Blogger of the Week

Design Green

By Molly Heintz

You don’t have to cry over spilt Cabernet–that is, if you have the right tablecloth. When red wine hits the Underfull by designer Kristine Bjaadal a pattern is revealed in the special two-layer fabric. Rather than stained textile ready for the landfill, now you have a unique and reusable design object with a backstory. Smart.

This is the kind of thing you’ll find on Design Green, a blog about sustainable design from Interior Design Magazine. Written by Penny Bonda and Emily Pilloton, Design Green has consumer-oriented content, but because many of the site’s readers are in design trades, the comments and conversations generated by the blog are well-informed and engaging. Find out about everything from sustainably quarried stone to the new eco-friendly undies by PACT.

Pilloton in particular has become something of a celebrity in sustainable design circles. The founder of Project H, a charitable organization that promotes design initiatives for “Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness,” she is an under-30 powerhouse. Pilloton got attention recently for her book, Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People (Metropolis Books), and the associated Design Revolution Road Show, a cross-country road trip/book tour that featured 40 humanitarian design solutions exhibited in an Airstream trailer.