DIGS eco friendly design community thinks about the products we use, where they come from, how they are made, who created them and, the impacts they have on our people and planet.
We feel that together, designers and consumers,
can reshape our economy and societies to help advance a global conservation ethic by choosing
sustainable materials and using sustainable practices that support rather than deplete, endangered places.
Rhea studied at Parsons School of Design. Her career followed an organic yet logical progression. She practiced architecture and industrial design while making art furniture from found objects, showing them in local NY galleries. Early on, what intreagued her was the role the designer can play in sustainability both from an environmental position as well as from a human perspective. She opened DIGS in 1991, determined to bridge the gap between design, handicraft, fair-trade, using sustainable materials in an attempt to preserve artisanal handicraft through the use of ecological & sustainable materials by giving artisans internationally sustainable business. She has been consulting for the private sector and NGO's such as Aid to Artisans and USAid with the similar mission.
Vacide Erda Zimic, was born in Lima, Peru in 1974. Her career started as an artist studying painting in the Fine Arts Dept. at The Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. After graduating, she experimented in set design, cabinet design, photography and Illustration, before she felt the desire to devote herself to product design. In 2001, she started her own studio and workshop, employing local artisans.
She uses recycled and reclaimed scrap fabrics like felt, cotton, alpaca and carpet; combining them to make objects using different processes such as sewing, rolling, sticking and cutting. Her current collection includes handbags, necklaces, brooches, earrings and many other fashion accessories. She lives in Lima with her children and husband.
Diane Ruengsorn's ideas were born from her experiences in the furniture industry. While apprenticing for a furniture designer/manufacturer, she witnessed the chemicals and materials that workers were exposed to on a daily basis. Many of these substances are known to cause cancer or other chronic health conditions. This led her to believe that products could be produced with people-friendly materials and methods that didn’t harm anyone in the process.
“Live well, live right” is her philosophy; that you can have products that enhance your life while taking into account people and our planet. Her mission is to offer consumers affordable home products that adhere to environmentally and socially responsible standards.
The design team at Fuz is lead by Josh Jakus, the California based industrial designer best known for his shape shifting products made from sustainable materials. Josh creates simple, elegant and fun household accessories that are both accessible and provocative.
The RIKA Collection was established in 2004 by industrial designer Ricardo Geldres Piumatti and plastic artist Kareen Nishimura Doy. The name RIKA is a combination of both their names.
RIKA is dedicated to design and develop products manufactured with non conventional materials, rescuing artisan techniques and adding playfulness to each singular proposal. They make use of materials reusing, adapting and recycling them in an innovative way.
They live in Lima, teach design at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica and have their studio just outside of Lima where they create their wonderful items by hand working side by side with their team and their mascot, Chingo.
Designers Dieter Kaiser & Christa Laiß are experts working with textiles and natural dyes since 1970.
In 2002-2008 they traveled back and forth from their native Germany to Peru to assisted Raymisa in developing the center for natural dyes and felt products.
Francine LeFrak is an award-winning producer and passionate philanthropist. Her productions have helped to turn the tide on a range of crucial issues such as AIDS, intolerance and the ravages of war. Her work as a social issue film producer served as a catalyst for her work as a social entrepreneur. She's the Founder and President of SAME SKY, a ‘trade-not-aid’ initiative with its first project in Rwanda that gives HIV-positive women survivors of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide a ‘hand-up’ instead of a ‘hand-out’. SAME SKY’s mission is to help these women rebuild their lives, families and community.
Mery Luz Salva Diaz was born and lives in Lima, Peru with her husband and daughter. As a fulltime working mother she wanted to find a way to earn an income from home so she could raise her child. In 2006, with a curiosity in sustainable materials, she started to play with wooden beads, wire, fiber and scrap felt from a toy factory in Lima. Designing and making her own "bijouterie" got her many compliments and commissions. Later that year, she started a collection and showed it in local galleries which launched her home business. Today, she employs other mothers who make her jewelry from their own homes, allowing them to stay part of their communities, keep to their familial responsibilities while, still earning a fair wage to support their children.
Funlayo Alabi started Shea Radiance to work in cooperation with the local Women in Niger State to establish a Shea Butter production venture in Northern Nigeria. Their goal is to establish a viable business entity that will be a sustainable source of income and economic activity for the women in the community. By processing the shea nuts into shea butter within the local communities, the women producers are able to add value to the product prior to export. This allows them to make a significantly higher income from the sale of shea butter as opposed to shea nuts. They invest in building capacity for the local cooperatives by providing storage facilities, transportation and appropriate technology. This support allows them to produce high quality shea butter that meets the quality standards that our customers expect from us.
Heather Lins launched her eponymous home textile line in 2008 at the New York International Gift Fair. She was one of three winners selected to exhibit via the “A+: Young Designers Platform” competition for up-and-coming designers. Trained as a graphic designer, Lins brings a conceptual approach to home textile design. From the typography of eye charts to scientific diagrams, she uses images that are easily recognized but unexpected in home textiles.
Patricia Juana Caceres has been connected to textiles since she was very young because both her parents are artisans.
She studied at The University Mayor de San Andres in La Paz in Communications and later studied tendencies and quality control through the mayor's office of La Paz. She attended USAID program BCCN focus on designs, then a 2 year course on design and use of colours through COPROCA. Later she worked with international designer Brigitte Landawer.
Her main inspiration as a designer is "when you design you play with the imagination, forms and techniques of weaving".
Five years ago, she build her own workshop together with her husband (Carlos Soliz).
For Patricia working with Awayu means she can help in a direct way the community and especially the people of El Alto since they (Awayu) can give work to many artisans and at the same time she can help the artisans to improve their techniques and teach them about tendencies and ways to improve the products that they produce.
Daniel Michalik is principal of DMFD, a firm creating furniture and objects from underutilized, environmentally responsible materials. Recent explorations have unlocked the vast potential of cork to perform in ways no other material can. Daniel was the recipient of the Fellowship in Design from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts in 2005. He has exhibited internationally, including at the Milan Furniture Fair, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the VIA in Paris. His work has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Dwell, Food & Wine, Wallpaper*, Interior Design and American Craft, as well as the Sundance Channel and HGTV. He received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in the Department of Furniture Design, and currently teaches Industrial Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He lives and works in New York City.
Designer and founder Ella Vickers' voyage to the creation of EVRSC began while serving as first mate on the sailing yacht Columbia, the first 12-meter vessel to win the America’s cup. Ella saw untapped potential in the yacht’s discarded sails and drew upon her creativity and training to design a handful of unique, attractive and practical recycled sailcloth bags. Ella Vickers, Inc. and the Ella Vickers Recycled Sailcloth Collection was born.
Ella Vickers Inc. has been creating quality marine canvas products since 1989. She started her business with no money- after receiving a business degree at a local NC college- relying on credit cards to fund her small enterprise. Today the company owns a small factory at their headquarters in Wrightsville Beach, NC and employs another 20 workers in Brooklyn.
Frederic Alcantara was born in France, he is a seasoned freelance product developer who has designed and developed for many international brands and a consultant for non-profits such as Aid to Artisans. Working with Artisans around the world for at least a lifetime, today he resides in Morocco/
Marrakech, surrounded and inspired by unending streams of rich handcraft traditions.
Marie Havens is a designer and photographer based in New York City. She moved here at 17 to study fashion design at Parsons New School of Design – where she graduated with honors and the distinguished Designer of the Year award. Marie has worked within the fashion and photography fields for over a decade – traveling the world from Europe, Asia, & Central America to Mexico, Australia, and Africa. She is currently the Design Director of MEND, the new accessories division of the media based non-profit Invisible Children. Marie has also collaborate and consult for celebrity photographer Patrick McMullan; a ten year working relationship that includes photographing events and designing his top selling photography book & exhibition: so8os: A Photographic Diary of a Decade. As a result, her design and photography work focuses on extremes in society, which greatly parallels my life and experiences in both New York City & Africa.
Darin Montgomery, a third generation craftsman, founded Urbancase in 2002 based with the idea of creating furniture and products for small living spaces. Urbancase's products have been featured in the NY Times, Dwell, Icon magazine, and Seattle Homes and Lifestyles among other publications. Aside from furniture, Darin designs interactive urns called the urn-a-matic. his work has been exhibited nationally and was recently featured in the NY Times and LA Times.
Rachel Illingworth grew up in Tasmania where she received a BFA from the University of Tasmania. she makes her home in Seattle as an internationally exhibited printmaker. her work is part of numerous private and public collections. she has a show scheduled for September 2010 at Seattle Art Museum rental/sales gallery in Seattle.
Jon L. Wilson, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP- FoodMap Design is a young multi-disciplinary design firm committed to reconnecting residential space and food cultivation. Our design concept is to use new modern and green design principles to construct spaces, landscapes, and products that support locally and home grown foods. They and we believe that eating locally and home grown foods reestablishes the relationship between everyday life and a healthy and sustainable food source.
Jon is the co-founder and chief designer. He attended architecture school at Columbia University, Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), and Tulane University earning a professional degree in architecture.
Three Blind Ants is a husband/wife owned company. Aaron is a long time advertising, branding and design veteran and owner of The Brand Hatchery. Amy is the other half of his brain and keeps everyone on task, on schedule and on budget. They are a creative team of designers, illustrators, and creatives who care about design and the environment. Their mission is to put a smile on your face and beg the question, "Now why didn’t I think of that?" We just happened to start with the picnic industry. They reside in Dallas, Texas and have a 2 year old little girl, Izzi. Ant one, ant two and ant three. (no, none of us are legally blind, but sometimes it's fun to lose your way and just see what happens. Like Boxsal.)
Avani is a voluntary organization working in the middle ranges of the Himalayas in Uttaranchal innorthern India.
Established in 1997 as the Kumaon branch of the Social Work and Research Center, also known as the Barefoot College, Avani was formally registered in 1999 as an independent organization operating with these "barefoot" principles of community-based, sustainable development.
Avani aims at the creation of village-based livelihood opportunities utilizing appropriate technologies like solar energy for household lighting systems, rain water harvesting systems for drinking water, eco-friendly initiatives such as organic farming and environmental education, and the introduction of seri-culture for production of wild silk yarns and textiles.
Kinda Hibrawi's artwork is a passionate journey of femininity, spirituality and cultural convergence. Of Syrian descent, she grew up between Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and the United States. Through her studies she began to expand on the ancient tradition of Arabic Calligraphy by giving it a modern twist. As an Arab American, she felt the need for her artwork to reflect the richness of the Middle East coupled with Western diversity. Hibrawi's original work is sought by collectors worldwide and has exhibited in galleries across the US. Her 2007 solo exhibition in Washington DC was a great success and she was named "an artistic ambassador" by Arab News.
As an artistic ambassador she lectures on her work nationwide, recently she was invited to speak at the School of Visual Fine Arts in New York City. She was asked by the City of Los Angeles to premiere her work in their 2006 Cultural Calendar and City Guide, and is featured online for the Syrian Culture, Arts and History Center in Montreal, Canada. Her work has been acquired for the permanent collection at the Arab American National Museum in Detroit, Michigan. In 2008 she was selected by the US Art in Embassies Program to showcase her work for the United States Permanent Representative to NATO Ambassador Kurt Volker in Brussels, Belgium. As a result, she was invited by the US State Department to showcase her artwork in a 2010 US Embassy wall calendar, to be distributed to US embassies worldwide. Hibrawi runs a portrait studio MyPopArt.com in California and hopes to continue bridging cultural misunderstandings between Arabs and Americans
Patti Carpenter is an International Product Design and Development Consultant and Trend Forecaster. A native of Washington, DC, she, now resides in New York City and holds degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York.
With a career that spans more than 3 decades in the Fashion Industry, she has worked with a wide variety of high end and designer brands and retailers. In 2001 she Founded Continuum Home, Inc./Carpenter + Company. Patti is passionate about integrating new product development with cultural/artisan sustainability, fair wages, and environmental and social responsibility. As consumers of high quality goods expand/strengthen their interest in these concerns, she believe these attributes will be more influential on purchasing decisions, providing a clear business advantage to companies that make a genuine commitment to sustainability and responsibility.
After graduating with a BFA from Central St. Martins of London in 2003, Shanan Campanaro has developed a vibrant studio practice and exhibition schedule, has received significant support from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and has worked as a senior designer in fashion textiles and graphics in New York City.
In the spring of 2008, she launched a line of bespoke wallpaper made to order. The surge in interest prompted her to launch ESKAYEL at the Brooklyn Designs Juried show in May 2009.
Since her launch of Eskayel her work has gotten critical acclaim and been featured in the New York Times, Interior Design Magazine, House Beautiful, Luxe interiors, and Daily candy.
Tawny Reynolds is a sustainable thinker and talented craftsperson working in Minnesota. At an early age, she had an interest in lenses and the heat they derived. After experimentation, she started melting glass with the Fresnel lens to create all sorts of forms and eventually came up with her jewelry collection. The cool thing about this process of melting recycled glass is that it has no emissions nor consumes any fuels. Wanting to examine her entire production footprint, her studio also uses partly recycled silver in the bindings and recycled paper in the packaging.
Based in Helsinki, Finland,Saara Renvall is a designer working with furniture, objects, jewellery, spaces and interiors. After finishing her 3-year training as a carpenter, Renvall graduated from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki and received her Master of Arts in 2002. She has studied shorter periods in India, Denmark, Japan and the UK, gaining expertise in different design cultures.
Along with design projects of her own, Renvall has teached design at the University of Art and Design. She has taken part in several design exhibitions in Finland and abroad. Besides home and public space furniture, her most acclaimed work include a ceremonial jewellery (kääty) for the President of the Aalto University, and a reflective brooch, Kukka – an elegant piece of accessory that has become very popular in Finland.
Renvall strives for a diverse expression – for her, vision and intuition are more important than using a pre-determined set of materials or techniques. She has great respect for craft skills and people working with their hands. Besides design, Renvall finds passion in art, old country houses and changing seasons.
Since 2002, Renvall has been a founding member and one of the central figures of Imu design, a Finnish design collective promoting young Finnish design abroad. Imu has organised international design exhibitions in orded to help bridge the gap between studies and working life for emerging young designers.
Renvall received the Bryggman scholarship in 2005 for her merits in creative design. She has also received the Finnish Cultural Foundation one-year grant for artistic work both in 2008 and 2009, along with several smaller grants, scholarships and design prizes since year 2000. In 2010, Renvall was awarded The Young Designer of the Year Prize with Elina Aalto and Krista Kosonen.
"Our products allow us to do what we love and it allows us to work with progressive people and groups that help minimize society's impact on nature and our eco-system. Our mission focuses on habitat preservation and conservation. Soap helps us accomplish that. That's why we call it soapy love."
No more bulk packaging, wasted materials, lists of ingredients a mile long that few people can pronounce, or ingredients and packaging that contribute to environmental hazards or questionable ethics. Their products will never include palm oils. Soap makers use palm oil because it’s cheap and readily available. Commercial harvesting of palms for their oil is the leading cause of the ecosystem’s loss of habitat and deforestation.
Melanie and Haskell have choosen ingredients with the least amount of environmental impact. Mōksa’s packaging is tree free. They use post-consumer waste, recycled materials, and no virgin plastics.
mōksa ingredients are Certified Organic. Fair-Trade whenever possible. No chemicals. They support: Just and Fair wages. Women’s cooperatives.Environmental advocacy groups.Sustainable businesses.Local businesses. Non-profit environmental organizations….and they’re certified carbon neutral!
Respect our Planet, Support Human Rights & Start a Clean Revolution!
Smateria was set up in 2006 in Cambodia by two Italian friends: Elisa, who runs the creative side and Jennifer, the business side. They both believed “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure” and knew it was possible to transform discarded old materials into gorgeous new accessories. Elisa lived in China and Italy before moving to Cambodia in 2006 with her family. Jennifer has lived in Cambodia since 2001 with her partner and their two children. She has worked in the tourism industry for years and was looking for a new challenge when she met Elisa. Elisa and Jennifer continue to learn every day from their inspirational Cambodian team. To work alongside Cambodian managers in their business who were formerly exploited workers without rights or a future, confirms for Elisa and Jennifer that their dream has definitely become a reality.
La Casa artisans hand make each bag following the old European and Guatemalan traditions from centuries past. The suede will patina with time and the wool will age gracefully to tell your story along its rich history.
MSY Japan artisan products feature both the meticulous artistry and clean design Japanese products are known for. Using traditional techniques of wood carving and wood from managed forests, these case's design juxtapose the high-tech of your IPhone with the natural material of wood. They will age gracefully in your hand while protecting your phone.
Designer Niels Romer is a young German designer of 36 years, who currently lives in Hamburg. He started his career as a mason in 1996. Then he continued his education by moving towards the design.
So he attended classes at the Hochschule fur Kunste bildende (School of Fine Arts) in Hamburg where he graduated in 2006. He then settled in 2008 as a freelance designer in Hamburg, he creates Sonderlin Produktdesign. Niels Romer has created a fantastic fruit bowl exclusively for Menu. “My initial ambition was really to create a design that make people stop and think. This design provokes in a positive and happy way and makes most people pay attention,” says designer Niels Romer. The collection showcases a range of exciting colours including Carbon, Spring leaf, Snow white, Storm blue, Neo purple and Neo red.
The architects Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen Kasper & Ronn, has roots in the Scandinavian design tradition, which they enforce and further develop. Design should meet real needs and delight all the senses, says Jonas & Kasper. A classic, recognizable form given an original twist that calls for attention. A new material or a small detail makes you want to touch the product smell it and enjoy the sound when you put it on the table ... Norm combines optimum performance and aesthetic beauty - and adds the little extra that gives the product strength and ageless soul . Design that will be seen and used!
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