Image credit: Yanko Design

These fantastic “book pills” have been designed by Je Sung Park and make a really flexible storage solution.  The inner colourful material is flexible so the book ends can be moved around to suit your mood, and since they are modular you could put together as many as you need!

Image credit: Nest

Image Credit: Coroflot

Shelving like this would be wonderful in a study or in a kids’ bedroom, as it allows you to see everything at a glance.

This storage system is a little different from your average bookcase:

Image Credit: Fresh home

This bookcase really would be a statement piece! A little bit of fun for a TV room maybe?

Image credit: Adoptabot at Etsy

My favourite is Dipper who is descriped as “…is not the sharpest tool in the shed but he is a lot of fun hang around. Ask nicely and he might even fire up his jet powered fan blade and take you for a wild ride! “
At only 13 inches tall we probably won’t be taking that ride but he still is gorgeously sweet!

Image credit:Boxheart

Also by artist Brian Marshall are some of these amazing feature lights. Brian on says he picks up pieces for his artwork from “Garage sales, flea markets, metal recyclers, ebay, junk yards, the side of the road, and sometimes they just show up in my classroom (anonymous donations).” 

Image credit: Boxheart

Image credit: Bel&Bel

Image credit: Bel&Bel

Plus they are from re-cycled vespa’s so are carrying on my New Year’s eco resolution.

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Well here are a few items that will come as a wonderful surprise after the melee of Christmas gifts that have already been thrown at them!

Image credit: Olive shop on Etsy

This cute Postcard Pillow that is available from Olive’s shop on Etsy is a great personalized present. Each gorgeous pillow is customized to your specifications so it will make a lovely personal gift. Plus it’s made from Eco white bamboo cotton so it’s even great for Eco buyers!

Image credit: Ecocentric

This is the perfect gift for the house (especially if you have those friends that are always saying “is it just me or is it a bit cold in here?”)…

Image credit: Ecocentric

These are simple yet beautiful and will light any room with a wonderful glow – definitely needed in this cold January weather!

Image credit: Autodesk

Having a 17 year old brother can be a bit of a pain, you get used to the monosyllbic answers (Big sister – “How is college going?” Little brother – “Alright”). However, one thing that you do get is to constantly be told about the newest “cool” thing on the block.  Most of the time it’s something that really doesn’t interest me but little brother has come up tops with this one – RetroFits Online Game.  This game is free and fun, and bound to take up some of that “free” office time you might have.

It is designed to help people “make buildings better“. Designed by California based software company Autodesk, it has been made in response to the news that most of American’s green house gases actually come from poorly designed and built buildings. It takes you through all the simple steps that can change a building into an Eco friendly building!  With some really startling facts thrown in!

Image credit: Niki Jones

The new year always brings revelations and my most recent one has been that I NEED to update my cushions, they are simply looking tired and worn.  Updating accessories is the easiest, quickest and usually the cheapest way to completely change the look of the room.  Here are a few of the items on my wish list!

I love these cushions [above], they are hand embroidered and take their inspiration from Uzbek textiles from North Afganistan.  They have a wonderful look to them and will add all the right colours in to the room, gorgeous deep plums (very this season), wild yellows (gonna be big in 2010) and my current passion – fuschia!

Image credit: Soap Studiooos at Etsy

Also dogearred (no pun intended) are this sweet and very fun Pigs and Dachshunds Pillows.  Since I am not allowed to get a Dachshund till after we come back from honeymoon in April these will simply have to do and it $35 each they will be a fair amount cheaper too!  I simply must have one of these but with four gorgeous designs it is going to be very tough to choose!

Image credit: Niki Jones

And as it usually happens, I have started looking at the gorgeous cushions and have seen a beautiful rug!  This piece is made from felt (a very Eco friendly materia) and uses a fantastic cut out design.

Image credit: Niki Jones

And this chair would be the highlight of my home office – and guess what?  It comes in fuschia – it was clearly meant to be! – Now where’s my credit card…

Here are a few of the products I have ear marked for the design

Image credit: Graham and Green

I have had a huge hankering after pink recently (including having painted my living room chimney breast wall a gorgeous shade of rose) and I think these are simply gorgeous and are now down from £34.75 to only £17.25!! Bargin!

Image credit: Ecocentric

This beautifully crated item is in fact a book end – the branch appears to be magically growing out of the side of your books but is in fact ingeniously attached to the books through the magnetic book end that is inside the book! Simple yet very effective.

Image credit: Ecocentric

I am a huge fan of the gorgeous relaxing light given off by fairy lights and am really missing them since I’ve taken down my Christmas tree (and had it recycled of course!) so this may be the perfect accessory for my new desk area!

Image Credit: Yanko Design

This really is the ultimate gift for the office worker who has everything.  This USB Key gives off a wonderful aroma so that they can be slowly calmed throughout the day by the wonderful fragrances.  After Christmas I thought I had seen it all but this may be on my post Christmas list!

Image Credit: Coffin Couches

Ok so it’s finally Friday after a long and snowy first week and I am hoping the new year is all you’ve hoped for however, if the new year snow and ice has gotten you down.  Here is a product that might be right up your alley!  Carrying on with my Eco theme these recycled coffin couches are the ultimate in up-cycling.  Created from a surplus of (un-used) coffins these are truely unique artisan products each created individually to your requirements and able to be shipped internationally (I wonder what it would say on the customs slip?!)

Image Credit: Coffin Couches

These couches start at around $3,500, now if I could just find out if my Victorian flooring is strong enough to hold one ….

Image Credit: Debbie Wijskamp

These “Paper Cabinets”  are made with papier-mâchécoupled with traditional woodworking methods, the artist Debbie Wijiskamp hand forms the recycled paper pulp into molds, and then assembles the parts into amazing white furniture pieces that will definately be a talking point.

Image Credit: Who’s Glass

Using glass bottles collected from within a 10 mile radius of their studio, Who’s Glass’ ware has been reformed from Coca-Cola and Corona beer glass bottles from local pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafés and campsites. Did you know that reforming existing glass products is 90% more efficient than re-melting the glass into raw materials and working from scratch. Millions of tonnes of glass is used in the UK every year and over a million ends up in landfill! The energy saved from recycling one bottle will power a 100W light bulb for almost an hour or a computer for 25 minutes, or a television for 20 minutes! Amazing I feel more Eco friendly already!

If you think of one I’ve missed please give me an email through at kia@kiadesigns.co.uk i’d love to hear about how you think design could and should be more Eco friendly

Image credit: FireHorseTextiles on Etsy
This fantastic wall hanging will be a statement piece of any wall!
Image credit: Tina Tarnoff on Etsy
This piece is by Tina Tarnoff who was whisked away on a two-week vacation to San Francisco and has never come home!  Her paper cuts, like the one shown above entitled “Waiting for the phone to ring” is one of many wonderful and unique designs.

For something created a little closer to home (North London to be precise) you might like to check out www.mrkarno.com for some 21st century oil paintings each of which the artist usually completes in one sitting and each of which takes around 7 months to dry (prices available upon request).  The artist in question only sells originals and is firmly against the concept of ‘prints’ some whatever piece you may chose will not be also adorning your neighbour’s wall!   

Image credit: Mr Karno

Image credit: Mr Karno

So when looking for something a little bit different to put on your walls give etsy a look as it really does have items that you won’t find hanging on many other peoples walls!