Imagine being able to grow your own footwear. Yep, we are talking sprouting a pair of bio sneakers in a matter of hours! Footwear designer @23_heels over on Instagram has a concept that takes a page out of nature, specifically the rapid growth of mushroom mycelium. In like manner, the shoe aesthetic bears a striking…

Washing machines, blenders, stoves; just about every household appliance is associated with some form of electrical power. But what would household appliances look like if you removed the power cord and need for energy standards altogether? Created by German designer Manuel Immler, Pino is an electricity-free, multi-tool kitchen appliance that can be fitted with several standard kitchen…

In most cases, picking a product that is ‘built to last’ should be high up on a consumer’s priority checklist, but with recent advances in sustainable materials, that hasn’t always proven to be the case. In fact, ‘leaving no trace’ can actually be a selling point for some disposable products. But a one-time use grill…

I can’t imagine going for a run without a water bottle in hand–a gallon of milk is just too heavy and goes everywhere when you try to take a sip. Am I right? There’s no limit to the number of stainless steel insulated water bottles available, so when we heard of the Malko Bottle we…

While those in the Western world may not think twice about flipping the light switch on at night, off-grid communities such as those in sub–Saharan African have come to rely on dangerous and expensive kerosene to keep the lights on after dark. This kerosene can cost 20% or more of an individual’s income and have…

While Apple may be spending millions on advanced recycling robots that can disassemble iPhones and recover valuable metals for reuse, those who are motivated enough can recover their own metals from e-waste in their own backyard – provided they have some patience for the process and a whole lot of junk electronics. Starting with four and…

As the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Northern European countries, uitto – or log driving – was the process of moving logs from a forest to sawmills downstream using the current of a river. It is also the inspiration for a group of Finnish skateboarders who want to bring sustainable skateboard…

As athletes that rely wholeheartedly on nature to make or break a good day in the water, the surfing community has consistently been among the most active when it comes to preserving our oceans and keeping environmental threats at bay. Ironically, the materials used to produce the very boards they ride on also contain some…

Despite revealing their anticipated new iPhone SE and a smaller iPad Pro at their Keynote last month, the most impressive announcement from Apple came in the form of Liam, an industrial robot designed to tear apart discarded iPhones. Announced onstage by the company’s Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, Liam is…

Despite the deep connection to Earth that can be found through surfing waves around the world, the process of creating a typical surfboard is anything but earth-friendly; among other materials used in the traditional surfboard manufacturing process include polyurethane blocks and various glassing chemicals whose waste gets tossed into waste bins once the finished board…

With the amount of daily coffee consumption continuing to grow daily worldwide (last count: 2.25 billion cups of coffee per day), it would seem to make sense to start looking into alternative uses for both discarded material as well as the processed beans themselves. Among others who are looking into what’s possible with the coffee…

When it comes to working with sustainable materials, bamboo is among the most widely-used for good reason: although it is technically a grass, it is the fastest-growing woody plant on Earth. Additionally, the plant’s complex underground system of roots and rhizomes remain intact and a specimen is able to quickly regenerate itself at the rate…

When appreciating a furniture design, it’s easy to overlook the environmental impact of the various materials said design is made of including a frame, foam, padding, pillows, covers…and not to mention an oftentimes extremely large cardboard box loaded with foam or other packing material. Oh yeah—then there is the transport, too. Furniture is notoriously hard…

With music festivals such as Coachella, Bumbershoot and Bonnaroo gaining record-attendance numbers each year, the sleeping conditions are still, well…terrible for the majority of festival-goers. While some attendees like to use the music festival as a ‘roughing it’ experience on par with camping, the conditions are still less than ideal for the majority of people…

Having been criticized about their contribution to e-waste in the past, Apple has been working tirelessly to reverse their image and set themselves more in line with what is the environmental equivalent of their design ethos. Released by Apple in honor of Earth Day today, ‘Better’ aims to show Apple’s commitment to putting the Cradle…

With an impressive portfolio consisting of objects ranging from furniture and lighting to watches and even ‘laptop luggage’, the team of industrial designers, researchers and engineers over at Benjamin Hubert Ltd. are regularly nominated for design awards both in their native Britain as well as internationally. Working specifically with the goal of creating a sustainable…

Operating in the fields of design, fashion, and architecture, Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves of Studio Swine have made a unique name for themselves through their exploration of design through material innovation and creating new sustainable systems with a strong focus on aesthetics. Having received multiple international awards including those from Wallpaper Magazine and the…

French designer Eugeni Quitllet has barely taken a breather since winning a Red Dot Award this year for his Masters Chair, and has proved once again that he is a master when it comes to working with plastics. In this new set of ‘TSA-safe’ airline cutlery for Air France, Quitllet proves that you’re never too…

Ever wonder what a LEGO garden would look like? TogetherFarm founders Matt Stormont, Joe Aakre, and Doug Holcomb have set out to recreate what it means to have a backyard garden through the use of LEGO-inspired bio-plastic building blocks. With a retaining wall design that requires few materials to haul and eliminates the need for…

Remember when regular 2D paper printers were all the rage? Neither do I. However, as much as we’ve taken the paper printer for granted it’s still one area that has been plagued with bad design time and time again: flimsy plastic components, cumbersome ink cartridge replacement experiences, and overall bulky awkwardness all remind me why…

Perhaps nobody loves cardboard as much as Yale Mechanical Engineering graduate Zach Rotholz. After years of working with cardboard at various other jobs and internships, he launched Chairigami; a company that sells recyclable, cheap and sturdy cardboard furniture that is perfect for temporary setups (or if you have a back of steel, a permanent setup).

You’re gonna kick yourself after you see this and think about the grove of bamboo and blood-thirsty, wild panda you just cleared out of your backyard. You so could have fashioned it into an iPhone case. Not to worry, Ken Tomita and his wily gang of sustainable-minded makers have you covered. It’s Grove, an Oregon-based…

I’m almost positive all the contraptions we’re designing are not as environmentally satisfying as they could be. Fortunately, there are companies, which exist, aware of the riches to be made in ‘green design’ so we can go on elevating our population dense carbon emissions to a higher taxable level. And for those companies aiding our…

You may have seen this on some of the tech or design blogs a while back, but it just so happens that this simple looking stackable chair is a highly optimized, ergonomic peice constructed of recycled Playstation 2 game consoles and, oh yeah, designed in SolidWorks. Old news? Noooo… well maybe, but there’s a new…