44
B O A T
L I F E
Just add water Gourmets can indulge in fresh-fromthe-garden herbs, like basil and parsley, on board, thanks to the Forage Dining Table designed by Josh Kennard of Forge Creative in Sussex, England. Forage features silver birch table legs supporting a solid, impact-resistant ash surface, which has been top-coated with food-safe Osmo oil for a matte sheen. A waterproof liner in the planter keeps moisture where it belongs. Both ash and birch timbers are well in line with the EU’s Forest Stewardship Council’s regulations. Custom prices on request; table pictured, 140cm x 80cm x 74cm, £2,000. forgecreative.co/forage-dining-table
For a nice butt — and a good cause Recycling, restoring and renewing have re-defined design. Here a 17th century French fauteuil that had sustained many years on the ocean floor inspired this bit of fancy flotsam by designers Dwayne Clark and Bob Gaynor of New York City, who gifted it to the tsunami-relief efforts of the International Furnishings and Design Association. clarkgaynor.com
Interiors
Is Design Dead? Eat up, then turn on Double-duty does much to drive eco-design. Industrial designer Jonas Edvard of Copenhagen developed an organic textile called MYX out of oyster mushroom mycelium and hemp fibers. You can eat all but the hemp — and then you can use it for home furnishings. Edvard’s €2,200 MYX Lamp won honors at the 2014 Green Furniture Awards during Milan Design Week. jonasedvard.dk
If not dead, “it’s useless,” French designer Philippe Starck famously remarked at the 2009 Milan International Furniture Fair. “There are already millions of chairs to sit our cute butts on. Ecology, that’s where we can still express ourselves.” Louis Postel shares a few of the latest eco-friendly design expressions.
Cute butt has built-in continuity Anything well-built can qualify as eco-furnishing. Why? Because it’s made to last, and therefore rarely adds to such attractions as the Texas-sized Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But consumers need to evolve and industrial designers like Martin Luu of Toronto, Canada, are taking that into account. His Crosstool seating not only upcycles discarded plastic strapping, but it’s free of off-gassing bonding agents and adhesives, which makes Crosstool easy to disassemble for recycling in its entirety when and if that time comes. $50. martinjluu@gmail.com
S h o w B o a t s I n t e r n a t i o n a l | M a y 2 0 1 5
A step up, knot down There may be no greater pleasure than padding across a yacht’s salon barefoot on a soft and luxurious rug. But does eco-consciousness entail putting up with a little earth-friendly scratchiness? In the case of these extremely soft and durable rugs from Miami-based NIBA, you gain, not lose in being eco-conscious. Part of NIBA’s special gift lies in hand-carded or combed fibers, such as allo (nettle), silk and hemp, as well as wool from highaltitude, lanolin-laden sheep. Traditional craftsmen using wooden paddles wash the wool in water — as opposed to noxious chemicals — then dry it in the sun. Shown here: a custom riff on the sandy rhythms of Saint-Tropez. nibarugs.com/showrooms