Off the cuff architecture?

These cuffs and rings are designed by architectural firm Marmol Radziner and made from surplus architectural bronze. I love the clean lines and lack of ornamentation--very masculine.

Images from Fast Company. Via Ecouterre.

All keyed up

Design student Nolan Herbut's work with keyboard parts is worth a second look. I especially like the curvy bench.
Images from Nolan Herbut. Via Haute*Nature.

Inspiration: Max Levy

I came across the work of architect Max Levy. While it's not billed as "green," the connection to nature and the materials here are inspiring. I especially like the elements that use sunlight and shadow. Enjoy.

Watering cans capture rainwater for the garden.

Low dining room window offers an usual garden view.

Images from Max Levy. Via Remodelista.

Felted wool jewelry by Involution

Found in the jewelry section of Magpie Lovely, embroidered felted wool rings made by NC-based Involution. Affordable, unusual, and wonderful.

Images from Magpie Lovely.

Food for thought

The PCRM (Physicians Center for Responsible Medicine) created this graphic comparing the federal subsidies for food production and the nutritional recommendations, aka, the famous food pyramid. The graphic is from 2007, but the Treehugger article has some interesting follow-up information on what's happened with government policy since then.

Infographic from PCRM. Via Treehugger.

...girls who wear glasses

Jen Mazer recycles single eyeglass lenses into jewelry. Odd, but in a good way.

Images from Nosipho. Via Materialicious.

Resigned, resealed, and redelivered

Italian atelier Resign is an interesting organization, with an exhausting description of their metaproject. If reading a lengthy manifesto doesn’t appeal to you, then just browse through their text-free portfolio. I was especially smitten with these chairs with bark details.

Images from Resign. Via haute*nature.

Pothole gardens

In our neighborhood, the Oakland roads are poorly maintained and deteriorating. Given all the economic troubles in our fair city, I was resigned to just watch our potholes get larger and larger, but then I saw this project by Pete Dungey. Mr. Dungey is planting gardens in British potholes to highlight the problem in the UK. If Oakland finds cash, I'm hoping they fund the schools or some other vital services. While we wait for better financial times, I am inspired to make a little beauty happen. If i get anything to grow in the swimming-pool sized one on our street, I'll post photos.
Images from Pete Dungey. Via Apartment Therapy.

Is that a tire around your neck?

We've covered jewelry and belt designs for recycled innertubes before, but these necklaces from Dutch artist Thea Tolsma are just gorgeous. She has that rare talent to make something completely deliberate and thoughtful, even when the raw material is a bit lacking in beauty.
Where the others had a nice organic feel, these have a symmetry and structure that makes them completely different. Lovely.
Images from Thea Tolsma. Via Haute*Nature.

Sunny side up: XPAL solar egg

Cute and portable. The idea here is that this charger will work even in less-than-perfect sunlight (90% capacity in 4 hours of average sunlight). It’s not releasing until next month, so no word yet on pricing or availability. Engadget has more details and a copy of the XPAL press release, if you want to learn more.

Via Engadget.

Batter-up! Lovely dresses made from salvaged goods

Dress made of nylon baseball jackets

Our general rule for Fashion Fridays is that the designers must be local, but this was just too stunning not to share, so we'll drop it on a Thursday, and save Fridays for SF love. Gary Harvey is British, but if he wants to bring his stunning fashion sense to the Bay Area, we’ll welcome him with open arms. This was all part of NY’s Fashion Week.

Kicking off the GreenShows on Sunday was Gary Harvey, British designer and couture-upcycler extraordinaire. Each of Harvey's of 22 showstopping gowns was expertly constructed from repurposed goods, with a focus on iconic vintage garments and materials, including Levi's 501s, '70s floral print maxi dresses, logo tees, and the pages of the Financial Times, to name a few. Inspired by "refined elegance, drama, and proportion," Harvey makes a statement about secondhand clothing by re-contextualizing classic garments into new dramatic silhouettes.

Click through to Ecouterre to see the full slideshow. I’ve pulled a few of my favorites.

Made from dozens of repurposed polka-dot dresses

Laundry bags: Look at the woven bodice!

Skirts made of vintage scarves

Via Ecouterre

Film festival: 2nd Draft on Etsy

A couple of years ago, my love gave me one of these 2nd Draft clutches as a present. It's woven from vintage library archive microfilm. Mine has awesome fashion photos from the style section of the NY Times, circa 1968.
The artist also designs cuff bracelets from old school heath filmstrips and lamps, similar to the ismism fixtures we featured last week. The filmstrip ones have a nice vintage amber glow to them, but I like this one best of all. You can't really tell from the photos, but that's an old Aquaman cartoon spinning around your CFLs. Nice!Images from 2nd Draft @ Etsy.