Styleture

The Green GOOD DESIGN Awards are always an indicator of progress that the design industry makes towards sustainability; recognizing only those products expected to contribute to the development of a healthy society. Each year, hundreds of products are submitted but only a few dozen make the cut. We pared down the extensive list to share with you several of our favorite recipients:

smart is a brand that consumers look to for future lifestyle products such as their now ubiquitous two-seater car, gaining their latest product to hit showroom floors even more attention. Starting this year, the smart ebike will be sold at dealerships with an eye on luring city dwellers out of their car and into an easy bike ride. Research shows us that bicycle commuting is increasingly popular and this is overwhelmingly evident in densely populated cities well served by transit and pedestrian infrastructure such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The ebike can be peddled like a regular bike during which time a small motor is charged so it can take over or help when the rider is tired or starts biking up an incline. The hope is that smart car drivers, who are already much more likely to live in cities, will take the bike for their commute or small errands to spare themselves traffic and parking issues.

New York City manufacturer Watermark Designs was recognized for its Luxury Shower System which brings a new level of personalization and digitalization to the shower while maintaining its ‘green’ standards. The shower is controlled by a touch screen which can be programmed with personalized shower settings for temperature, music, lighting, water orientation, and even water consumption. The system tracks water usage through the Green Statistics function and was designed to conform to strict green building codes such as California’s CALGreen standards. While cramming in all this new technology, Watermark remains dedicated to original and attractive design of its luxury fixtures.

Italian designers Ludovica and Roberto Palomba are the masterminds behind Laufen’s evolving and ever-popular Palomba collection of luxury bath furniture. Distinct from other luxury brands, the new designs added to the collection each season are intended to complement rather than replace existing designs in the collection to reflect changing tastes and attitudes, much as a fashion label would. This time around, Laufen was awarded the Green GOOD DESIGN Award for the Palomba wall-hung toilet which is EPAWaterSense labeled. Most of the unit is built into the wall and remains out of view, making it a minimalist and unobtrusive addition to the room.

Riding a trend favoring wall-hung toilets, Caroma was recognized at the awards for two of their Invisi Series II toilets. Caroma is often associated with environmentalism due to their extensive line of water-conserving products and, consistent with that, both of these toilets are also WaterSense labeled and fitted with dual-flush technology which keeps water consumption at just 0.8 to 1.28 gallons per flush. The Invisi Series Cube toilet was recently featured in the Life Edited 1 home which was built as the result of a green and space saving design competition.

CSL was awarded for its Eco-Downlight LED Mini, a smaller version of its popular Eco-Downlight which we recently discussed in relation to retail. The fixture is admired for its enormous energy and maintenance savings, using just 14, rather than 50, Watts and is Energy Star compliant. BUILDERnews voted it as one of the “Best Products” of 2011 for it’s nimbleness, flexibility, and efficiency.

Zephyr is known in the world of kitchens as an authority on high-performance, high-design range hoods so it was no surprise that they received a Good Green Design Award for their Next Generation Europa series. The Europa series range hoods have been extremely popular and the Next Generation line of hoods use Zephyr’s acclaimed DCBL (pronounced “decibel”) suppression system which is astonishingly efficient and quiet. DCBL is the industry’s first range hood to be powered by direct current (DC), rather than alternating current (AC). Zephyr is betting that the efficiency and performance of this system will further cement their leadership position in the luxury range hood market.

Perhaps most unusual of the award recipients was Deutsche See, a major German fish-processor who’s packaging redesign not only spares the environment of needless waste but also resolves other distribution problems. Their new Fish Crate was redesigned into a curved form which has had the effect of providing better drainage of excess water, boosting the life of packaging and in some cases the quality of product. The reworking of their packaging turned out to be a key branding moment for the company, who’s crates are now instantly recognizable and generate far less waste than their predecessors.

WMF is well known for utilizing high-quality materials to create stunning products like cocktail shakers, decanters, corkscrews and wine glasses. For professional mixologists and casual drink makers alike, their cocktail shakers are not only eye-catching in their design, but they also stand the test of time.

As drink prices in bars continue to skyrocket, shaking cocktails at home is becoming more and more popular. WMF cocktail shakers lend inspiration to creating new drinks with their beauty and user-friendliness. You can create your own cocktail recipe, shake them up in a WMF shaker right in front of your friends, and serve them up some tasty drinks. Made of high-quality Cromargan^® 18/10 stainless steel, they are hard wearing, scratch-resistant and shock-proof, even if you use and abuse them to the hilt. They make a great addition to any bar and they’re certain to be a topic of conversation amongst your cocktail party guests.

Here are two of Styleture’s favorite WMF cocktail shakers:

Shaker Boston Set Loft Bar

1x stirring glass with scale, 1x shaker

The Boston Shaker is the instrument of professional barkeepers. Put the ingredients into the glass beaker. Put the Cromargan vessel over the beaker. After shaking, use the bar strainer to strain the mixture out of the metal piece. The stirring glass features a well-structured scale.

Cocktail Shaker Bar

This cocktail shaker is convincing due to its bottom part made of glass. A clearly laid out scaling makes it easy to measure off the ingredients. The lid and sieve are made of high-grade stainless steel.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, can we please get a drink over here!

The Styleture editorial team loves kitchens; and we’d be lying if we said we didn’t have a special place in our hearts for kitchens with islands. A well-designed kitchen island can greatly enhance storage, display, seating and all-around functionality of your kitchen, and look incredible while doing so. If you have your cooking range set up island style, then you also have the added benefit of featuring an island range hood in your kitchen. Chosen carefully, a quality, design-forward range hood can not only serve to keep the air in your kitchen and entire house steam, smoke and smell free, but it can also serve as an eye-catching focal point. As always, we’ve done our research on the best and most beautiful island range hoods out there, and we’d like to share with you five of our favorites:

Zephyr 36” Napoli Island Range Hood

The Zephyr 36” Napoli Island Range Hood

This range hood is part of Zephyr’s Next Generation Europa line. Napoli is a classic island range hood design. Strong with upwardly-angled walls, Napoli makes an impression in any kitchen. Upgraded with Zephyr’s DCBL Suppression System, Bloom HD LED bulbs and the unique Quick-Lock installation system, Napoli is as easy to install as it is to look at. A technological achievement, Napoli is a cut above the rest. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s true – the world of fanciful product design extends to the ice cube tray, and there may be no more an interesting way to freshen up that Silver Bullet cocktail than with a couple of bullet shaped ice cubes in your glass. The black, silicone, Bullet AK-47 Ice Cube Tray is a spitting replica of a magazine for the famed Kalashnikov assault rifle and it makes ice cubes shaped like the bullets that it spits out. Simply fill the tray with water, then “load” your glass for the ultimate gangsta drink. The Bullet AK-47 Ice Cube Tray is undoubtedly the ultimate way to make your party go off with a bang and at price point of around $15, it makes a great design-forward gift, too. Perhaps the following drink recipe will further entice you to want this nifty little tray with the cool design:

The AK-47 Bullet Ice Cube Tray

Read the rest of this entry »

Zephyr's IMKDC (Inspire My Kitchen Design Contest)

Back in June, we told you about the IMKDC (Inspire My Kitchen Design Contest), brought to you by our favorite range hood innovator, Zephyr. The contest, in its second year, brings together culinary aficionados, and awards homeowners and professional designers with prizes for incorporating a Zephyr range hood into their kitchen. Even better, it enters those of you who participate, simply by voting or making comments on your favorite kitchen entries, into the IMKDC monthly prize give-a-way. The prizes include the Element Portable Grill by Fuego and the Beats Pro from the Beats by Dre line of headsets; both products are from the vivid imagination of Zephyr Arc Collection designer Robert Brunner.

The Element Portable Grill

Read the rest of this entry »

Just because you can’t afford to stay in a luxury hotel, doesn’t mean you can’t swing by and drink in one. Some of the best hotels in the world are also known for having some of the most design-forward and inviting bars in the world. And while we love sports bars and dive bars almost any night of the week (or every night of the week, really), every once in a while we get the urge to get dolled up in our Sears Collection threads and see what kind of trouble we can get into amongst the socialites, jet-setters and glitterati of the world. The following is a round up of the 5 Most Design-Forward & Inviting Hotel Bars in the World:

5) Connaught Bar at the Connaught, London

The Connaught Bar at the Connaught, London

If black marble, exotic leathers and glimmering silver accents don’t turn you on, then what does? Brazen in its opulence, this elegant parlor bar takes luxury drinking to a whole new level while catering to well-heeled clientele that include famous entertainers, politicians and sports figures. Sip a Julep laced with herbal Fernet-Branca, while taking in the sex-appeal oozing atmosphere. (the-connaught.co.uk) Read the rest of this entry »

The crack editorial team at Styleture has a penchant for gravitating towards stories revolving around bar, pub and tavern style. You may have enjoyed our recent post – Books & Bars: L.A.’s Thirst for Literature. Don’t worry, we’re in control of our imbibing and there’s not a DUI among us. So we’re going to continue with this crowd-pleasing trend…

Rusty and leaky faucets, toilets that don’t flush and lighting so dark you’re not sure what you just stepped in may be acceptable, and even stylistically required, in a dirty dive bar whose most lavish feature is a broken pinball machine or PBR on tap. To Mr. T’s Bowl (Los Angeles), the Subway Inn (New York), and all the other dive bar classics across the nation, we salute your repellent, yet strangely inviting aesthetic.

But to any bar owners hoping to woo a mid to upscale clientele, who have not put forth any effort into creating a brilliant bath environment that is pleasant in sight, sound and smell – not to mention functionality – please beware. You’re losing style points fast in the mind of patrons, most of whom are Yelpers, and will not hesitate to ruthlessly – and often poetically – destroy your establishment under their pen name. Bottom line, the bathroom in your bar may be one of your establishment’s most important features and finding the best products to make it a comfortable, and even sexy environment, is imperative.

Here are our picks of some of the hottest products for the hip and modern bar bath on the market:

Read the rest of this entry »