Eating off leaves 09/11/2009
 VerTerra dishes Michael Dwork, founder and CEO of VerTerra, was inspired by the Indian leaf plate when he visited India. Since then he has been constantly refining that simple organic plate. On similar lines, VerTerra focuses on producing more durable and versatile single-use products. The products can be used to bake in the oven, store in the fridge and reheat in the microwave. VerTerra is rooted in the Latin phrase 'Veritas terra' or 'true to the earth'. The VerTerra dinnerware is made from fallen leaves that they borrow and then returned to the earth. The methods that Verterra uses to produce its quality dinnerware is sustainable. Most of VerTerra's dinnerware are made in South Asia by creating hundreds of fair-wage jobs. The company claims that their craftspeople are well-supported financially, provided healthcare and safe working conditions. Their top priority is to be true to the earth. Although water is used to clean gathered leaves, no trees are cut, and over 80% of the water is recaptured and reused. The dinnerware is 100% free of chemicals, lacquers, glues, bonding agents or anything toxic. VerTerra has won many awards for its innovation. The products are stylish, versatile and compostable. The dinnerware is light and looks like a beautifully grained piece of wood. It is rugged and feels almost like thin bamboo. But it is the strangeness that is so attractive. The thickness of the plates gives no hint them being disposable products. They replace paper or plastic plates in over 500 parties and events across the globe. It takes about 62 days for a plate to fully decompose. A set of eight 6-inch plates retails for $4.99. Via its website, customers can directly buy VerTerra products. Critics haven't been able to report anything negative even after abusing the plates and bowls. VerTerra's products are so good that they are now the official serviceware of the Statue of Liberty. Price is a crucial factor that stops people from buying such products. In recent years, the cost of their products have been cut by 50%, making them as affordable as disposable products. Their factories use 10% of the energy that most recycled paper plate factories use. The leaf-scrap that is left while making the plates is crushed into powder and provided as fertilizer to the farmers who send leaves to VerTerra. A manufacturing plant only produces around 2-3 regular trash bins worth of waste in an entire month. Michael Dwork regrets the fact that all items are put in recycled plastic shrink wrap for hygenic reasons. He wishes there was a way around that use of plastic, but it is necessary. There are no other heat and water stable materials that will ensure that customers get the product in a sanitary condition, but he will happily entertain suggestions. The only complaint that he has got in 9 months of selling is that people feel bad throwing them away since they feel so sturdy and look so attractive. These products are the biodegradable, aesthetically pleasing dinnerware and they are as green as it gets. Do see the interview with Michael Dwork. By Sanjay Basavaraju Add Comment Objects reborn 09/10/2009
 Waffle Iron Heights © David Trautrimas Photography, old cast-off machines, and a shockingly new sense of scale combine to form unique pieces of art in David Trautrimas' work. He creates a fictional world, with old junky stuff most of us wouldn't look at twice. The objects, in their new surroundings look amazingly like real architecture in actual townscapes. You can almost imagine little beings working, living and sleeping in this slightly dreary new world. David collects old objects, photographs them, then digitally re-creates them into these little worlds. On the computer he adds trees, fences, doors and windows, that will make the old gadgets come to life. The gadgets themselves are a range of old kitchen mixers, hole punchers, waffle irons, staplers, vacuum cleaners, coffee machines and other household objects. There is a fantastic sense of juxtaposition, and abstraction, which leads to totally unexpected results. The dramatic deconstruction, and then re-construction blends the lines between the oddly familiar and totally bizarre. No object is too old or too ugly. In this new place, they all become homes and offices, belonging both to the future and the past. They make a new architectural style, and gives the old and forgotten renewed purpose. Why do everyday things like this fascinate humans so much? Probably because a drastic change of context and surrounding almost change the object itself. What was garbage, is now art. David is pretty much a full-time collector, always on the look out for old household objects that he can transform. The more scratches, dents and missing parts, the more beautiful it is to David. He sifts through garage sales, e-bay auctions and flea markets to find them. He confesses to being an 'obsessive junk hunter', even taking apart his own Toyota to complete a piece. He is technically adept enough to dismantle a piece, extract and replace the bit he needs, put it back together, and still keep it in working condition. When he gets the junk back home, he shoots it against a white neutral background. He then roams the city again, taking thousands of photographs of lawns, buildings, driveways, trees, lights and sidewalks, all of which will form the visual database that will surround the objects. His attention to detail, the placement of the trees, windows, the realistically airy sky, all contribute to creating the urban, industrial ambience of the piece. More than his photoshop wizardry, its his ability to imagine the piece of metal in a parallel universe that makes his work unique. Have a look at the range of 'factories' he has created, and take a look at the rest of his work on his site. By Armeen Kapadia  Automobile factory © David Trautrimas  Cooler factory © David Trautrimas  Fan factory © David Trautrimas  Staples factory © David Trautrimas Paper made from poop 08/10/2009
 Promotional products © poopoopaper.com We have heard of eco-friendly paper, recycled paper, paper made from waste fibres and the rest of it. Here is a paper, that’s literally made from waste material. The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company Limited is making paper, and some really nice gift items, all from elephant dung. Asian elephants are found in India, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, and Borneo. Elephants are mostly domesticated, and very few remain in the wild now. In Sri Lanka, the elephant has been under threat in recent times, though it was revered in Buddhist tradition. Elephants are often killed and wounded when they come in contact with human habitation and destroy crops. An eco-friendly solution to this problem is the manufacture of paper and paper products from elephant dung. Farmers can now co-exist with the elephant, and have a mutually beneficial relationship with them. Elephant dung is in constant supply, and can easily be collected by the villagers. An elephant produces about 100 kgs of dung per day. An elephant eats coconut leaves, jackfruit leaves, palmyra leaves and other vegetation rich in fibre. Around 60% of this fibre leaves its body undigested. The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company collects naturally dried dung from national parks, and brings it to the paper-making factory. The dung is then rinsed with water, leaving only the fibrous material behind. The fibres are then boiled thoroughly to ensure that they are perfectly clean and smell-free. Colour can also be added at this stage. Natural fibres from banana trees and pineapples are added to strengthen the paper. The fibre is spread over a mesh, and left to dry in the sun for a few hours. And then your poo-poo paper is ready. Visit the Poo-tique to see the range of products the company makes. These make attractive and useful gift items. The company was started in 2002, and now has distributes products in many countries worldwide. Initially their products were expensive, but they worked to modify the production process, and today they have a great product line, with a positive ecologically responsible message. As the site says, they are products with a purpose. Such paper is also made in Thailand. An end product becomes a base of manufacturing for another product. The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company is ‘Number one at number two’. Do see the video below. By Armeen Kapadia Waste is beautiful 08/07/2009
 Millennium  Barnacle (Black), Harpon 321, Barnacle (White)  Tail Light Stuart Haygarth, is an obsessive and imaginative, one-time illustrator, 'designer-maker' who had to be featured here. Previously we have featured design here, but today we are taking one small leap to uncover the brain behind design. Hopefully we will be able to understand for ourselves what makes one create functional yet beautiful designs. For your information, I had doubts featuring his work here, until I saw one of the photographic pieces — Tide Mark — from an ongoing project Dungeness. He has been collecting man-made debris from the Dungeness coastline in Kent over many years. He sorts and categorizes these objects to create pieces of work. Tide Mark is a collection of primarily plastic objects categorized by color. His other one-off pieces include Harpon 321, Barnacle (White) and Barnacle (Black). The Harpon 321 is based on a particular make of fisherman's glove he found over years. The Barnacle pieces are based on collections of white and black plastic objects he found. The Barnacle pieces are inspired by WWII sea mines. Personally, I liked Tail Light. He was fascinated by the complexity and beauty of lenses covering vehicle lights. For sometime he has been creating lampshades out of spectacles, wine glasses and empty plastic containers. Tail Light is special because the level of opacity in the vehicle lenses reminds us of stained glass. Some of his famous pieces have been chandeliers. During the millennium celebrations (Jan 01, 2000) in London, he collected 1000 exploded party poppers. He create a one-off piece Millennium. Stuart can re-imagine waste into a striking design. Many argue that reusing is a short term solution to sustainability. Stuart's designs celebrate reusing forgotten ordinary objects. By Sanjay Basavaraju  Stuart's project Dungeness: Tide Mark Furniture once flew 08/03/2009
 Ejection chair  Partition  MotoArt searches boneyards for old plane parts to recycle into furniture. They use B-25 rudders for desks, and 747 jet engine cowlings for beds. MotoArt believes that it is preserving aviation history with functional art. The junk is looked at as marvelous engineering components from yesteryear that gives much joy, as well of a feeling of being a small part of aviation. Much of aviation scrap hits the smelter's furnace so that it can be recycled into metal that can be shipped to either India or China. Dave Hall and Donovan Fell started MotoArt in 2000 out of their garage to create high-end furniture out of old aircraft parts. They have designed a range of products from beds to chairs to desks to lamps, and to photo frames. They feel that they are giving these parts from historic planes a second life. What comes across through their work is sheer passion and belief. MotoArt is now a multi-million dollar business. It all began with an art exhibition where they showcased Fell's polished B-17 bomber propeller sculptures. By selling the whole show, they realized the potential in considering it a full-time job. As their grey cells began to work on this project full-time, they started experimenting with parts such as rudders, cowlings, seats, fuselage, nose and tail stabilizers. It takes 220 hours to turn a single 747 cowling into a chrome receptionist's desk. GE commissioned MotoArt to design and build a reception desk for their New Qatar facility. For this, they split the engine cowling into equal halves, doubling them up into an impressive 19 feet long reception desk. Boeing International commissioned MotoArt to design and fabricate a high-flying simulator as a marketing strategy to create interest in 787 Dreamliner. It debuted at Air France's 75th anniversary party in Paris and now tours globally. Inspiring stuff! Watch the YouTube video below. By Sanjay Basavaraju |   Every monthSeptember 2010 CategoriesAll |
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