The First 100% FSC-Certified Wood Bicycle in the U.S.From Renovo & Collins

above: the Renovo R4 Pursuit model made with FSC-certified CollinsWood.

The Collins Companies has just announced that it has commissioned the first 100% FSC-certified bicycle in the nation. In case you were wondering, FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council.

The bike, manufactured by Renovo Hardwood Bicycles, is an “R4 Pursuit” model that features a stiff, powerful and lightweight frame. All of Renovo’s bikes are custom-made – adjusting the stiffness and ride quality to the customer’s individual riding style and weight.

Renovo is one of the few companies in the world that manufactures wood bicycles (but not the only one, be sure to see Woody Bicycles ) and the only one making them with hollow frames.

Here's a few of Renovo's beautiful wood bikes and frames made with Black Cherry, Hard Maple, Birch, Hickory, Padauk, Sapele, Laminated Bamboo and exotic woods like Purple Heart, Bubinga and Wenge:








“I am proud to have used 100% FSC-certified wood on this particular bike,” stated Ken Wheeler, owner, Renovo Hardwood Bicycles. “We utilized a species combination of CollinsWood® from the Collins Pennsylvania Forest including; Black Cherry, Hard Maple, and Birch.”






Collins had this bike commissioned for one of their employees, to demonstrate their continued commitment to this mission. “Although wood bicycles are still in their infancy, we are constantly exploring new ways to have CollinsWood incorporated into everyday products and we want our customers to explore new uses,” said Cameron Waner, marketing coordinator for The Collins Companies. Waner continues, “Specifying FSC-certified wood in their projects is one of the most powerful things our customers can do to change the way wood products are harvested and sold around the world.”

The bike made its worldwide debut at the Greenbuild International Conference in Chicago, on November 17-19, 2010.

Renovo Bikes

Oh Tannenboing! A Modern Sleek Aluminum Sustainable Christmas Tree

Designed to appeal to your modern sensibility and your green lifestyle, tannenboing is a hip, environmentally friendly and reusable modern Christmas tree made of recycled aluminum. Produced in the USA, it easily springs into a modern Christmas tree each season and can then be flat-packed away for easy storage until the next year.







The tannenboing is a blank slate that can serve as a display for cards, ornaments, or jewelry. The smaller version makes a great point-of-purchase display to hold gift certificates, cards and other small items. The clean design doesn’t take away from the articles or ornaments being displayed and it can be used as a display tree, design element, or modern sculpture all year round.


Tannenboing is environmentally friendly, and can be made from aluminum, wood and even recycled paper. The display piece is flat-packed and easy to assemble. At the end of the season, the tree can be taken down and put away for next year, or it can be recycled.

One tannenboing – the aluminum, spiral Christmas tree comes with an installation kit containing a gated hook, a gated wood screw and two cables (for ceiling heights of 8 and 9 feet). For ceiling heights higher than 9 feet, be sure to purchase the appropriate size cable.

The tannenboing has over 200 small holes around the inside and outside edges to use for hanging ornaments or display items. The holes are 1/8 of an inch and work best with metal hooks.

Only 100 first edition trees have been created and are available now for just $395 plus shipping. Order now, while supplies last.

Lufdesigns Brings Nature & Whimsy To Efficient & Ecological Design.

Tsunho Wang and his firm Lufdesign began as a product development company in Seoul, Korea in 2002. Wang and his designers have since moved into a conceptual approach, sustainable innovation and new ways to approach branding.


above left: Tsunho Wang of Lufdesign, and right: The infiniti headphones, a recent design concept

Nilfish, lufdesign’s brand, develops various technologcal and organizational products through collaborating with rising designers from outside.

Having received several awards for their innovations and wonderful design concepts like; the melding of a trash can and dust bin, a flying stick camera, the Saver clip which displays the amount of energy being wasted, and a wind-chime that can be programmed to emit data and nature sounds, they are now selling two of their products directly via their site.

The DustPan+Bin and Flying Stick Camera concepts:

The "Saver Clip" concept won them a 2007 Red Dot Design Award:

Concept for the Wind-Bell:


So what have they produced and how do you get them?

The Leaf Tie, a cute and effective way to add nature to the ordinarily cold concept of cable management, actually donates a portion of their proceeds to ecological conservation.



Sold in a pack of 12, the leaf ties are available in six attractive colors and look cute added to just about anything:




The leaf tie has spawned such consumer love and loyalty, there's even a flickr pool for user's photos here.


The Fork And Cream Sauce is another clever cable management design, a large portion of whose proceeds benefit Save The Children.





Both the Leaf Ties and The Fork and Cream Sauce are available directly from their site via paypal.


Lufdesign
121-835, 323, Seoul Design Studio, 3th fl,
DMC HI_TECH Industry Center, 1580, Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel 82 2 3153 7263, Mobile 82 10 2785 3807,
www.lufdesign.com

Amusing Reclaimed Wood: The Coney Island Furniture Line By Uhuru

Uhuru, a Brooklyn-based furniture design company dedicated to sustainability and local craftsmanship, launched its second "local materials" line for New York Design Week this past May.



The new Coney Island Line is crafted from reclaimed wood taken from the demolished iconic boardwalk. The Ipe wood, first installed on the boardwalk in the late 1940's, has weathered in the sun, salt, and snow for 70 years. The design is inspired by the duality of Coney Island- its whimsical, colorful summers and melancholy winters. The pieces interpret the architecture of the desolate dreamscape: low-rise buildings patched with signs and seasonal layers of paint, beneath the towering old-fashioned rollercoaster. The line consists of six limited edition pieces, and Uhuru will produce only ten of each design due to the finite nature of the wood.

CYCLONE LOUNGER:

The Cyclone rollercoaster is one of Coney Island's last remaining functional rides. It is resurrected here in the form of a lounge chair, with undulating dark and light Ipe and a crisp white laser-cut metal base.

Uhuru plays off the organized chaos of the ride's structure, flattened to one layer of metal, and with the sides connected sporadically to create a dynamic interchange of space and void on the base. The metal is finished with a low-VOC powder coat finish.

WONDER WHEEL COFFEE TABLE:

This coffee table pieces together wedges of Ipe into a large wheel, bolted in place with a steel plate. The stylized metal base uses a Vaudeville-inpspired scalloped pattern, held in place with steel flanges. This overtly industrial piece looks like it could have been part of a ride itself: spinning on an open ball bearing, the table combines function and whimsy.



DROP END TABLE

The Parachute Jump, a historical landmark punctuating the panorama of Coney Island, influenced the design of this end table. Once part of the World's Fair, the now defunct ride looms over the rest of the park. Uhuru captures its essence through mechanical connections on a steel base, crowned with a faceted Ipe top.

BOARDWALK CONSOLE:

The reclaimed wood surface of our console echoes the inlaid pattern of the original boardwalk, as seen from above.

The play of scale however, from the minature nail-heads to the thinly cut Ipe, changes the context of the original design and adds an element of surprise. The wood sits atop a blackened steel base.

DRUM LAMP:

Inspired by the concrete-filled oil cans that dot the landscape of Coney Island and hold everything from parking signs to umbrellas.

Uhuru re-envisions the shape by turning solid reclaimed oak timber and crowning it with a white shade. The fixture is a set of four LED bars.

SAISON MIRROR

Fresh coats of paint rejuvenate Coney Island every season, covering up the corroded surfaces below. In this beautiful and poetic piece, Uhuru scrapes away the layers obscuring a mirror, to reveal long-forgotten personality, character- and ultimately history.



Founded in 2004 by Rhode Island School of Design Graduates Jason Horvath (above left) and Bill Hilgendorf (above right), Uhuru (ooh-HOO-roo) is a furniture design/build company merging avant-garde design with a commitment to environmental sustainability.


Uhuru Design
160 Van Brunt St. 3rd Fl
Brooklyn, NY 11231
info@uhurudesign.com
Phone: 718.855.6519
Fax: 718.855.8082

product images and information courtesy of Uhuru

Additional images of the furniture line from the BKLYN DESIGNS 2010 show are from the fabulous Apartment Therapy courtesy of photographer by Aaron Able.