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Love that Cool Eco-Friendly Furniture

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Educate then initiate!

Hi, I'm Ron Crummer, furniture and homeware designer from New Zealand. I'd like to showcase some of my designs to inspire and encourage you to look at buying sustainable and eco-friendly influenced furniture. Be aware, most if not all furniture you see is not truly sustainable or eco friendly. I have a blogsite which looks at examples of furniture and examines certain aspects of them to rate their credibility as sustainble/eco friendly furniture.
http://nzinteriordesignlimited.blogspot.com/

Therefore do your homework to see what, why and how furniture is made given your budget.

Try looking through interior and furniture design magazines that have a green influence. Look at online stores or internet auction websites. Check for any green/eco-friendly interior, furniture designers and retail stores in your area. What about manufacturers as well ? Search through your local newspaper classifieds or phone book. Local garage sales are good too. Ofcourse you can search through Squidoo !

For further inspiration,view my website: www.nzinteriordesign.com
NZ Interior Design specialise in sustainable staging. We only use and/or sell new sustainably produced, recycled, reused/restored items.

To get an understanding of what is eco-friendly furniture, check out lens: www.squidoo.com/10TipsToBuyEco-FriendlyFurnishing.This lens will give some great tips on what to look for with eco-friendly furnishings.

Reuse

' Rebound ' Coffee table designed by Ron Crummer

This is a quirky creation I came up with.

I found this tyre dumped a long the road near where I live. The tyre was painted white with some left over non toxic waterbased paint I had. The glass top was bought off an internet auction website for $1.

I always try to think outside the square when reusing items.

Recycle

' Stormtrooper ' Shelf unit designed by Ron Crummer

This modern looking shelf unit is one I designed with using recycled items and reused ornaments bought cheaply from an op shop.

The shelving was made from an old internal semi-hollow door. I simply sliced the door vertically in half to create 2 shelves. I bought some new concrete blocks from my local hardware store and painted them with some non toxic waterbased paint.

You can pretty much make anything out of anything!

Check out eco-friendly furnishings on Amazon

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Reinvent

' Cruise ' Bench designed by Ron Crummer

I designed this bench with a casual sleek look and feel in mind.

This bench was made from an old internal semi-hollow door which was bought from an internet auction. I bought the inner foam from a local thrift store. Sometimes I buy upholstery fabric from my local junk and thrift stores but I bought this end of run fabric via an internet auction website.

The bench was painted with non toxic waterbased paint. Concrete blocks are used on the base.

When you open your mind, imagination is limitless.

Designer eco-friendly furnishing

' Kea ' lamp designed by Ron Crummer

Kea pendant lampWho said eco-friendly furnishings is uninspiring and conventional looking?

This versatile lamp was inspired by the subtle reference from the beak of the Kea bird, a native bird of New Zealand. The lamp is CNC cut locally and is made of sustainably approved hoop pine plywood. I utilised as much of the sheet of plywood as possible. This reduced any unnecessary wastage. The lamp is flat packed designed and can be configured in 2 different ways. It also can be used as pendant or table lamp simply by changing around the top and bottom plates.

Green furniture can still be modern, stylish and responsible to the environment. Indeed designing something with green principles gives more purpose and meaning to what you are creating.

Check out eco-friendly furnishings on eBay

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Hand crafted eco friendly furnishing

type=text© ' Rangitoto ' Display Bowl, Ron Crummer, 2010. Inspired from an island off the mainland city coast of Auckland, New Zealand.
The idea came to me when one day I looked out to Rangitoto island from Mission Bay and it appeared to look like a fruit bowl ' floating in the sea '. The elongated form and curves are echoed in the design of the display bowl.

The Display Bowl is reversable giving 2 different viewing options. Made of salvaged NZ native kauri. Hand turned and outsourced to a local wood tuner, made in Auckland. Finished in olive oil. The whole point of eco friendly furniture and furnishings is to think of the whole process from conception, production and product 'end of life'.
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Designer eco-friendly furniture

' Lunar one ' coffee table designed by Ron Crummer

Lunar coffee tableA design inspired from childhood imaginations of space crafts. Manufactured locally. The table is made from sustainable MDF material. MDF is basically made from used shaving and wood off cuts.

Although the finish is from 2 pot lacquer paint, I am currently looking to use powder coating which is more efficient and has less toxins unlike 2 pot lacquer.

It's great to challenge yourself and believe it is possible to create and achieve something beautiful while being good to the planet too.

Support your local community

In buying materials from your local businesses and non-profit organisations, you are in effect helping and supporting your local community and businesses.

Also in terms of transporting and/or traveling, you are using less time, energy and most likely money too with buying local.

Cool eco-friendly furniture websites

For designer eco-modern furniture click on: www..inmod.com/ecofriendly.html

More cool websites:
www.vivavi.com/
www.inhabitat.com/tag/eco-friendly-furniture/

Please feel free to leave a comment

  • nzinteriordesign Jun 8, 2011 @ 2:32 am | delete
    Hi SmartChica many thanks for your kind words!
  • SmartChica Jun 5, 2011 @ 10:49 am | delete
    Thanks for sharing your talent and information Ron. This lens blessed by a Squid Angel.
  • Sylviane_Nuccio Jun 27, 2009 @ 9:59 pm | delete
    I have featured your lens on my Eco-Friendly furniture lens.
    Thanks :)
  • Cameos-Home Jun 27, 2009 @ 9:51 pm | delete
    This is a great lens. 5* to you and many thanks for the reference to my lens. I do the same on mine.
  • TheGreenerMe Jun 23, 2009 @ 6:25 pm | delete
    These are some nice picks to feature. Welcome to Squidoo!
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nzinteriordesign

Iam a furniture and homeware designer from New Zealand with a difference. My inspiration comes from many things mostlty from stories based on my child... more »

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