Beautiful Jewelry.
Right Out of a Magazine.
Literally.

Meticulously crafted by HIV-positive Kenyan’s in Imani Workshops, the beads in this necklace are made of tightly wound strips of recycled magazines. Because of its beautiful, brilliant colors, the periodical of choice for the beads is Oprah’s “O” Magazine.

Often, the stigma of HIV precludes employment, and therefore income; however, as part of an overall program of nutrition, support and treatment provided by the Indiana University School of Medicine and the IU-Kenya Partnership, the creation and sale of these beads provides income and hope to those afflicted with HIV/AIDS.

Old magazines giving sick people hope and a new chance at life.

Wouldn’t Oprah be proud?

Image: Illig

Retro Re-purposing

At a solo art show in 1997, artist Clark Wittington retro-fitted a relic of a mechanical pull-knob cigarette dispenser to vend his black and white photographs for $1.00 each. Thus, the Art-o-mat concept was born.

There are now 82 refurbished machines across the United States—often works of art themselves—selling the work of hundreds of artists. Work that is all 2 1/8″ x 3 1/4″ x 7/8″, the dimensions of a pack of cigarettes.

Revitalization

Like our pieces on Persephone books, or the Million Penguins wiki book authoring, new ideas and age-old icons are finding new life on the Internet.

To submit artwork for consideration, read the Art-o-mat guidelines. Visit their web site or find an Art-o-mat machine near you.

(Click on the image above for another view)

A Light Wind from Across the Pond

We bring you wind-powered street lamps from (where else?) the Netherlands. Light Wind, designed by Dutch design house, Demakersvan, borrows heavily from its cousin, the windmill. Made from high-end sail fabric, stainless steel, and wood—what a whirring, witty and windy idea. Renewable, sustainable, ingenious.

From the Demakersvan site:

Dutch windmills were actually perfect generators of their own. With that in mind, we made this lamp. With every breeze it stores energy, enough to enjoy every summer evening until forever. Contemporary vs traditional, art vs functionality. Shaped by its function, the big prop spans over one meter on each side. It is a self-supporting light source that marks the landscape.

produced by: ID PRODUCTIONS
photo: Ingmar Cramers

Poor Old Petrol

If you’re environmentally conscientious and clean with disposable sweeping cloths (think Swiffer), you may want to consider your options. Many disposable sweeping cloths are made from petroleum-based plastic and therefore not renewable, sustainable or landfill-friendly.

People Against Dirty

The self-proclaimed “People Against Dirty” folks at Method offer a cleaner, healthier, eco-friendly alternative in their omop line of products which includes a mop, cleaning fluids and omop disposable sweeper pads, fabricated from a corn-based cloth that’s compostable. Yes, corn.

Good. Clean. Fun.

The line’s industrial and graphic design aesthetics are very pleasing to look at. In fact, Method even goes so far as to refer to their mop as “sexy.” So you’ll look good cleaning, too. Do good, look good, feel good. That’s a win-win.

Green With Envy

With current consumer and corporate eco-awareness on the rise, Method’s green brand differentiates them from mainstream brands. But just as importantly, their marketing model is bolstered and stabilized by the decision to offer consumers a familiar convention, i.e., they didn’t look to reinvent the product genre as much as add tangible, smart value to it.

And better looking, earth-healthy design is something everyone can get behind.

Propagating Fields of Green

What Method may lack in traditional marketing muscle is offset by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and viral-based Social Media Marketing (SMM), using a blog, online product advocates, and ecards to generate buzz.

Armed with the reach of online communications, Method can invest more readily in its brand, product, packaging, or creative communications without the costly overhead of national advertising.

Regardless of your company’s size, consider what SEO and SMM have to offer to your marketing plans.

For more on the omop line and Method’s personality-laden take on all things clean and green, click here.

via: Root Concepts

Chewing on Hibernation

Susanna Hertrich, Design Interactions MA student at London’s Royal College of Art, thinks the natural aging process can be staved off through hibernation. So, she began to explore products and technologies human hibernators might need and came up with the Chrono Shredder.

From Susanna’s site:

“The Chrono_Shredder is a device that makes past time tangible. It is a hybrid between calendar, clock and waste-producing automaton. It has no on/off-button, thus it is unstoppable, just like time. It features the 365 days of the year represented on a paper-roll. The paper-roll is led through a hacked paper-shredder, which is programmed to use exactly 24 hours to shred one ‘day’.”

Eschewing Hibernation

Although we’re not quite ready to build a den, it would be neat to chew up our Brainstorm sessions with a wall-mounted, Wonka-esque Chrono_Shredder. If only it recycled its output.

Read more about Susanna’s musings here.