THE RIGHT STUFF: Green with Envy

 

SEE THE LIGHT
Gege Kingston is unashamed to admit: her Kiks! sparkling soda can jewelry was born from an innate drive to scrimp. “I like to make stuff and I don’t like to make a lot of mistakes,” says the Stockbridge, Mass., crafter. “I’m a really low-tech person—and everybody has silver and gold.” Armed with a pair of scissors, some old inner tubes, and bits of wire, Kingston painstakingly fashions delicate necklaces, earrings, and brooches from colorful aluminum castaways. The results are glittering accessories that far transcend their material’s deposit refund. “I’m doing my part as far as recycling is concerned,” Kingston adds. “Not a big part, but now people can see what else can be used….”

 

Earrings about $20 to $35, necklaces about $90 to $300, at
Ikonium, 67 Church St., Lenox, Mass., , and through Gege Kingston, Stockbridge, Mass.,

 

GOOD WOOD
It takes a special hand to turn tree rejects into hot commodities, and Ken Vermeulen has the touch. The semi-retired owner of Kenver, Ltd., in South Egremont, Mass., has made benches from the walls of the old Egremont Post office; coat racks from worm-eaten chestnut; and a coffee table from a “nightmare piece of wood” that’s now in the running for multiple design awards. After air-drying and then milling slabs of downed trees and decrepit barn doors, Vermeulen assembles a motley crew of home furnishings, from serving trays (pictured) and wood-burl cutting boards to benches, dressers, and bookcases. “It’s wood in its most primitive stage,” Vermeulen says of his Kenver Homeworks creations. “Sometimes you can still see the whole tree, natural cracks, count the rings….” Much is custom-made, such as the piece he’s crafting from an uprooted Sheffield Road maple for “someone who has seen the tree for fifty years. I turn it into something that will last longer, that lives on.”

 

About $28 to $200 for serving boards and small items at Kenver Homeworks, Kenver Ltd., 39 Main St., South Egremont, Mass.,

 

TOTES COOL
You can pluck tissue paper gingerly from a gift bag and fold it up for reuse, but such actions fly in the face of festivity (and the wrappings will undoubtedly sport telltale crinkles). Your giftee, and the planet, deserve better, believes Beth Carlisle, owner-designer of Olive Designer Gift Totes in
Williamstown, Mass. Her decorative bags are sewn from ultra-light yet super-strong 100 percent recyclable polypropylene (it’s machine washable, too) and feature decorative grommets for interchangeable satin and grosgrain ribbons. The why-didn’t-anyone-think-of-this-sooner inclusion: tufts of tulle. Personalize your own “eco-kit” or tell your party planner—they make for graceful green wedding favors.

 

About $4 at Pine Cone Hill: The Home Store, /, Lenox, Mass., ; Red Lion Gift Shop, Main Street, Stockbridge, Mass., ; Where’d You Get That!?, 100 Spring St., Williamstown, Mass., ; or through Olive Designs,

SACK ATTACK
The crusade against plastic grocery bags is well underway; railing against the other not-so-minor landfill threats is our next step, says Erin Kelly-Dill. Reusable “food movers for a healthy planet,” snackTAXI sacks are her graphic, eco-friendly alternatives to disposable plastic baggies. Made in Kelly-Dill’s home workshop in Plainfield, Mass., the machine-washable, 100 percent cotton carriers are lined with waterproof polyurethane—free of heavy metals and phthalates—so you can remain stress-free about wrapping (and rewrapping) sandwiches, produce, and treats.

 

About $7 to $9 at the Berkshire Co-op Market, 42 ., Great Barrington, Mass., ; Hawthorne Valley Farm Store, 327 Route 21C, Ghent, N.Y., ; Shima Boutique, 105 Main St., North Adams, Mass., ; Wild Oats Market, 320 Main St./Route 2, Williamstown, Mass., ; Williams & Sons Country Store, , Stockbridge, Mass., ; snackTAXI, Plainfield, Mass.,

KEEPING TABS
I admit, I, too, was skeptical at first—a staple-free stapler, really?—but this little Made by Humans doohickey does work. Sure, it maxes out at five or so sheets of paper, but the fact that it’s able to slice a tiny strip from one page and use that to collate the other sheets in one press is pretty neat. Plus, a lack of metal staples means zero waste—and no contamination of recycling bins. 

 

About $9 at Hardware: The MASS MoCA Store, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, Mass., , and MASS MoCA by Design, , Williamstown, Mass.,

 

COLOR SAFE
Thanks to Benjamin Moore’s patented Gennex waterborne color technology, every one of the three-thousand-plus shades of its Natura no-VOC (volatile organic compound) interior paint is truly eco-friendly. “What most people don’t realize is that most colorant has VOCs,” says company representative Esther Perman, “so when you go to the paint or hardware store and select a zero-VOC paint, unless the colorant being added to tint is also zero-VOC, the paint you walk out with may no longer be minus VOCs.” In addition to boasting the lowest emissions of any brand on the market, independent tests conclude that Natura dries fast and smooth—without a stinky scent.

 

About $50 per gallon at Herrington’s, 6 Depot Square, Chatham, N.Y., ; 312 White Hill Ln., Hillsdale, N.Y., ; 11 Farnam Rd., Lakeville, Conn., ; and 11 Dutchess Ave., Millerton, N.Y., ; and most other hardware shops.

 

CLOTHES CALL
“Whatever I seem to find is what I put together,” says Wendy Ackroyd of artemesia—twice made design, the Lenox, Mass.-based studio where she stitches new life into salvaged textiles. Some of her latest creations for spring include cashmere and cotton arm warmers, revamped knit dresses, and fabric-remnant tote bags with clever jeans-pocket detailing. “It’s eclectic,” she says of her 90 percent recycled, one-of-a-kind wearables, some bathed in muted shades of organic dye. The lifelong seamstress is also tackling accessories, à la antique-glass-button bracelets, anklets, and cuffs on waxed linen thread.

 

Bags starting at about $65 at Twigs, 51 Church St., Lenox, Mass., ; , 441 North St., Pittsfield, Mass., ; or through artemesia—twice made design,

 

[MAY 2010]