EcoChic: Going Green in Las Vegas
Going Green in Las Vegas would, for most people, conjure up images of hitting it big at the slot machines or black jack tables, or perhaps getting a winning hand in poker.
At the Las Vegas Market, whose theme this year was “Survive or Thrive,” going green was certainly thriving on the 2nd floor of Building B in the Living Green Pavilion. A full program of informative seminars entitled, “Brave New World Environmental Series,” sponsored by the Las Vegas Market and The Sustainable Furnishings Council, were held to help attendees make the transition to sustainable products. The Sustainable Furnishings Council’s mission is to promote sustainable practices within the home furnishings industry and raise awareness among manufacturers, retailers, designers and consumers. Executive Director, Susan Inglis, says that it is the SFC belief that sustainable practices are those that promote a healthy balance between the environment, local economies, and social equity.
The companies featured in the Green Pavilion Showrooms were some of the 300 members of the SFC, and the products they displayed were innovative and highly creative as well as sustainable. While speaking with some of these manufacturers, Trendease was intrigued by the fascinating stories of how products were made and by the materials that were used to make them.
At Bevara Design House, started by owners Erik and Stacy Jorgensen in 2008, I was introduced to their “Slab” line of products. Built with flexibility in mind, bases and tops can be configured using eco-concrete, reclaimed elm, or metal. Eco-concrete is a reinforced natural fiber cement that consists of a mix of cement, granite, stone, marble powder and natural fiber. The amazing thing about eco-concrete is that it weighs 40% less than regular concrete. I can attest to this fact because when I visited their booth I was asked to lift one of their stools and was completely surprised by how light it really is.
This San Francisco based company’s “Slatt” premium line is produced locally in the San Francisco Bay Area and is made from regionally harvested woods, using local labor and by 2010, green energy.
Take a look at the selection of photos from Eangee Home Designs. The Lawrence, Kansas company makes lampshades for their Hue collection from cocoa (chocolate) leaves found in the Philippines. The leaves are colored with eco-friendly dyes and the shade is held up and supported by three stained bamboo posts.
The abaca plant, a fast growing plant that resembles a banana, produces rope, twine and paper for another Eangee lighting line called Durian. The abaca matures in 18 to 24 months and consists of 12 to 30 stalks from a central root system. What is special about this plant is that it will re-grow from the same root system after being cut and it can be grown within the rainforest without destroying critical habitat.
Besides creating their sustainable line of products, Eangee is also proud to participate in fair trade practices with its workers. This lighting company provides their workers with free room and board so that the artisans can have more money to support their families.
The story behind Naturescast Inc. starts with its parent company, Nature’s Legacy. During one of the many Clean and Green Community activities sponsored by Nature’s Legacy in Compostela, Cebu, a small province of the Philippines. Nature’s Legacy staff and associates had gathered a large heap of agro-forest debris composed of fallen leaves, shrubs and twigs. It was suggested that the debris be burned, but one of the company’s founders came up with a way to use the waste. After two years of research, Naturescast was created as a versatile material innovation that uses Mother Earth’s natural scrap materials in making a diverse line of handcrafted products. Naturescast uses an odorless water-based binder in the product to hold the debris together. The products made with Naturescast are biodegradable, sustainable and environmentally friendly and no trees are cut in order to produce any of the products seen in this gallery. Naturescast is also committed to Profit with Principle, sustainable development and doing business with ethics.
When looking at Green Concepts Imports’ products, try to imagine that the furniture was once a part of a home or structure in the south of Brazil. The room divider shown with the lounge chair, for example, is made from shutters reclaimed from a building.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the rain forests of this region were logged extensively and the best wood from the peroba rosa trees was used to build homes and buildings. Only 7% of the Atlantic Rain Forest from which those trees were harvested still remains. Fortunately, the peroba tree and the rain forests of this area are now protected and it is illegal to cut old growth peroba.
Over the last several years these structures are being torn down to make way for progress. In the days before recycling, these historic buildings were simply demolished and the wood was burned. From the extraordinarily durable recycled lumber artisans now create pieces that are not only beautiful and practical, but that preserve in new forms the history of the wood and of the people that inhabit the region. The bright colors of the houses are evident in many of these weathered and worn rustic treasures. All of the furniture and accessories from Green Concepts Imports are made from the recycled wood of these houses of long ago. Lucia Pinto, one of the owners of Green Concepts Imports, tells me that she feels so passionate about the business she is involved in because she is not just selling a piece of furniture, she is telling the history of her country of Brazil and preserving a unique material, the recycled wood of the peroba rosa that has been saved from being burned and instead transformed into art.
The common factor that binds the companies featured here and the other companies that are part of the SFC is their passion and commitment to discover new ways to re-use our world’s resources. Sometimes the greatest ideas come from the ability to view something common like forest debris or old wood from torn down houses and to give it new life by re-creating it. To this end, beauty truly is in the eyes of the beholder.
—MaryJane Mitchell
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