Posts Tagged ‘green’

Recycling is a big deal these days and we are always being encouraged to do more. Tin cans and cardboard boxes are easy enough to recycle as there are usually recycling stations dotted around town and some counties even pick your recycling up for you. What we don’t generally get asked to recycle however are the larger items. Units such as wardrobes and draws and other things like seating and doors too often end up being thrown on the tip and wasted for good. In these difficult times we should be looking to make use of as much waste as we can, so here are a few tips to household recycling.

Wood Items. People often throw out things like dining furniture, wardrobes and cupboards without really considering what they could be used for. Its pretty easy to attach a couple of kitchen cupboard units together and place them on the floor to make a fun coffee table that looks a bit different. If you leave the hinges and doors intact, you can keep the coffee table hollow and use it as storage space as well. You can also use wood to make lots of little things such as door stops and chopping boards and even wine racks

Glassware. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be an expert in glass melting in order to reuse an old glass. Glasses can be used to pot house plants, store knick-knacks in, and even create feature walls with if you’ve got the time to make it. Glass is a very versatile material to use but people tend to just get unnecessarily scared trying to recycle it.

Furniture. This is one of the hardest things to recycle and I’m not saying that you will be able to make tableware out of your old sofa, but sometimes there is scope to get a few more years out of items you thought were at the end of their life. The garden is a great place to find a home for old household items.By removing the cushioning and coating the furniture in some protective varnish, most chairs and tables will last outdoors for years. Also, things like carpet can be cut up and used to kneel on when gardening to save getting your clothes dirty.

Imagine stepping back in time, say one hundred years, and comparing our present world’s landscape full of lush forests, sparkling streams and rolling hillsides to that of yesteryear. Your reaction would most likely be one of disbelief. Little by little, our society has whittled away nearly every resource given us until the demented air quality and baroness has crept up without notice. While plenty of organizations and politicians voice their support of a new ‘green’ way of life, one company in the modern furnitures business has already sprung into action.

Founded in 2000, it did not take long for Dario Antonioni, founder and director of Orange22, to recognize the need for more than just another modern design manufacturer to service the private and public sector. Many prestigious artists and designers were called upon to come up with the ultimate in creativity and to provide not one, but two plans, relative to conservation of natural resources while serving the needs of mankind.

Leading Orange22 into a new society is a dedicated staff that have been challenged by using the ingenuity and creativity that they are known for. Armed with only their skills, providing solutions for traditional furnishings without harming the environment is a large feat in itself but these artists are going one step further. Fighting problems of social plight, such as cancer, AIDS and other worldwide problems are dreams that they have chosen to tackle.

To date, Orange22 has created an initial line of Botanist furniture, known as the Botanist Blank Canvas Project. A dynamic team of designers were hand picked by Dario Antonioni, Founder and Creative Director of Orange22, to leave their artistic mark on three pieces of clean modern furniture, a bench, coffee table and end table of the Blank Canvas Series. Each designer, together with Orange22, donates a portion of the royalty to a charity or foundation of their choice.

One of the most popular pieces, a design by Antonioni and Brandon Lynne, is the Botanical Floral Bench that merges the outdoors and the inside with its floral stencil lain to one side. Powder coated in a variety of colors, this piece can adorn a hallway, living space or patio interchangeably. Both environmentally friendly and lightweight, this example of the Blank Canvas Project is perfect for any setting.

Dario hopes that his doctrine of utilizing collaboration to create positive change will resonate beyond the design community, modern home furniture, and ultimately help to affect and inspire the greater global community. Orange22 has plans for Botanist in the future, as well. Antonioni is currently working on a book called A Decade of Botanist: A Philanthropic Product, 80 designers and 80 foundations and how we’ve helped change the world.