Design Initiative [www.peterdanko.com] sets a pretty ambitious mission for itself: “to transform the public’s concept of what furniture can be, by demonstrating a deeper understanding of beauty, using environmentally friendly materials, all within an affordable envelope.” No small task, for sure, but Danko manages to deliver on all of these goals with flying colors.

An intelligent combination of materials, manufacturing techniques and design savvy come together to make Danko’s triple threat — aesthetics, environment, affordability — not just possible, but truly unique and beautiful. The majority of the wood they use is sourced from FSC-certified forests (more about the FSC here [www.sundancechannel.com]), and its finished with non-toxic, water-based adhesives and lacquers. When it comes to seat suspension and padding, it’s all recycled; the Gotham Lounge, above on the bottom left, uses nylon webbing recycled from seat belts. Also pictured are the Bodyform chair, which are designed to be stacked up to 12 chairs high and has been selected by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) for their Permanent Design Collection, and above the chairs is the Lollipop bench.

The real magic of Danko’s designs are the manufacturing techniques, which, when combined with his modern design sensibility, makes for some remarkably efficient materials use and furniture, consequently. Most of the designs are made from the “bent-ply” technique, where sheets of plywood are first “rolled” or “sliced” from logs; rather than cutting square blocks from a round tree, the process is very similar to the way paper towels coming off a roll. Once the sheets are off, they are pressure bent, rather than cut, to shape specifications. The two processes result in materials use that is between eight and ten times more efficient than more traditional furniture-making techniques; Danko claims that with the wood from one tree, he can create as much furniture as a more traditional designer using ten trees. Everything starts as a sheet of plywood and is bent to his liking, and in many pieces, it’s easy to see how little wood is actually used if you were to take the Spyder table (above, bottom left) and stretch out its three legs; the result would be just a fraction of a sheet of plywood. The simplicity of the designs belies the skill required in designing such modern, sophisticated (yet unpretentious) furniture, and TreeHugger really likes Danko’s style. Anytime you can combine modern aesthetics with materials efficiency and environmental ethics, it’s a good thing, and Danko is one of the best. Learn more about his work, including a few of the reasons he was selected as of the Best of TreeHugger: Designers [www.treehugger.com] at his website [www.peterdanko.com].