Bring some life into your lifeless places

We got this great little terrarium from one of our favorite new providers: Uncommon Goods (disclaimer: for free, though we got to pick what we wanted from their online store). What we liked about it was that (a) it was essentially an old wine bottle with the top whacked off (not bar-room fight style, but cleanly lasered), and (b) it seemed like the perfect way to get a little green into our office without a lot of work (or, ahem, maintenance requirements like watering). Turns out (no surprise to us of course), that we were right. (again)

The entire thing was cleverly packaged – basically a bottle with dirt, moss and a set of chopsticks. It was a little messy getting all the dirt into the bottle (best to remove keyboards, etc when doing so), but the chopsticks helped to get the right placement (these eventually become the stand to keep the bottle from rolling around). And in just a few minutes we had what you see in the picture. The packaging suggests putting in other little tchochkies like plastic dwarves or mini ewoks (your own personal Endor!), but we decided to pass.

In the end it’s a simple little thing – but it really is great for adding some green to an un-green area (like a cube or office, or even a dresser). A little piece of earth to keep us grounded.

Uncommon Goods also has a number of other green and plant-related and gardening supplies like air plant vases, herb garden kits, bansai kits and all kinds of great stuff:

cool gifts for gardeners
plant gifts

As to the terrarium – it’s $38.

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Bring the woods into your house

I can’t imagine anything more sublime than a lovely venison meal served up on these moss placemats. How woodsy! Or, apologies to vegans out there, how about a nice saute of hen-of-the-woods with caramlized onions floating on a bed of rice, floating on a plate, floating on these wonderful mossy mats?

They’re pretty simple: preserved mosses fastened to bamboo placemats. Not sure how to clean or preserve them, but they’ll be fun while they last. The only thing that could make this better would be a pine needle rug. Will have to check Etsy for that…

Check it out: made to order.

$40 for a set of 4

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Healthy subscription for yourself and the environment

Now this is smart: you sign up, pay in advance, then leave it to Preserve to send you a toothbrush every couple or few months. What’s even cooler is that when you get your new brush, you can send back your old one which will then be further recycled into a park bench. Or something.

If you’re not familiar with Preserve, they are our toothbrush of choice – let’s be honest here, what much can be said about a toothbrush. But these have a nice little curve, are easy to hold and are made from old yogurt cups, which let’s us feel better about throwing them out every couple months.

The subscription is for 4 brushes, the first comes with a travel case, the others in a mail back pack so you can send back your used ones. They also have a subscription for kids brushes.

$15

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From bike to beer...

Because really, what do cyclists do other than cycle? Drink beer.

Or maybe that’s just a cliche, but it’s still pretty cool to have one of these around. The bicycle chain is actually a good asset because it allows you to hang it where you like, or just spin it around on your finger.

Anodized aluminum opener should stand up to lots of caps.

On sale now for $9 (regularly $11)

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Ahhh.

We aren’t promoting drinking your way through the holidays, but we aren’t not promoting it either. Think how much easier it will be to deal with the familial guilt and shortcomings, the awkward work party conversations and kisses from your mustachioed aunties when you’re half in the bag!

And as an added bonus: you will be the envy (and newly coveted friend) of all the alcoholics in your family when you pull out this stainless flask. It’s Mad Men in styling, but eco in nature (it is made from recycled scrap steel). Fill it with your choice: schnapps for the cold climates, rum for spiking the punch or good old cheap vodka to speed up that downward spiral you’re on. Or maybe just a little wine or brandy might be nice to have on hand now and again.

OK, but seriously, this is pretty cool and would be handy on the slopes or for kitch cache…fun gift for the stylish, eco-conscious nipper in your life.

Just $25 (on sale now for $15!)

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Recycled PET Bottles + good design

The Restore Basket is made by Finnish designer, Miva Tolvanen (don’t you just love Finnish names?). It’s super simple and clean, yet strong and good for holding newspapers or magazines, your craft goods, firewood or whatever else. The felt finish ensures that wherever you drag it, it won’t scratch.

We love the eco-friendly nature of it and think it might even be good for last minute Christmas gifts.

$100

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Kit to make your own bonsai: a rare deciduous mini conifer.

This little bonsai kit will allow you (or a green-thumbed friend/family member) to create their own miniature forest using this kit. It gets cooler: these trees are actually a descendent of the California Redwoods (yeah, the HUGE ones) that they thought to be extinct until someone actually found one growing in a rice paddy in China!

This is a rare deciduous conifer (so I guess it’s not, technically speaking, an evergreen), so it’s needles shed every fall. There is only one other deciduous conifer.

That’s some serious bragging rights – if you can pull off growing these suckers (pictured are 3 years old). Comes with 3 little pots, seeds (in starting “wafers”), growing medium, bonsai scissors, a rake/spade, moss seed, river stone, a cool tin to plant it in (also is a nice gift box), and of course instructions. All the plastic and steel are recycled, too.

$50

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Cool design, made from recycled aluminum.

Anyone who lives in Southern California may know that the Santa Anas have been blowing in of late. For those of you who don’t, these are the hot winds that blow down from, well, the Santa Ana mountains. And when I say blow, I mean BLOW. Up to 100 mph gusts come ripping through LA, taking down trees, powerlines, small animals – whatever gets in the way.

I bring this up because we lost our power a couple nights ago. Keep in mind that it barely even rains down here, so this is an unusual occurrence to say the least. And when it happened, I had to fumble around in the dark looking for candles. What I found wasn’t pretty: holdovers from the poor hippie days. So I have decided it’s time to upgrade.

And thus I found this lovely candelabra fashioned after a set of deer antlers, cast in polished aluminum from old beer cans (no doubt these were also from said poor hippie days of yore). And it holds a few tapered candles for decent light. Totally. Awesome.

These are so cool they’re worth using even when your power works.

$123

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Save landfill space. Eat good to go food.

Get to-go food ever? We do to. Who has time to always cook? But the problem is that every time you go to get Ma po tofu or sushi or what have you, they always throw in plastic ware. If you’re lucky it’s made from corn – but in the end it’s still going to the landfill.

So we were excited when we saw these on sale while eating some delicious macro food at Seed (amazing vegan burger/fries, btw) in Venice yesterday: bamboo reusable portable tableware. Now we just throw these in with our lunch. We keep an extra in the car so when we get food on the go, we’re good.

Oh and it comes with spoon, knife, fork and chopsticks too! And a handy carrying case with a carabiner to snap on to your backpack or whatever.

Fun gift idea for the environmentalist or college student in your life (seriously, remember all the to go food back then?), as well.

This comes as a 2-pack.

$25

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Old boxes: new lights

These pendants from graypants are handmade in Seattle, WA of repurposed cardboard boxes. They are unique looking and cast a really cool light. They are coated with a No-Burn spray (it’s green, don’t worry – no VOCs, Class A Fire Rating) so you won’t burn your house down.

We like the “Jupiter” series because they look like flashy planetary lights up in the mooniverse of any loft, apartment or office space. But they also come in bell shapes, stars, bean(ish) and discs.

You can get this whole set (the “galilean moon set”) together for $680 or you can get them individually from $130 to $280.

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