DALA - NEW OUTDOOR SEATING FROM DEDON

Check out Dala, new outdoor seating and tables by Stephen Burks for Dedon. 

The beautiful vibrant colored collection list price for a chair is $2,400 and side table $600.

The best things about this furniture is it is portable and casual, with strap handles that allow them to be dragged to shady spots under tree canopies or sunny patches near the pool.  DesignerEco team just love the colors and the mosaic effect of the ribbons.

The very shape of this collection is easygoing. “Everything is round and circular,” Mr. Burks said, “so there’s no particular orientation to how you should sit.” 

The pieces have hollow aluminum frames interlaced with colorful plastic ribbons made of 60 percent recycled food and drink packaging material and 40 percent polypropylene. Artisans in Dedon’s factory in the Philippines weave the material directly into the furniture’s gridded structure. “It’s like weaving through a fence,” Mr. Burks said. 

Available soon! Contact us

ECO WOOD TILE - HEADBOARDS, ISLANDS, WALL DECOR

Featuring the Everitt & Shilling Wood Tile  - a great eco friendly option for kitchen islands, backsplashes, feature walls, furniture, headboards and artwork.  These tiles are made from unwanted scraps from cabinet and door makers in Colorado!

 Everitt & Schilling Tile is an environmentally friendly wood wall tile with a number of beautiful design applications. This incredible tile is made from Re-Claimed barnwood and Up-cycled hardwood.

The process: Upcycled hardwood tiles are made from hardwood scraps of different wood species from local (northern Colorado) cabinet and door makers.  The scraps would have otherwise been thrown in the dumpster and hauled off to the landfill.  They take the scraps and bring them to their milling facility where they are cut by hand into beautiful tiles of different lengths and thicknesses, apply a Low VOC water based finish, then mount them in square foot sections to a flexible, waterproof, Low VOC economically friendly backer, which creates small panels that are easy to install with thinset.

Reclaimed barnwood tiles are currently made from actual barns in the western US that are not in use anymore, and are either a structural hazard or an unwanted eyesore.  They deconstruct the barn and haul the wood to our milling facility.  Each piece is carefully inspected and selected before being cut by hand into tiles of various sizes.  Again a low VOC water based finish is applied and then they mount them in square foot sections to our propietary backer material. 

"When we say these tiles are "Made in the U.S.A... we really mean they are Made in the U.S.A twice!"

This Wood Tile is a great eco friendly option for kitchen islands, backsplashes, feature walls, furniture, headboards and artwork.  Visit DesignerEco for more info and to see some samples we particularly love the whitewash one below.

RE-USE & RE-CYCLE & RE-UPHOLSTER

We recently re-upholstered this chair! My brother wanted to get a new one and I explained that it would be much nicer to recover an old one. What do you think?
                            

                  

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The Bedol Eco Water Clock

Just saw this and thought I would share as the colors are fun and the concept is very cool. 
The Bedol Water Clock is powered entirely by water and does not require batteries or electricity. 

This is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Have it by your bed or in the shower.  Just fill with tap water and your clock will work for 6 months or more before you have to change the water. 

• Features a daily or hourly alarm. 
• 12 hour or 24 hour time setting.
• Measures over 6 inches in height.
• Large LCD for easy viewing.

We love the fact it comes in such a range of fun vibrant colors:

What are you doing May 25th? Slow Food Urban San Diego has partnered with Le Dîner á San Diego  to support SFUSD's upcoming school farm tour program with the San Diego Unified School District.  Purchase tickets for $25 to attend a pop-up picnic catered by Campine  with drinks shaken and stirred by Snake Oil Cocktail Co.  Guests are asked to dress in white and bring their own chair and table wears.  If the event sells out, Le Diner will make an additional donation to Slow Food International to fund the 1,000 Gardens in Africa Program.  This promises to be a fun and elegant event.  Show your support for local farms and a stylishly organic life by attending this event with your family and friends.  

       

CHINA'S NEW ECO CITY

We are always thrilled to stumble across green building projects, Tianjin, originally a toxic dumping ground, is to be transformed into an entire eco city. What's great is that they have approached it very realistically with successful adoption in mind.  See below for more info:

Tianjin,  93 miles southeast from Beijing is a coastal port city undergoing an amazing transformation.
The site chosen for the project was an industrial dumping ground for toxic waste, barren salt flats abutting one of the world's most polluted seas. This was deliberate, says Ho Tong Yen, head of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Development and Investment, the firm charged with building the city. "In the past, so-called ecocities have been built in ecologically important areas or on useful arable land. We wanted to show that it's possible to clean up a polluted area and make it useful and liveable."

A green spine, called the “eco valley” runs through the heart of the city with cycle routes and a tram. Residents will be encouraged to use regular low-carbon transport or walk, rather than driving. Cars won't be banned, Ho says. "We don't want to create obstacles for people, but rather make it conducive to use alternatives." Niche designs that have focused blindly on eco-technologies have not worked, he thoughtfully says. "This eco-city will be practical – it will work."

Water provision is one of the bigger challenges in this naturally arid area. Tap water will be drinkable and piped in, although the city is planning a possible desalination plant too. A lot of effort is being put into conserving water and recycling it for irrigation and toilet flushing. "The lakes and water pipes have been lined in clay or concrete to prevent salt water incursion, and all waste water is being sent to plant for anaerobic biodigestion," says Ary de Koning of the EU-China River Basin Management Programme, who is advising the city on water issues. "The methane emitted in the digestion process is then used to produce energy," he says.
Read the full article here.

The designers involved here probably won't be sourcing from our boutique - in this instance - it's definitely more eco friendly for them to buy 'Made in China' :)

NEW IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER

I just took a step back from the hurly burly of a busy interior designer's life and pondered.

New is definitely not always better. So WHY is it so ingrained in our culture that when we decorate and build we source new items.  I am probably doing a disservice to our website www.designereco.com which actively encourages purchase of items to support local artisans and eco friendly manufacturers. However our ethos is transparency and balanced decisions and honest evaluation is what we do.

It is just occurring to me - for those beautiful heirloom antique pieces that age well- why is there not a better market for buying them? Sure there is ebay, and sure designer items might make it one day to 1st Dibs but why is there not a better market for reselling furniture that no longer fits your home but is still beautifully designed and has more life to give.

I can raid Mum and Grannie's homes, trawl estate sales and I can source new products online.. but where do we go for a wide selection of solid beautiful, transgenerational furniture??