diamond teardrops.

as amazingly chic the cube-/teardrop-/quartz-/tetra-/dodecahedron-terrariums (above) are, as expensive are they... now then I'll stick to the humble version of presenting my mini-cacti (as below).

Rrrrattattattattattattattattattattattatta...tatt.

I am the proud owner 'foster mom' of a sewing machine. That dear little thing's real family just couldn't take care of three of them, so I am very happy to house it. These are my first steps into sewerhood. And this will be one of my first projects:

 via inspiring outsapop.com + the tutorial is to find here.

 sewing machine motif from here.

Schwalbe Martin.

What a wonderful vehicle. Electrical drive, up to 81 km/h fast, original-oriented retro design (the "Schwalbe" is a german classic), dynamic, powerful, safe, easyly rechargeable... I WANT IT.

Pallet Furniture.

Simply supercool. And the products & the pics show how very basic material can be totally stylish put into a great form and set up in a nice space. My favourite is the lamp. It really motivates my creativity to find shapes and build furniture myself. If you prefer to just copy these please honor the inspiring idea by puchasing the instructions via studiomama for like no money... You can even find the instructions for a pallet-stool *gratis*.

I found the pics via Maurício Arruda

Homestory approach.

These images do not (yet) have much to do with our home - it is still a chaos we're trying to fight. But I promise some insight soon.

The image above I found on "Old Chum" (about wich I blogged here before) which is one of my absolute favourite blogs. It is not an interior-design blog, the most inspiring stuff I find there is kind of abstract, in the sense of not directly applicable for my flat. The succulent above is, and as soon as I can turn my focus to things like plants I will definitely start a small succulent-garden. Until then there are for example the floors that need all our attention. We emptied the kitchen yesterday (and chased out the mouse that apparently lived behind the counters), ripped off the ugly PVC-flooring, scrubbed the floor (smelled like mouse-pee) and then sanded the old lack-finish so that today the new finish can follow. It will not be moss like in the pic below it will be fresh shiny white lack.

The image above is also via Old Chum, it is a print by Andrew Moore. It was taken in Detroit, where the most charming derelict buildings of the world seem to be (search google images: 'detroit derelict').
Below: the M3 chair by Thomas Feichtner. Which is a new object of crazy desire :) I found it via Love the triangle, the blog of my dear friend Josephine.

WiS #1: leather.

WiS stands for THE question that made me insecure since I started this blog:
What is sustainable? What is sustainability?

Some things seem quite obvious, some answers are not as questionable as others, such as: cotton produced without pesticides is good. or: to use the bicycle whenever possible instead of the car is good. (yes, I just state these and at this point leave out the "because ..." and all potential additional circumstances that would be to consider).

The above product (mypaperbag via Lilli Green) is not, as the name suggests, made from paper, it is made from leather. Associative chain: papebags are more ecofreindly than plastic bags. cottonbags are even more ecofriendly (are they?). What about a leatherbag... can leather be ecofriendly at all?

First I have to say I am not a vegetarian.

Which means that I am ok with eating dead animals, which includes that I am ok with them being killed for ending up as my food. I am concious about it. For me personally this also includes that I eat meat only once every two weeks or so and if, then mostly bio-certified.

Transferring this principle to leather would mean, that I am ok with products made from dead animals skin. Admittedly I love leather. It is a beautiful strong, soft and natural material. And as I consider it very longlasting and a byproduct of "meat-winning" (I use this term as I am explicitly not okay with what is called meat-(mass-)production) it seems to me to have two sustainable aspects:
firstly it stands against throwaway-culture of cheap and sleazy products and
secondly it is part of the efficient and not thriftless and thoughtless use and spoil of the animal.

You might laugh but I mean it - It makes me think about what I learned about native americans when I was a little kid, how they were respectful with and valued nature (and animals) and were thankful for every bit it provided them.

Of course these ideas have some presuppositions: the animal should not be killed for only the leather. the animal should not have suffered from mass-production-conditions, neither during lifetime nor when being transported or killed.

I could only find one label/certificate (by the International Association of Natural Textile Industry (iVN)) that comes close to my ideas, but it rather focuses on an eco-friendly production-process of the leather and health-standarts for workers. It does not say anything about the "production" of the animal or the endproduct made from the leather...

Do you know more?
and what do you think about leather and it's sustainability in general?

What a windy man.

Looks like a painting, is a huge photograph. I took a photo of the photograph at:

exhibition "Basic Instincts"

about fashion, design, art and architecture of the netherlands

Villa Elisabeth, Invalidenstr. 3, Berlin

ends july 31st, opening hours: 12:00-19:00

I really recommend you to go there, admission is free.

old chum.

via their blog Old Chum, through wich I could scroll for hours and hours I discovered the Old Faithful Shop that "stocks quality goods for simple, everyday living. We are drawn to products that are well-made, classic in design and when possible hand-crafted by a human being. We feel that the best products are the ones that age well and stand the test of time - items that will exist long after we do not."

This principle has an ecological aspect in itself (no, not plastic or nuclear waste that "will exist longer after we do not", but valuable, because practical and beautiful stuff, that can be used over generations).

And I fell in love with these two things: the Totem Cups are my absolute favourite available through their online shop and the bird house I found on the blog, don't know if it was ever available via the shop - if I had a garden to hang it I would hunt it down through all the web immediately.

The blog is really worth a "read" (well, it's more a view), you'll find a lot of 'ethnic' images, nostalgic stuff, wise (yes, really) sayings, uncommon interior design, nature. Just as I like it, as you probably noticed by now.

words by Anthony Carter, from his book "Abundant Rivers"

slow wood.

wood is wonderful.
I think it is a great material and it gives furniture a special, timeless worth and of course - warmth. Or as Christien Starkenburg from Slowwood says: "Wood keeps you connected with nature and the feeling for a simpler, slower life in this hurly burly world."

The Slowwood tables have extra value: they are hand made, eco-friendly and fantastic good looking. I adore the combination of the fine but raw natural elegance of wood and design and the bright, deep colours they use. It's just the right balance.

"Mineral pigments such as oxide, yellow ochre and earth black create unique matt colours. In fact some colours are the first earth paints used by mankind! Some colours take 1 week to dry! The slow aspect…"

noticed via design attractor

Sitting on the dancefloor.

The chair above by Michael Ferguson is made from recycled floorboards from flats in Berlin. Even though the surface seems to tell stories of thousands of feet dancing on them it is totally smooth, due to a lot offhand grinding and beeswax.

How much I would love to have one like it on my own few squarmetres of Berlin floor (I'm moving to Berlin in september!)...

The eco-quota in furnishing and decorating my future home will probably only involve raiding my parents and grandparents cellars & attics and a lot of fleamarket strolls - even though I found some more amazing green design and furniture via green living.

To see it for yourself:

Handy(wo)man.

Architect Le Van Bo from Berlin designed furniture you cannot buy, but build. His intention was to create classic, high quality furniture using ecologically recommendable materials - for low money, so that even people living on Hartz IV (german welfare) could afford it. It's not only the cheap chic, but especially the DIY aspect that is important to Le Van Bo:

"I was depending on welfare benefits for many years myself. With my Hartz IV furniture series I want to encourage people to - literally - take their lives in their own hands and really build the things themselves. Because like this you develop such a sense of achievement that afterwards, so do I belive, you will be able to master other things as well." (quoted and translated from here)

Above: The Kreuzberg 36 chair (Kreuzberg = quarter of Berlin, 36 = price in Euro for the material) is my favourite. If I just needed chairs...
Below: The 24 Euro chair. As well in the series: the SiWo-sofa (SiWo for single apartement), the piscator table and the Berlin stool.

The construction plans fit on one page each and are available for free via email, for the request just send your motivation, location and where you heard about the project. And afterwards images of your built furniture (optional). 

(images are excerpts from the catalogue to the exhibition "Perspectives on in/ outside" and taken from here)

Matt & Nat & Hendrix

wallet "YYZ" by Matt by Matt & Nat and ikat handbag "Hendrix" by Matt & Nat

       
The new Hendrix ikat-version is definitely what I will give myself for completing my B.A.-thesis. In may, hopefully. Still some time to go... but like the best motivation ever, hehe.

Matt & Nat is perfect when it comes to sustainable bags, wallets, belts and stuff like that and you don't just want to buy another vintage bag. ... hey, no offense, I love vintage bags and hoard them myself ;)

Oh wie rührend.

If I dream of my future kitchen I dream of the smell of freshly grinded coffee, a lot of froth on my cappuccino, fresh icy cold fruit-smoothie... ! R2B2 was made to fullfill my dreams and at the same time look incredibly good AND be ecofriendly!

This is ecological design at its best. German designer Christoph Thetard invented and shaped this kitchen aid with the robot name that runs completely without electricity.

What remains to wish for: That R2B2 will not stay a final year project-prototype, but that it will go into production.