Discovered over at 10 Corso Como, our favorite truck tarp upcyclers, Freitag, have a pop up shop! Featuring a “strictly limited FAKE SNAKE edition in green/grey” for the store, and an installation of Roadkill! Various animals, from rats to birds to foxes to kangaroos, cut in truck tarpaulins are given away for you to put on your bag in solidarity to all the poor creatures that are killed on the roads each day… see more of the description and set up (which include that machine to weld them on to your bag even!) on the next page… i couldn’t help picking up an adorable green kangaroo!

TO PAGE 2 of "Freitag: Roadkill at 10 Corso Como"! ----->

Tags: animals - art - bags - gifts - recycled - shopping

Though we first had these on NOTCOT.org, some things are just more fun in person and up close! Like these Potting Shed Creations Grow Bottles! Cut wine bottles recycled into micro herb hydrogardens! From the felt tongue to soak up the nutrients from the reservoir base, to the clay marbles that sit in the main growing top ~ this doesn’t look quite like any of your other gardening set ups! It’s such a fun gift idea… next step is to see how it grows… but first! An unboxing of the beautifully simple packaging and fun graphics! (As well as a peek into the refill kits!) ~ check it all out on the nextpage!

TO PAGE 2 of "Herb Grow Bottles - Wine Bottle Upcycle"! ----->

Tags: bottle - gardens - gifts - home - plants - recycled - shopping - wine

Beautifully packaged in black and white… and a bag of all black rubber bands… which are made of recycled bicycle innertubes… from Switzerland! Awesome! I found these Plattfuss rubberbands by tät-tat and designed by Brigitta and Benedikt Martig-Imhof at Seed People’s Market. Take a peek at the packaging, the bands, and the story scroll hidden within on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Plattfuss: Bike Innertube Rubberbands"! ----->

Tags: bikes - gifts - recycled - shopping

This post is a sponsored series that takes a fun peek at the gorgeous details of modern life. The irresistible design details that enhance our lives… Gillette is the sponsor… but, as always, the post and ideas are 100% NOTCOT

I’m loving all of these more luxurious Freitag bags, fun to see them evolving and growing up so much from when i first became obsessed with them in high school… With a title like: DAS MAGAZIN X FREITAG - A FREITAG BAG LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN. ~ how can one not be intrigued? R099 WYSS IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK WITH PENS AND NOTEBOOKS. ~ Apparently its for people like us! If you interpret notebook to mean not only paper notebooks but digital ones as well… Their inspiration? “Laure Wyss was the journalist that founded one of Switzerland’s first (and best) weekly supplements, «DAS MAGAZIN» in 1970. And the new R099 is called WYSS because it was a journalist from «DAS MAGAZIN» who approached FREITAG asking for a special bag to meet his demands. The result is the «DAS MAGAZIN» special edition. A bag like you’ve never seen one by FREITAG. Made from vintage, unicolored truck tarpoulins, toting metal buckles and a totally new, antiquated appeal.” The design of the bag has evolved the recycled materials to no longer be the focal point of the design, so much as another material being used in a stunningly detailed bag, with metal buckles and a vintage inspired design ~ that will soften and age beautifully with use… see more pics of the new design on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "DAS MAGAZIN X FREITAG = R099 WYSS"! ----->

Tags: bags - fashion - gillette - green - recycled

It is amazing how good the plastic version of a steel design classic can feel… you have to sit/lift this new 111 Navy Chair is! The Emeco classic remade in a special formulation of rPET (Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate- recycled plastic bottles) mixed with glass fiber for strength ~ where each chair contains 111 recycled plastic Coke bottles! Apparently over the last 4 years ~ Coke instigated this project, challenging Emeco designers/manufacturers to adapt the chair. While this launched in milan (frozen in a block of ice! - see pic on next page!) ~ the launch party for it at DWR NY in the meatpacking had so many fun design details, as well as lots of the chairs to sit on and play with ~ the experience had to be shared! From recycled coke glass bottle tumblers filled with rum and coke and topped off with paper straws ~ to fun graphics on walls/male models in tees/port-a-potties/coasters/pins ~ to a photobooth! And adorable bags with the Eames quote “Take your pleasure seriously.” (Words i definitely live by for NOTCOT!)… so take a peek at all the fun on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "111 Coke x DWR x Emeco Navy Chair"! ----->

Tags: chair - coke - dwr - events - furniture - icff - new york - recycled

This post is a sponsored series that takes a fun peek at the gorgeous details of modern life. The irresistible design details that enhance our lives… Gillette is the sponsor… but, as always, the post and ideas are 100% NOTCOT

Fun on so many levels ~ let’s start with the packaging on the latest Jawbone bluetooth headset ~ the Jawbone ICON! Touted as the World’s First Intelligent Headset ~ it’s been great having it able to literally TELL me how much talk time is remaining, who’s calling, etc ~ i can even change voices and add apps! Their new MyTalk system allows you to Personalize & Update your headset. But back the packaging ~ seldom does packaging tell you about itself and its creation process like this one… apparently “Jawbone ICON’s compact eco-friendly package is 100% recyclable, and took many months of research, design, & engineering to perfect.” And when you see the close up pics of the way it unboxes, it’s impressively efficient with space and materials, and an incredibly beautiful box! From nice matte sleeve, to the box “lid” of molded paper holding the various ear piece options… to the pull tab to free the charger/cable from the paper lining below… it’s fascinating to see how it all unfolds. See the details on the next page as well as a peek at the Bombshell itself! Tiny, golden, functional jewelry of sorts…

TO PAGE 2 of "Jawbone ICON Packaging + Bombshell"! ----->

Tags: accessories - gifts - gillette - packaging - phone - recycled - shopping - technology

Ok, i kind of freaked out a little when i saw the new Freitag Reference collection Limited Editions over at 10 Corso Como, and instantly needed the laptop sleeve. This feels like a classier more refined Freitag than what we’ve become accustomed to over the years. I had a Freitag wallet that was worn pretty thin through high school, and let’s just say that was about a decade ago… The messenger bags were usually pretty heavy and not so lined… still truck tarps though! These SILVER limited editions pulled me right over… and they are lighter and lined with a nice light yet sturdy canvas. The Laptop sleeve also fits my requirement of no zippers… and has a magnetic clasp! Also the metal logo is darling… So it turns out that this is part of a limited edition series, 34 numbered silver pieces for 10 Corso Como, and gold pieces for Colette. How i never heard about them till now, is honestly, a little embarrassing. Apparently they dropped mid January… But better late than never? And i’m grinning and playing with the sleeve as i write this! Also incredibly tempted by the overnighter bag… and i’ve been scouring the net to find more pics to see what else is in the collection, and came across HopeHope’s post mentions that this is a sneak preview of the collection to appear in Fall 2010. In addition to the laptop sleeve and overnight bag, i saw a larger tote, two wallets, and two ipad sized handbags… from the HopeHope pics it looks like there are messenger bags, vertical totes with pockets, and more. See closeups of the laptop sleeve and a peek at the overnighter… the details are stunning.

TO PAGE 2 of "Freitag Reference: 10 Corso Como + Colette "! ----->

Tags: accessories - bag - gifts - green - laptop - recycled - shopping - technology

I always look forward to goodies from Artecnica ~ so much good stuff ~ and good for the world too! As part of their Design w/ Conscience initiative ~ TBWA (yes the advertising agency massive) approached them to help recycle their billboards... their solution? these adorably inspired Stretch Bags! I have written about a LOT of recycled bags over the years ~ everything from truck tarps to windbreakers to fire hoses to gymnastics horses... but it's been a while since one has been innovative enough to grab my attention like this one!

The Artecnica TBWA Recycled Billboard Stretch Bag is debuting this month and is part of the newest 2009 collection - "A single cut, without glue or a stitch, 100% billboard bag lies flat and weightless but transforms into a shoulder Stretch bag, that can carry up to 33lbs. Perfect for the beach, the gym or market." See more pics on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Artecnica + TBWA Recycled Stretch Bag"! ----->

Tags: bag - fashion - gifts - green - luxury - recycled - shopping

There are some things you can read about and only when you play with it and get to take it apart in person do you fully understand how awesome it is. It also doesn't hurt to first see it in an awesomely large grouping arranged like a sculpture on the 3rd floor deck of the The Standard, New York with all of NYC as the backdrop... and then again back down on the ground in a shipping container both intact and taken apart...

Of course i'm talking about Artek's 10 Unit System by Shigeru Ban! Both Artek and Shigeru Ban are known for their love of beautiful simplicity, functionality, and sustainability ~ so it's no surprise that this 10 Unit System emobodies all of those qualities wonderfully. "Systematizing, Standardizing, Making It Accessible." This is the chair who's motto is boldly "One chair is enough"... and being constructed of 10 identical L shaped pieces, one can create chairs of varying designs, stools, coffee tables, and even combine them for benches and more. When feel like a quick change, simply rearrange the pieces! These are made from ProFi, an environmentally friendly wood-plastic composite - non-toxic, sustainable, and recyclable, it utilizes the surplus materials from the label stock production of UPM. (Artek also used this material for the Artek Pavillion that was sold by Sotheby's as well as floor tiles.)

Take a look on the next page for images from the The Standard, New York deck ~ in the Playful New Finnish Design 09 shipping container ~ up close ~ press photos ~ and even the really fun propoganda cut/paste/photocopy zine looking booklet!

TO PAGE 2 of "Shigeru Ban - Artek 10 Unit System"! ----->

Tags: artek - chair - events - furniture - green - home - hotels - icff - luxury - modular - recycled - standard - travel

Where bad letters go when they die? Ok so they aren't bad ~ but the awesome photography of finnish company, Characters, certainly makes it seem like these are the ones that fell off Sesame Street's letters of the day... only to end up drunk and in an alley all alone? Basically these are recycled - "saved" letters - orphaned when old signage is neglected or discarded... when i saw these over at designboom, i couldn't resist seeing if they had NOTCOT available ~ and then debating whether to get some... it'd look pretty crazy to have your own ex-neon sign graveyard... mis matched reincarnated letters all LED'd out?

So what happens? "When company signs and logos are taken down, they get demolished. We recycle the characters into individual design objects. We dismantle the letters, clean them up, add a new transformer, LED lights and the power cord, and put them back together." See some of the stunning photography on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Characters - Reincarnated"! ----->

Tags: gifts - lighting - recycled - shopping - technology - typography

I have a thing for messenger bags and a fascination with bags made of out unexpected recycled materials (i think it started with Freitag in high school) ~ and throughout the life of NOTCOT, we've looked at so many... from truck tarps to sea sails to parachutes to jackets and more... but when i spotted this at Springwise, i did a double, triple, quadruple take...

Zirkeltraining ~ is a german line of bags, wallets, laptop sleeves, etc made from recycled vintage 1950's gymnastics equipment... from pummel horses to floor mats to rescue nets... with some truck tarps thrown in as well... Their photography is also eery but captivating... and the whole thing fascinated me until someone mentioned how many crotches have been on 1950's pummel horse leather... but still... i had to share it with you... so see more pictures on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Zirkeltraining ~ Recycled Gymnastics"! ----->

Tags: accessories - bag - gifts - laptop - leather - messenger - recycled - shopping

Pangea Organics always had the fun eco packaging that is plantable and turns into Basil... but for the holiday gift packs, they grow into a Spruce Tree!!!

Also, they have reached out to us to offer you 50% off!!! It's for friends & family, which apparently we all are! Instructions on how that works, and check out the gift sets on the next page... I'm still giddy over the idea of growing a spruce tree in my yard from the packaging... and the coconut soap dish!

TO PAGE 2 of "Pangea Organics = Spruce Tree + 50% off!"! ----->

Tags: gifts - green - recycled - shopping - trees

Gift Guide! Gifts that lean green... so i'm not at all stating all of these are the most eco-conscious things out there, but they are certainly leaning in that direction and are fun, useful, and gorgeous! See the list on the next page! Click the images to browse!

TO PAGE 2 of "Gift Guide: Gifts that lean Green"! ----->

Tags: gift guide - gifts - green - recycled - reusable - reusable bag - shopping

TO WIN: Leave a comment over at Delight ~ Tell us about how YOU go green! ENTER BY 12/1 . WINNER: Mahrinah in California!

Happy Thanksgiving! Since i might be tied up a bit, thought i'd get this one up early for those of you looking for things to do and win between the festivities, or those of you who may be stuck at work... or black friday hunting... or... well, here! Giveaway #11 is from our good friends at Delight - They have a new deal every day, and quite the arsenal of incredible gifts, and gorgeous gift wrap! I always loved the clean look of an ivory white ribbon on a brown box... and now they've even come up with a great eco-friendly gift wrap, all the goodies tied up in a reusable RuMe bag! (So smart, its such a nice idea!) So what is this big Thanksgiving giveaway? Basically the ultimate green goody basket!!! Well, they call it the Eco-Delightful GET GREEN Gift Set - and its got about 50 things in there! If you count the pencils and lollipops separately... you can check my math on the next page... as well as see each and every product included! Some highlights ~ another chance to win the I Am Not A Paper Cup, the fun Twist sponges that have packaging that turns into bird feeders, reusable bags of multiple sorts, stainless steel water bottle, and more!

P.S.
Don't forget ~ for this one, please Leave a comment over at Delight ~ Tell us about how YOU go green!

TO PAGE 2 of "NOTCOT Giveaway 11: Delight Get Green Set"! ----->

Tags: candy - food - gifts - giveaway - green - recycled - reusable - reusable bag - shopping

TO WIN: Leave a comment here ~ make it fun! ENTER BY 11/25. WINNER: Tim in Pittsburgh, PA!

Our friends at Perpetual Kid, not only have nearly everything from Fred & Friends as seen in the Fred Giveaway, but more gifts and playfulness than you can imagine for just about ANYONE on your list. So for a fun weekend giveaway, here's a silly duo that i bet most can relate to... coffee cups and cup o' noodles ring a bell? Well old classic bad habits of my boarding school/college career have been reinvented into ceramic icons... One winner will get: 1 I Am Not A Paper Cup which is double walled porcelain with a silicon lid, and 1 Ceramic Noodle Cup... more images and coupon on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "NOTCOT Giveaway 6: Perpetual Kid"! ----->

Tags: giveaway - green - recycled - reusable

Oooh, on things i'm slightly kicking myself for now... i was just in Sephora today and gave in to one of those packaging influenced spontaneous splurges... Jurlique's new Biodynamic line is GORGEOUS! The packaging is just beautiful ~ in that high quality bottles, beautiful curves, unique yet functional, frosted glass kind of way... and all of their inserts and boxes are 100% post-consumer recycled paper... the sampler kit of the new lines come in what appear to be egg cartons at first - which are also 100% recyclable.... not to mention their products are all natural, made from plants and flowers from their South Australian farms.

The part i'm kicking myself over? I knew it sounded familiar! A quick search through email reminded me that this is the exact line i missed a bbq launch event for in Hollywood at the infamous Hillhaven Lodge, which is the kind of place filled with hollywood legends - originally home to Ingrid Bergman - and currently home to Brett Ratner - who had the photography book Hilhaven Lodge: The Photo Booth Pictures showing pages of fun hollywood types in photo booth pics... (my excuse is that i got caught up in san diego!) Basically, i hate to admit that sometimes PR folks know exactly what types of products fit perfectly with my tastes before i do, because when i wandered through Sephora i couldn't resist playing with every product in the Jurlique Biodynamic line, and ended up picking the sampler with all the adorable scaled down minis and the fabulous egg carton-esque packaging to photograph and share with you.

Also... while i've only just started trying it out, the all natural line feels incredibly refreshing and light, and i guess i'll find out by morning how my skin responds to it! Take a look at the many pics on the next page, there's something so nice about the shape of the glass bottles they've designed.

TO PAGE 2 of "Jurlique Biodynamic Packaging"! ----->

Tags: beauty - gifts - green - health - packaging - recycled - shopping

Random discoveries at Outside Lands include the City Bag Trade ~ Kendra Stanley takes old rain jackets and refashions them into grocery bags... while i'm a bit mixed on the pattern design (which is also downloadable) and the visible edge stitching ~ i do love the material and concept... best part of using rain jackets, other than the lightweight and crazy vintage/recycled logos? Functional Pockets! I gave in and got a NASA one with two button pockets AND a zip pocket! It's a bit large on me though, might have to do some hacking to taking the handles up an inch or so... See more pics on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "City Bag Trade - Rain Jacket Bags"! ----->

Tags: bag - fashion - green - Outside Lands - recycled - reusable bag

Charcoal can be messy stuff... luckily for us dynamic design duo, Mike and Maaike, have tackled this process with their new Baja BBQ Firepack for Design Annex/Lazzari. The design of the packaging as a recycled, functional aspect of the process is just genius.

"The Baja BBQ Firepack is charcoal packaging that lights instantly and burns away in the grille, making the barbeque experience simple, clean and chemical free. Made from 100% recycled biodegradable paper pulp, the package contains 2 lbs of natural lump charcoal and features an integrated chimney that creates perfect hot coals in 15-20 minutes without the aid of chemicals or lighter fluid. Available at gourmet supermarkets. Manufactured by Lazzari/ Design Annex - patent pending" See the process in pics on the next page...

TO PAGE 2 of "Baja BBQ Firepack by Mike and Maaike"! ----->

Tags: bbq - green - packaging - recycled

I think this is the most interesting Reusable Bag story yet... Target teams up with Newsweek and Terracycle to create reusable totes out of fused target plastic bags! Finally - a recycled reusable bag that looks like the bags it came from and is replacing! And that's not all... the Newsweek aspect is fascinating as well - you rip off the cover of the latest "green" issue, and are taught how to tape up the cover into a prepaid envelope that you can put Target plastic bags in, and mail them in for a coupon to get one of the Terracycle $6 ReTotes for free in a Target Store. Basically the bags end up feeling much like those blue/yellow IKEA bags ~ a bit on the crunchy side, and probably waterproof (with the exception of the seam perhaps. See the press release here.

So in usual NOTCOT fashion, we couldn't help ourselves, and picked up an issue, took a few sneaky shots in Target of the display, and walk you through the whole process in pictures on the next page! I suppose my one biggest question is... these bags made in Vietnam, are they actually out of bags people have recycled? Or did they use new bags to make the first batch of bags to get this whole program rolling?

TO PAGE 2 of "Target + Newsweek + Terracycle = Bags!"! ----->

Tags: green - recycled - reusable - reusable bag

D!REKTRECYCLING makes the coolest envelopes ever. They have become one of my favorite things about receiving packages from Working Class Heroes - other than the incredible felt/leather sleeves for my gadgetry, of course.

The image above is what happens when i stick my camera inside the envelope... for more context move on to the next page... it's brilliant because its such a clean professional looking envelope on the outside, yet you can't help ripping it apart to learn about new places on the inside...

TO PAGE 2 of "Recycled Map Envelopes"! ----->

Tags: accessories - envelopes - gifts - kindle - recycled - shopping

While at CA Boom V, the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery had a booth with a mesmerizing series of Butterfly Installations by Paul Villinski. Apparently he is quite the recontextualist of found objects... transforming found gloves into dresses and comforters, wheelchairs and radio flyers into planes, and my favorite - beer cans into butterflies which when installed appear to be flying and fluttering with every breeze. Villinski's site describes this collection: "These pieces explore themes of transformation and recovery through the metamorphosis of crushed beer cans from the streets of New York into flocks of realistically crafted butterflies." See close ups of the CA Boom installation and others after the jump!

TO PAGE 2 of "Paul Villinski Beer Can Butterflies"! ----->

Tags: art - butterflies - nature - recycled

"Mottainai Furoshiki" has been created by Yuriko Koike, Japan's Minister of the Environment, as a symbol of Japanese culture to reduce waste. Furoshiki is a Japanese traditional wrapping cloth which is used repeatedly in a stylish way. "The utilization of this "Mottainai Furoshiki" will contribute to reducing household waste from plastic bags. The Minister presented the "Mottainai Furoshiki" at the Senior Officials Meeting on the 3R Initiative held in Tokyo, Japan on March 6-8, 2006."

In the words of Minister Koike herself: "I've created what you might call a "mottainai furoshiki". The Japanese word mottainai means it's a shame for something to go to waste without having made use of its potential in full. The furoshiki is made of a fiber manufactured from recycled PET bottles, and has a birds-and-flowers motif drawn by Itoh Jakuchu, a painter of the mid-Edo era. The Japanese wrapping cloth known as the furoshiki is said to have been first used in the Muromachi Period(1392-1573), when people spread it out in place of a bath mat or wrapped one's clothes with it. The furoshiki is so handy that you can wrap almost anything in it regardless of size or shape with a little ingenuity by simply folding it in a right way. It's much better than Plastic bags you receive at supermarkets or wrapping paper, since it's highly resistant, reusable and multipurpose. In fact, it's one of the symbols of traditional Japanese culture, and puts an accent on taking care of things and avoiding wastes."

Perhaps what i need isn't a reusable bag... well i'm not sure how well i could do this for a BAG of groceries anyhow, but certain for gift wrap it opens up my options! Time to stock up on everything from Hermes scarves to fabric store scraps? See the chart of how to fold the designs after the jump. (Thanks, Craig!)

TO PAGE 2 of "Mottainai Furoshiki"! ----->

Tags: gifts - green - recycled - reusable

In getting ready for another new year (Yay! 2008! I have no idea why i'm so excited for this one.) ~ just rediscovered this party popper chandelier by Stuart Haygarth, who collected up 1000 exploded party poppers on 01.01.00 after the MIllenium celebrations in London. Each popper is individually hung, and apparently create quite the organic swarm when hit (be it by a breeze or a bat). If he seems familiar, perhaps you've also seen some of his other found object chandeliers... like the one out of sun glasses? (images below!)

TO PAGE 2 of "Party Popper Chandelier"! ----->

Tags: art - furniture - recycled

I just got the sweetest email from Claire Sambrook, a senior lecturer of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Portsmouth, and i'm not sure why, but i think its refreshing to have someone sharing their student's work! I've had so many conversations recently about how there must be so many great student projects going unshown simply because they don't know how to market themselves, or are shy and maybe don't have much of an internet presence. Anyhow, she's shared this interesting "Perfect Perch" by 22 year old James Chu, a third year student in product design. His goal is to fill a need for "portable, cheap, lightweight and eco-friendly furniture" and he's thinking ahead already to all of the branding opportunities for these “Somewhere like Goodwood Racecourse could commission 1,000 carrying their name or a sponsor’s message and people could use them at the racecourse and then take them home afterwards. They would make excellent souvenirs.” The chairs have gone into production thanks to Hemingway Design and the South Coast Design Forum.

Tags: furniture - gifts - green - recycled - shopping

On fun mysterious emails i get with great design pics, this one just showed up. I grew up being shown images of how you shouldn't throw away these plastic rings that hold 6 packs of cans together without cutting them up because dolphins and seagulls would die in them, etc... Well it looks like Adam Johnston has found a great use for them! (Although it doesn't look like you should sit on this one naked, or in short shorts, b/c this would leave quite an impression)

Kate Van Zele "Visited a design student friend of mine this weekend at the University of Cincinnati and was introduced to his newly designed chair. I’m convinced the underlying reason was for the beer, he holds tight to the environmental and sustainability story. Made of 6 pack rings that decompose after 3 months in direct sunlight, and the frame can be deconstructed to apply another layer of rings when needed. Seems like a good use of reinventing a common object with a new application."

UPDATE: check out the Hammock!

TO PAGE 2 of "Remind Me Chair"! ----->

Tags: furniture - green - recycled