Designer Rhea Alexander founded Duchamp's Irreverent Guiding Spirit, Inc. in 1991 to produce and distribute eco-friendly home accessories using Fair Trade principles. Through DIGS, Rhea also provides sustainability consulting to other producers and retailers.

Every collection embodies DIGS’ commitment to eco-conscious manufacturing, economic development, fair trade and fair wages as well as the highest-quality design. For example, since the beginning DIGS has been working with artisans in Egypt to create the popular Nile Stones collection, which is handmade from stone left over from the construction industry. By using this by-product and providing training and exchange, we have helped Egyptian artisans build successful small businesses with ecological and sustainable ideology at their heart. We are developing DIGS products with artisans in Peru through a program developed with the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and the FSC (the Forestry Stewardship Council), and in India with SKAL-approved organic-cotton industry by-products.

DIGS collections appear regularly in leading consumer magazines and trade periodicals, from Interior Design and Elle Décor to New York Magazine and the New York Times. Worldwide retail customers include Viva Terra, Gaiam, Waterworks, Neiman-Marcus, Horchow, the Frontgate catalog, Banana Republic, Bergdorf Goodman, Barney's, Lane Crawford of Hong Kong, Harrods of London, ABC Carpet and Home, Williams Sonoma's Chambers catalog, Bloomingdale’s, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Gracious Home.

We received the “Best New Product Award” in 1996, 1999 and again in 2001 at the international Home Textiles Show in New York, the leading bath and linen trade show in the U.S. In 2000 DIGS won the Design Journal's Platinum Award for design excellence. In 2001 were asked to be part of the Bombay Sapphire young designers and have been featured on their web site.

As consultants, DIGS has designed for such firms as Umbra, Frigidaire and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. We have also consulted for DAI, Aid to Artisans and Exploris, non-profit organizations dedicated to alleviating hunger and poverty through the development of sustainable handcraft. We have traveled extensively, from Tanzania and Zanzibar to Nicaragua and Gaza.

In March 2003, Rhea completed a monthlong design residency in Gifu, Japan, created to foster exchange between Western designers and traditional Japanese artisans. Between 1994 and 1998, Rhea taught for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID's “Small Business Support Project”) and the Parsons School of Design. Prior to opening DIGS with her family, she worked in architecture and product design in New York City and Milan, Italy. In New York, she collaborated on such projects as the 30,000-sq-ft. Dean & Deluca Store and the Stanhope Hotel renovation. While in Italy, she collaborated with renowned Italian industrial designer Rodolfo Bonetto on designs for Nara Sports, Ricoh and Panasonic. Rhea was also part of the historic team put together by Andrea Branzi to create a submission for the NYC Waterfront Redevelopment International Competition, placing second for their design; the final plan was an amalgam of the top three projects.

Rhea also paints and creates art furniture. She has exhibited in galleries in the US and Italy, and her work was included in the book International Furniture Design for the ‘90s, published by PBC International in 1991. She currently lives with her son, Lex, and her husband, Dave, in New York City.


Dave Glassman: Dave's been working in the specialty home furnishings and fashion field since 1997, and has directed the marketing departments of retailers such as Mitchell Gold, Restoration Hardware and The Sundance Catalog, the retail arm of Robert Redford's Sundance brand. Dave currently oversees marketing and PR for DIGS, gives a hand with business administration and susses out unique merchandise.

Lex: Alexander-Sebastian or, as we like to call him, Lex, is ready to take on the world—at age five, his passport has already been stamped in Peru (twice!) and Vietnam. His infectious laughter and his passion for all things butterfly, Star Wars and anything speed-related are the glue that keeps Team DIGS humming! He draws and paints regularly and shows in our hallway gallery…and he sometimes draws on Mommy's important papers, too.