Cool Hunting

Fairpack
Fairpack is Central Saint Martins student Mark Hadfield's Master's thesis and plan to reinvent the shopping bag as we know it. Still in development, Hadfield's project tasks designers with creating a graphic to adorn biodegradable plastic bags, recycled paper bags, and cotton bags as low-cost replacements for standard less eco-friendly sacks. His mission fuses ethics, design, and environmentalism to "unbrand" the common grocery bag,...

Ecotonoha
A brilliant little future conscious design project-- Ecotonoha was created by Yugo Nakamura, ( MONO*CRAFTS ) for NEC. By adding words as leaves you collaborate to nurture a virtual tree. As the virtual tree grows, NEC will plant real trees on Kangaroo Island in Australia. Over 600 trees have been planted so far....

The Future Network: The Magazine
There's something refreshingly compelling about The Future Laboratory's latest publication, simply titled The. A "younger sibling" to their house publication Viewpoints, the quarterly is a straightforward look (read: no cheesy color-themed layouts) at current products, people, ideas and events, serving as a cultural thermometer aimed at an audience of marketers, creative directors, designers and the like. While the unfussy approach of The is part...

Rocio Romero: LV Series
It's an all-too-common complaint that modern prefabricated homes don't fit the utilitarian or economical requirements of the average Joe. Fortunately, these Joes have a sympathetic ear with Rocio Romero. The Missouri-based architect built her first prototype in 2000 as a Chilean vacation home for her parents, and in the last few years has seen a boom in construction of her efficient, inexpensive kit homes,...

Pineapple Paper Furniture
Establishment (an interior design outpost in Manhattan) recently tipped us to Pineapple Paper Furniture, a new line of benches and chairs made from compressed pineapple fibers. We like the Doonya Chair (pictured above right, $1,900) as well as the Nut Bench (pictured after the jump, $2,900). They hadn't been added to the website last time we checked, but you can email Establishment directly: info...

Greener Gadgets Call For Entries
Greener Gadgets, a conference on the topic of greening consumer electronics, partnered up with our amigos at Core 77 in hopes of seeking out design innovations for more eco-friendly electronics. The design competition will engage established design firms and students alike to come up with new solutions for consumer electronics addressing energy issues, health and toxicity, new materials, product lifecycle and social development. The...