Like many of the great ones, Welsh designer Ross Lovegrove is something of an enigma. He has a very wide variety of tastes, and an equally wide range of skills when it comes to creating interesting, functional, thought-provoking designs that continue to inspire praise, criticism and even a little head-scratching. He once told Wired [www.wired.com], “How can I go from designing airline interiors to soap to bicycles? I fly three times a week, I use soap every night, and I need a bike, goddammit!” Still, though “sustainable design” — at least using our stock definition of a combination of materials, manufacturing, and the function and lifespan of the design itself — isn’t part of Lovegrove’s everyday milieu, he has still wowed us with some remarkable, sustainable designs.

Check out the Orbit Chair, pictured above, a stackable dining chair made of bent plywood (recall its sustainable attributes here [www.sundancechannel.com]) that’s about as mod as they come. The classic modern design isn’t all about looks, though: the wide top “hugs” your back, and the bend in the spine makes it flexible and comfy. The chair has been certified by Greenguard [www.greenguard.org], which tests and certifies products that have low levels of chemical and particulate emissions.

And now for something completely different: Although it unfortunately has never made it to market, this Ross Lovegrove-designed prototype razor (above) is an eminently sound idea. It uses a ceramic blade, which at the time (the mid-1990’s), was claimed to last 40 times longer carbon steel (remember, longevity [www.sundancechannel.com] is high on TreeHugger’s list). It’s no pipe dream though — today you can buy ceramic razors for industrial use, that last 100 times longer. The problem here, unfortunately, is that razor companies are scared to produce a non-disposable version, since they’re in the business of selling as many as possible…sigh Perhaps someday the world will catch up to Ross on this one.

Lovegrove has also done a bevy of interesting work with solar; most recent was “Solar Tree,” (above) which takes a page from its cellulose brethren, “growing” skyward to maximize solar exposure. The project, for the Museum for Angewandte Kunst (MAK) in Vienna, debuted on October 8; in a designers’ statement, Lovegrove said, “The SOLAR TREES communicate more than light… they communicate the trust of placing beautifully made, complex natural forms outside for the benefit of all of society becoming a museum that if folded inside out, the museum as an incubator of change in society… and with this the promotion of environmental science and the joy of the new aesthetics made possible by the digital process.”

On a smaller, more individually-applicable scale, there’s Solar Bud [www.surrounding.com] (below), a handy garden lamp that needs no wires. Stuck in the ground in a place that gets some sun, the lamp uses sensors to detect when darkness falls, and automatically switches on three high power red LEDs. Entirely solar powered, the Solar Bud saves both on energy and installation: no need for electricity, no need for wiring. Smart.

Not everything that Lovegrove touches turns to gold — witness this concept car [www.treehugger.com] that he designed to run exclusively on solar power, as an example — but it’s his attitude about this that is really noteworthy. He says, “This is a world where nature and technology fuse with man’s ambition to achieve ultimate performance levels,” adding that he has an “innate ability” to anticipate the future and lives by the motto “it is only the future if it can’t be made.” With Lovegrove’s and his ideas around, the good news is that the future might never really get here.

The forward-looking designs of the Electrolux competition [www.electrolux.com] are great for a number of reasons: they are smart, thoughtful concepts that make living green even easier and they solve some persistent problems (and isn’t that what great design is supposed to do?). Got food waste? Want to save water? Looking to breathe easy? They’ve got you covered.

Electrolux isn’t the only fish in the sustainable design sea, though.
Some have even made it all the way from concept to production, and are helping make our world a little greener today. Here’s a glimpse into the not-so-distant future.

1) Looking to do some designing of your own? Be sure to read the Okala Design Guide [www.treehugger.com], created to help designers navigate through the options and make the least environmentally taxing and most beneficial decision when it comes to materials, manufacturing and other lifecycle-related variables.
2) Electricity-producing roads, a zero-energy home and a smart rainwater collector (the last two are pictured in the top image) are just a few of the cool sustainable designs entered in NASA’s Create the Future Design Contest [www.treehugger.com]. The contest, which tasks entrants to “Demonstrate your design and engineering skills. Share your best ideas for new products. Compete and win great prizes. Become famous.”
3) Halfway around the world in Sweden, an event called Designboost [www.treehugger.com] busily (and effectively) worked to re-think what sustainability really means, and how design should be integrated into everything we touch.
4) The eponymous Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum [www.treehugger.com] hosts a People’s Design Award each year, and this year, sustainability ruled as TOMS Shoes (pictured above) took the top prize.
5) The Business for Social Responsibility [www.treehugger.com] (BSR) Conference has embraced design as a central focus of a sustainable future; 82% of attendants said they are optimistic that companies around the world will embrace corporate responsibility as a core business and operations strategy in the next five years.
6) When it comes to actual products, we want GE’s Kitchen of the future [www.treehugger.com]. Now. “The entire suite offers a full-width display combined with touch sensors across the entire surface. What does that mean for consumers? Imagine new possibilities for recipe presentation and entertainment. In total, this surface affords multiple levels of interaction and the navigation of complex information.”
7) In a great success story, from breathtaking concept to mind-blowing production vehicle, the Aptera [www.treehugger.com] (pictured below) promised 300 miles per gallon and 120 miles of all-electric range in two separate but equally impressive vehicles that are available for pre-order now. Hooray for the future, arriving today!

So far this week we’ve been chatting up cork as a great sustainable material, which it is, when used correctly and enjoyed in moderation. Of course, materials use isn’t all there is to sustainable design or engaging in green behavior or buying green stuff; production methods and the way things are built play a big (if not bigger) role in where our stuff comes from. One of our favorite methods (and one we’ve mentioned before [www.sundancechannel.com]) is bent plywood, also known as bent ply. But what makes it so special?

There are two sides to this method that come together to make a really effective, efficient material. Let’s start with the necessary raw material: a tree. While the sustainable use of trees involves geopolitics and considerations galore, at their root (ha-ha), they are a renewable resource; if you cut one down and plant another one in its place, it’ll grow back. Wood is also an excellent way to sequester some carbon dioxide, since trees breathe the stuff in and then don’t release it again until it’s burned or biodegraded; while the wood is in use, it stores the greenhouse gas and keeps it out of the atmosphere. So wood is a good material to start with; next comes the way it’s processed.

Once at the mill, plywood, yet to be bent, can be “shaved” or “sliced” from the round tree, rather than cut into blocks, boards, and other usually square or rectangular timbers. Since trees are round, this process leaves lots of off-cuts, scraps and other bits ‘n pieces that aren’t very usable. When harvesting plywood, the shaving/slicing process mentioned above can use much, much more of the wood, because the plywood comes off the tree much like a paper towel from a roll; this leaves very little waste behind and puts to use almost all of the available wood.

After the sheets are harvested, and the second half of the production starts up, we can really see how the material can boast such efficiency. Instead of being milled, cut and re-cut and then joined, bent ply furniture carefully bends the sheets of plywood so that entire pieces of furniture can be built from a single (or maybe two) sheet. Again, cutting is minimized so as much of the wood as possible is used; Peter Danko’s work, pictured above, is a great example of the modern beauty and clean lines that can be derived from this process. After all is said and done, the bent ply process is somewhere between 8 and 10 times more efficient than other more traditional furniture-making techniques, and if you can get eight bent ply dining chairs, for example, for the amount of material it takes to make one chair otherwise, that’s a good thing, right?

Stay tuned tomorrow for some of the best of the best examples of putting bent ply to work.

Building homes and renovating them is an industry that can seriously benefit from the green philosophies of recycling, reusing, and sustainable design. Whether you are talking about heating, cooling, insulation, air circulation, foundations, septic systems, windows, plumbing or anything else under the roof, there is a green option for you.

“Your Green Home: A Guide to Planning a Healthy, Environmentally Friendly New Home” is written by Alex Wilson. Mr. Wilson is well-known among industrial builders as one of the foremost environmental building experts. For the first time ever, Alex Wilson has made a guide that simplifies the techniques of green building for the general public.

The best thing about these green building elements is that they often result in increased maintenance savings from running a home. In the case of biomass systems or solar panels, these green building elements can actually generate income for a home.

You can find out more about the book on it’s website [www.buildinggreen.com].

In our discussion of design this week, we’ve been trying to find a balance between sustainability and stuff. When executed properly, sustainable design can both enrich our lives by providing form and function while being created and produced with smart, green, future-looking materials, and it’s harder than it sounds. One company, though, has managed to hit many of the concepts we mentioned this week with a variety of their products. They’re called MioCulture [www.mioculture.com].

Founded by the Salm brothers (Isaac, the numbers guy and Jaime, the design guy) and better known by some as “MIO,” their objective is to combining business rigor with environmentally and socially progressive design. Their four-pronged philosophy (Green = Desire; People = Culture; Context = Relevance; Awareness = Intelligence) combines addressing holistic needs and wants with the idea that accessible design is the result of everyday life informing the creative process to create products that address every stage of their lifecycle provide customers with built-in environmental choices and functional benefits. A few of their products stand out to us; TreeHugger is huge fans of their various wallpapers made from 100% post and pre-consumer waste paper. V2 [www.mioculture.com], Flow [www.mioculture.com] and Acoustic Weave [www.mioculture.com] (from left to right, above — see TreeHugger’s coverage of them here [www.treehugger.com] andhere [www.treehugger.com]) all have dimension and add texture to a room’s walls; they’re modular, enabling easy replacement or sectional installation, and are all made from locally-sourced materials. Paint ‘em, varnish ‘em or leave ‘em alone; they provide a solid canvas for you to be creative, but can stand alone as design objects, too.

MIO’s lighting [www.mioculture.com] also fulfills many of our desirables for design; “Bendant” (above left — we peeked at it here [www.treehugger.com]) is a flat-packed chandelier (you’ve probably never seen those words together before, right?) made from laser-cut steel. The size of the lamp, shape of the cuts and flat packaging are a result of material and manufacturing efficiencies. In addition, the lamp welcomes the user as co-designer; you decide the final configuration of the fixture, making each different one a unique, customizable experience. Both “Shroom” and “Capsule” are manufactured by one of the last remaining millineries in the United States, using traditional felt molding technologies. Thanks to this, the design encourages further efficiency requires the use of compact fluorescent light bulb — the heat from an incandescent will eventually “melt” the shades.

MIO’s collection features other designs in a few different categories, with more, like seating and tables, promised soon. If the new products are anything like the old, they’ll keep us happily writing about MIO’s “sustainable design” for a long time. Learn more about them at their website [www.mioculture.com].

The inherent contradiction between “sustainable design” and creating more stuff — whose relative necessity and functionality may vary from person to person — is a difficult issue for TreeHuggers to reconcile sometimes. While our favorite designs sure look good and offer a greener alternative and lighter carbon footprint [www.sundancechannel.com], does the benefit of owning them and having more stuff outweigh the materials, labor, emissions and energy expended to get them to us? Maybe; maybe not, but any way we can reduce any (or all) of these is a good thing. Looking toward the future, we think the answer may be on the horizon: 3D printing and downloadable designs.

The concept of downloading designs and then “printing” them in your own home is quite simple, though much more complicated in practice. The idea exists in a few different formats, but is essentially this: a designer dreams up a new product; publishes and helps distribute the plans; we buy them and either 1) contract a local manufacturer to build it or 2) gather the materials and build it ourselves. Think of it like IKEA without the roof-rack or the trip to the big store; using flat-packed designs; most everything could be (at least mostly) constructed from a flat sheet of plywood.

Most designers (and the population at large) aren’t really quite ready for this, so we present option #2: 3D printing. Technology is coming [www.treehugger.com] to allow three-dimensional objects to be “printed” (meaning fabricated, really) in your home from designs downloaded from the internet (or on something like a CD or DVD, direct from the designer). Intriguing, no? Right now, the technology can only do simple, solid plastic forms, but Cornell University has made a machine that can “print out” in silicone, plaster, Cheez Whiz and Play-Doh. Until the technology becomes more flexible (and cost-effective), we’re limited to our current printing capabilities; since this usually involves inkjets or lasers, downloading designs is pretty well limited to what we can print on paper. Fortunately, there are a handful of designs out there that can give you an idea of what can be done.

1) Having this pinhole camera [www.treehugger.com] is as easy as downloading the design, printing the PDF, following the instructions, loading the film, and pointing and clicking to your heart’s content.
2) Foldschool furniture [www.treehugger.com] follows the same idea, though on a slightly larger scale. Designer Nicola Enrico Stäubli says, “Mass culture is run by superficiality and ecological absurdity. The mindset of foldschool is to restore design to one of its original missions: to provide a product at an affordable price through a smart manufacturing process.”
3) Why stop with a camera and furniture when you can download and print a whole house [www.treehugger.com]? Well, a scaled-down replica of a house, at least, but still an impressive bit of design and architecture considering it’s made from the same stuff TPS reports are usually printed on.
4) ReadyMech [www.treehugger.com] is a series of smart, fun designs that you can download and assemble yourself, if you don’t want to wait around for robot-built house. Maybe not as functional as a house, but still a great example of how to short-circuit the entire expensive production, transport and sales process that consumes so much energy.

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.

Yesterday, we laid out a few ideas [www.sundancechannel.com] for why product design is important, and why sustainable product design has a huge potential to change the way we think about, buy, and use products, from everyday gadgets to once-in-a-lifetime artifacts. Think about it: what if everything you consumed was not only less harmful, but netted a positive impact on the earth? We aren’t quite there yet, but some of our favorite designers are making strides toward that goal for tomorrow with products they’ve designed today; they create more functional products with fewer materials, build thoughtful products that are not only built to last, but are built to be easily repaired (rather than discarded) when they break down; they produce designs that entice us to change the way we think about how the stuff we use every day can work, look and feel. Check out the (really interesting!) work of a few of the best TreeHugging designers.

1) Awhile back, TreeHugger made a list (and divided it into a four-part series) of our favorite sustainable designers, representing different parts of the sustainable design puzzle. Part one [www.treehugger.com] included Peter Danko (whose designs were mentioned here [www.sundancechannel.com] as part of our Designer Spotlight series) is one of the original (and still one of the best) when it comes to the combination of sustainability and design; his furniture, ranging from seats [www.treehugger.com] to benches to chairs [www.treehugger.com] and tables [www.treehugger.com], is largely made with ply-bent wood, recycled materials for seat suspension padding and non-toxic, water-based adhesives. It is simple, yet sophisticated, and, as Danko’s new designs [www.treehugger.com] come down the pike, we have yet to be disappointed.
2) It’s also difficult for us to mention the words “sustainable design” without thinking of Herman Miller; the Aeron Chair [www.treehugger.com] is perhaps the most recognizable (and imitated) of these contemporary designs. Designed by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf, the chair combines distinctive looks with pioneering ergonomics and is the envy of office workers the world ’round. Aeron is based on the ideas that ergonomically, the chair should do more than just sit there; functionally, it should be as simple and natural as possible, and environmentally, it should be durable, repairable and designed for disassembly and recycling. Made largely of recycled materials, the Aeron chair is designed to last a long time, with parts that get the most wear easily replaced and recycled: just what we’ve come to expect in a well thought-out design.
3) Charlie Lazor’s name graces the list for his versatility and prolific design portfolio. A Partner and Designer at furniture design company Blu Dot, he works with the premise that design should be affordable and daydreams of a better flat-packed world. Blu Dot’s pieces are making a splash: seen on the sets of well-known television shows such as “Friends” and “ER,” in the permanent collections of several museums, and as winners of numerous national and international awards. Lazor is also responsible for the FlatPak House [www.treehugger.com], which arrives at the building site in flat pieces to keep cost and environmental impact low, and with modernist customizations abounding, there is no limit to the fab in this pre-fab.
4) Rogan Gregory has a good thing going. As the designer behind both Loomstate [www.treehugger.com] and Edun [www.treehugger.com], he’s mixing hip apparel with organic cotton, fair labor and celebrity to make a tremendous mark on fashion. Loomstate helped set the bar for sustainably-minded designer denim by using only 100% organic cotton and sustainable farming practices. With Edun, along with U2’s Bono and Bono’s wife, Ali Hewson, Rogan brings the notion of sustainable employment, fair labor, and social compliance and consciousness to catwalks across the world and widens the apparel designs from simply denim to everyday casualwear. With both efforts, Rogan Gregory is helping to change the paradigm in the fashion industry and make it possible for “hip,” “sustainable” and “fashion” to happily co-exist.
5) When it comes to bamboo [www.sundancechannel.com], we TreeHuggers can hardly seem to get enough of the stuff, but we were able to narrow it down to our favorite four designers who use the stuff. Adapt Design [www.treehugger.com] (which has since changed their name to Modern Bamboo [www.sundancechannel.com]) makes simply stunning furniture from bamboo; Bambu [www.treehugger.com] boasts a wide range of products combine a pleasing aesthetic with an everyday work ethic, and make a stylishly understated addition to any kitchen, from utensils to bowls to cutting boards; Bamboosa [www.treehugger.com] stitches their apparel from the up-and-coming fabric made from bamboo, which, by all accounts, is soft to the touch, feels great on the skin, and handles the same as its cotton equivalent; and, when it comes to kitchen construction and design, it doesn’t get much better than Henrybuilt [www.treehugger.com]. Using bamboo as their principle material, they custom design and build beautifully crafted, eco-minded kitchen cabinets and furniture. As important as their designs is their philosophy: that building products to last is as important as using planet-friendly materials.
6) Aside from TreeHugger, there are places to see some of these designs in the flesh. HauteGREEN [www.hautegreen.com] is the world’s first sustainable design exhibition, and, after two successful years under its belt, looks poised to make an even bigger splash on New York’s design week in 2008. TreeHugger has been pleased to be involved with both events, lending readers a sneak peek at the designs appearing at the show — here’s the inaugural list for 2006 [www.treehugger.com] and a list for the bigger, better exhibition in 2007 [www.treehugger.com]. Careful readers will note some crossover between our TreeHugger’s “Best Of” list and HauteGREEN’s list. Coincidence? We think not…

The rest of this week will include more information, examples, and jaw-dropping inspiration as we explore the melding of “sustainable” and “design”. Stay tuned!

Each Friday, we point TreeHugger’s green spotlight on a designer practicing sustainability and incorporating green into their designs. Either through materials selection and use, manufacturing practices or finishing techniques (or a combination of the three…or any number of other, smaller — but no less important — considerations), they’re creating beautiful, useful, functional artifacts that leave a smaller footprint on the earth. But doesn’t it just create more stuff that we may or may not need? Isn’t an opiate for people who want to be greener but don’t want to actually do anything? Why is spotlighting (and encouraging) sustainable design important? Read on…

Just about everything we use, consume or see every day has been designed; designers have their hands on all of these things, far before we ever see them on the shelves (or on your computer screen, as with each Friday here at the TreeHugger blog). While there’s a lot — a lot — of “design-for-design’s-sake” out there, we want to encourage designers to take these formally disposable products, keep them beautiful and increase their relative sustainability. While it’s true (for the most part) that we can’t buy our way to sustainability, TreeHugger feels its important not only to showcase as many of the really striking, really modern examples of design as we can, but to use our green voice to encourage designers not yet on board to follow suit. If we can help convince the world (and the designers) that green can look good and is worth doing, there is no product that can’t be made greener by this philosophy. The computer you’re reading this on, the keyboard tray you’re resting your hands on, the light you’re reading by — all exemplified in Herman Miller’s new Be Collection [www.thebecollection.com], pictured above — all can be more beautiful, more functional, and more sustainable.

So, we don’t think you should go out and buy everything that you read about on this site, or at TreeHugger, for that matter. But you should know that it exists, that sustainable, fantastically-designed, thoughtful versions of just about everything you consume on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis can be yours. Come back this week for more musings on product design, plus some advice about where to learn more and (finally) where to buy it when you’re ready. Stay tuned!

Anyone who’s taken a good look at TreeHugger over the past couple of weeks is likely to have seen one or more of our series of posts [www.treehugger.com] about HauteGREEN [www.hautegreen.com], a sustainable design exhibition that’s part of New York City’s Design Week. Mixed among the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF [www.icff.com]) and other yearly juggernauts of the design world, HauteGREEN showcases some of the best in sustainable design, from furniture to lighting to accessories and more. One of the many excellent designers who’ll be featured at the show who both literally and figuratively “breaks the mold” with his clever, eco-friendly designs is Josh Jakus.

Eggflat, pictured above, was designed as a sculptural tabletop piece that folds flat for storage and unfolds to function as sort of a catch-all, elegantly holding whatever you need to be handy. Like Jakus’ other work, it’s made from industrial pressed wool felt recovered from factory excess; technically, this makes it a recycled (and recyclable) product. Because it folds flat for shipping and is very light, most wholesale orders can be slipped into an envelope or small box, making getting it from one place to another a snap.

Equally clever are the Um bags, which also make maximum use of materials in a minimum of space. Topologically brilliant, the handy handbags are made from two layers of the aforementioned industrial wool felt, with a zipper sewn around the edge. When open, the piece lays completely flat; when zipped, the piece turns into an organic, three-dimensional form. It all fits with Josh’s design ideals; he’s dedicated to making experiential connections between form and function, and uses materials in their simplest form so intrinsic qualities show through and pursues a rigorous design efficiency that strives to get the most impact out of the fewest moves. In many ways, these seemingly simple designs exemplify why TreeHugger promotes good design: not because it creates more stuff (and more waste); but because its innovative techniques, materials and ideas create beautiful forms we can use every day, functional products that make our lives better, and, ultimately, solve problems.

When it comes to design, and especially the sustainable design that we like to highlight at TreeHugger, there are several general ideals that we check out before giving it the thumbs up. Things like materials use, manufacturing process and end-of-life considerations paid (is it recyclable or reusable?) are all important, but one generally stands out: whether or not the design solves a problem. A product can be as green as possible, but if it doesn’t serve a useful purpose and ultimately improve our lives, its worthless.

That’s one of the reasons we love bambu [www.bambuhome.com]. Their products are made of organically-grown bamboo (one of TreeHugger’s favorite materials [www.sundancechannel.com]), and the designs (mostly for kitchen and dining applications) are sleek, modern and smart, and we like them well enough to name them as one of the ”Best of TH: Designers” [www.treehugger.com] in 2005. One of the first designs that caught our eye, way back in 2004, was the Lacquerware collection, featuring bowls (pictured), plates and other tabletop items, each of which is hand-coiled and shaped, and finished with durable, waterproof, and food-safe natural lacquer. Suitable for both hot and cold foods, they’re available in a wide range of colors (including your own custom hue) and finishes.

bambu also makes utensils that we like a lot; we’re particularly taken with the “Give it a Rest” series of utensils, pictured above. Each is hand-shaped from a single piece of organically grown bamboo, then burnished and hand-finished with an all-natural food-safe oil. Paris-based designer Godefroy de Virieu utilized the unique characteristics of bamboo to create a completely new and multi-functional everyday kitchen tool. Bamboo grows “nodes” which are the natural separations in a bamboo culm. The designer was inspired by the bamboo node to create a patented design that cleverly integrates a spoon rest directly into the spoon handle. This conveniently elevates the utensil head, keeping counters and stovetops cleaner and free of sticky, oily messes, and that’s a problem-solving design if we’ve ever seen it.

They aren’t stopping there, though. Earlier this year, they introduced over 20 new products that continue their practice of combining beautiful designs with superb functionality. The “Spoontula” (above, left), whose patented design also comes from Godefroy de Virieu, combines a spoon and spatula to create a unique kitchen multi-tasker. bambu is also introducing a new color range for its Lacquerware series this year, including bold colors like Cayenne, Red Pepper and Kiwi green (above, center). Also new this year is the ingenious Chop Scoop & Serve cutting boards (above, right). The boards are designed to handle several functions: chop and scoop on one side, serve on the other. One end includes a hollowed out taper to provide an easy method to move your freshly chopped ingredients to the plate or pan. Turn it over, and you have a serving tray with a bowl area neatly integrated into the board. bambu just finished showcasing all their new products for 2007, including other designs like the Kids line of utensils and cute “Curvy Servers”, at the International Home & Housewares [www.housewares.org] show from March 11-13, in Chicago, and all their new products are now available at the “bambu Boutique” at greenfeet.com [www.bambu.greenfeet.com].