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Category Archives: Competition/Giveaway
GIVEAWAY: Polli release a new sustainable timber ring range
Today you are all in for a treat! The lovely girls at Polli (Tess Lloyd + Maja Rose) have got in touch, and want to celebrate the release of their brand new sustainable timber ring range, by offering up THREE of their rings~and YOU get to choose which one you want! Feeling spoilt? Absolutely!
Made from sustainable plantation pine, and screen printed in bright shots of colour, Polli have chosen the most popular designs from their timber range, and made them into rings to dress up your fingers.
On a side note, Tess and Maja’s partnership and work life balance is quite extraordinary. Over the past 12 months not only have they continued to release a stunning range of sustainable jewellery designs, but they are both juggling young families, AND Maja moved to Pittsburgh, USA. Mighty impressive in my book.
Tess and her other treasures
~~ GIVEAWAY DETAILS ~~
To be in the running to win one of three rings, simply let us know in the comments field below which is your favourite design from Polli’s new range (see the range HERE) – The winners will be drawn at random next Wednesday 4 July 2012 after 7pm. Goodluck!
Posted in Australian Design, Competition/Giveaway, jewellery
30 Comments
smith+purton launch their first sustainable homeware range + GIVEAWAY
Listen up all – A new Australian sustainable textile brand named smith+purton has launched, and we are very happy to be sharing their range and an interview with the designers themselves with you. And if that isn’t enough, they are ALSO offering up a giveaway too. I do love it when we have the complete package!
Screenprinted Kitchen City Teatowel and Forest Teatowel on hemp
Working from their somewhat chilly outdoor home studio north of Hobart, is illustrator and graphic designer Zoë Smith and her partner, print maker and furniture designer Daniel Purton. Zoë previously worked as a graphic artist in the garment industry, designing sleepwear for women and children. But it was after having two small pre-schoolers and seeking a better work life balance, they decided to pool their talents and launch a small screen printed textile range. In Zoë’s words, “things can sometimes seem to be simultaneously frantic and running in slow-motion”. Their children do however provide inspiration in the design process and proving useful sounding boards ~ ! (“Mum, why doesn’t this apron have any pockets?”….right, back to the drawing board!).
Zoë and Daniel shared with us more about their new business (and read on to see giveaway details!):
1.What inspired you to launch smith+purton? We started smith+purton because we wanted to work together, to have creative control over our work, and to make a contribution to the world of which we could be proud. We personally aspire to our home environment being a clean, pared-back space, with carefully selected, designed and made items that we intend to live with for the long haul. With this in mind, we design and make with the hope that others will want to include our products in their own catalogue of long-term treasured possessions.
2. How do you describe smith+purton’s style? We’re still developing our style as we go, but there is a strong illustrative quality to our work so far, and certainly for many of the ideas we have in the pipeline. Zoë comes from an illustration and graphic design background, and these two strands of design are what come through. There will be much more of the hand-drawn look in our upcoming products, but we still love bold slabs of colour and shape as well, and whilst we want to develop a signature style we are also wary of limiting ourselves. The hand-drawn pieces so far we would probably describe as fairly fun and light-hearted: a forest of cake servers and cooking utensils, a city of retro food canisters and drink cartons. We’d like to think of our current cushion designs as bold and funky, a great way to add splashes of colour and geometric shape to a seat. As much as possible we try to design in such a way that gives the viewer a few layers to delve into: a cushion of floating blocks that reveals an abstracted cityscape, a spray of squares that resemble an exploding brick wall.
3. Why is it important to you to use natural hemp base cloths/solvent free inks for your range? We’ve chosen to work predominantly with hemp or hemp-cotton blends because we love that hemp is generally grown without the use of pesticides, as it has few natural insect predators, and requires less water and acreage than a crop of cotton. We use solvent-free, water-based ink with excellent toxicity ratings and hemp-organic cotton, mostly unbleached, to try and minimise the impact of our making new things. It also means healthier working conditions for us! We also love the performance of these materials. The inks give a lovely soft hand feel, rather than sitting on the surface of the fabric like plastic-based inks, and the hemp-organic cotton blend gives you the sturdiness of hemp with the satiny softness of cotton.
4. What can we expect to see from smith+purton in the future? Our current, and indeed first, range consists of printed hemp/organic cotton tea towels in four designs and printed hemp/organic cotton cushion covers (filled with recycled PET inserts when sold in retail outlets) in three designs. We’re also working on printed children’s aprons, adult aprons in a hemp-cotton denim, tote bags, crafter’s fat quarters printed with our own yardage designs, make-your-own crafter’s kits…these are just the current works at prototype and design stage. We’ll also be branching into paper prints on recycled stock, both larger art prints and postcard sets to either send or frame as mini-prints.
5. Share with us your easy eco living tip: Our easy eco living tip would have to be: shop conscientiously. This can be as simple as evaluating how you buy your weekly groceries, such as aiming to bring home as little excess packaging as possible. You can also carry this ethos through to bigger ticket purchases, considering factors such as durability and quality of workmanship. We try and buy things which are well made and designed to last, so that we don’t throw out as often. This is one of our aims as designers as well, to create products that will last both structurally and stylistically, as well as being constructed from materials that have good green credentials. We use recycled card stock for our business cards and swing tickets, and aim to have as minimal packaging as possible for our products.
Thanks to Zoe and Daniel for sharing their beautiful new eco textile range with us. Can’t wait to see where you takeyour business ~ we’ll be watching!
++ GIVEAWAY DETAILS ++
smith+purton are kindly offering up a pair of their hand screen printed tea towels (Kitchen city and Forest)to one of our readers. To be in the running to win, simply leave a comment below by 7pm on Wednesday 27 June AEST! We will advise the lucky winner by email – Goodluck!
Today we give thanks – SIX PRIZES TO WIN!
It’s always fun to celebrate a milestone –It marks an achievement, progress and time to set new goals. This week we hit 2,000 likes on our facebook page, and just last week we gained 1,000 followers on our Twitter page. Our growing State of Green community would not be possible without the support of all of YOU, encouraging us to share cool modern eco products, to interview inspiring sustainable designers and to seek ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle. So now it’s time to CELEBRATE! Today we want to give away 6 beautiful products from our online store, as a sincere extension of our thanks and appreciation.
What's on your wish list?
- Iphone Alarm Dock
- Kohl Gold Tree Necklace
- Organic Cotton hand screen printed cushion
- Bambu Woven Nesting Baskets
- 1Litre Stainless Steel drink Bottle
- Bambu Triple Dip Tray
++ GIVEAWAY DETAILS ++
Six lucky State of Green readers will be drawn to win one of the items above. To enter simply leave a comment below telling us why you follow State of Green. You MUST be a member of the State of Green community (i.e. on Facebook, Twitter or subscribed to our store newsletter or blog) to enter. The winners will be chosen at random and drawn THIS SUNDAY evening EST on 20 May 2012 after 7pm. All winners will be contacted by email.
Thanks again for all your support & Goodluck!
Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to keep up to date with all the latest eco news! (Just pop your email address into the subscribe tab at the top of the sidebar, and our stories will be sent straight to your inbox).
Posted in Competition/Giveaway
57 Comments
Natural Child World Magazine – Subscription Giveaway
Would you describe yourself as a modern parent trying to lead a sustainable lifestyle for your family? If your answer is a resounding “yes”, then boil the kettle and put your feet up as there’s a new magazine that is sure to help steer you in the right direction. USA based Natural Child World (NCW) magazine features innovative and modern product design for your children along with articles and tips from a variety of experts on child rearing – in a modern and sustainable way. No tie dye or hippies in sight – promise!
NCW first launched in L.A in early 2011, and quickly attracted a national readership across the USA via outlets such as Barnes and Noble and Wholefoods USA. To celebrate its first birthday, the magazine has just launched worldwide via online subscription, making it an easy and accessible read from your ipad, laptop or desktop computer!
Barbara Manconi, Managing Editor of NCW is no newcomer to the sustainability scene. With a background in “green” marketing, teaching and consultancy work she brings many years experience to NCW. She generously gave us her time to answer a few questions, plus provide us with a quick peek at what to expect in next month’s mag.
1. Where did the idea for Natural Child World stem from?
First and foremost from the love for children and the love for beautiful design. NCW was born with aspiration to promote the attractive side of sustainability to modern parents with a conscience and a taste for life. I wanted to defeat a stereotype: green means sacrifices. I wanted to prove that is possible to live a healthier and a more sustainable life without sacrificing style, taste or performance.
NCW is the result of many years of experience as a marketing professional consulting for international clients and teaching at major American Universities Sustainability and Green Strategies. I couldn’t find for my clients an outlet that would feature exceptional design, great photography and sustainable principles. The sad choice was simply between traditional parenting magazines full of redundant information and far from sustainable content or “tree hugger/granola” type of publication that would alienate the majority of people not willing to “commit” to that extent.
2. What are the main features readers can expect to find in the magazine?
The magazine has a heavy focus on design and style. Simply because giant leaps have been achieved in these industries and amazing companies are producing beautiful products using sustainable principles as tools for innovation. For this reason many of our readers compare us to Dwell magazine. For our clean and minimalistic design and content we have been compared to Wallpaper magazine. The most important thing that also sets us apart I think is the fact that we feature international and global content. From the Fashion Summit in Copenhagen to the small design studio in Melbourne, we bring to our readers the latest trends in modern parenting and modern sustainability with no boundaries and borders. So that parents can feel inspired and more connected.
3. What do you see as the important issues for raising children in today’s climate?
Education is key. At different levels. A) Parents need to educate themselves more than ever to be able to make informed decisions for their families and be able to navigate through often misleading claims. B) Parents need to understand the responsibility of being role models for their children and start shifting to healthier and more sustainable behavior that can be emulated by the little ones.
4. What do you see as important features in designing new products for children?
Leaving aside safety standards that are obviously key, a successful product nowdays is a product that can “grow” with the child. Children grow so fast and get bored so easily, a product that can follow and adapt to multiple life stages will last longer, will meet parents’ (and wallets’) favor as well as create less waste. Another key element is also the opportunity to spur children’s imagination. A new generation of children are growing up oversaturated with technology, and parents are increasingly concerned that imagination and active play are at risk. This is an amazing opportunity for companies to come up with creative ideas.
5. What were your top 3 children’s design products for 2011?
- Kalon Studios Hut Hut Kids, a modern reinterpretation of the rocking horse, created with innovative non-toxic resins (kalonstudios.com);
- 5 Phases 1st hybrid baby bottle internal glass bottle + covered by a shell of plastic; and
- Ubabub pod cribs, ultra stylish and safe, and…Australian!!
6. Can you give us a sneak peek into what’s in store for Natural Child World 2012?
We will be expanding online, launching our online shop and affiliate program, and we are looking at international distribution in Europe, Australia and Asia.
7. Where can Australian readers find your magazine?
The print edition can be purchased online at www.naturalchildworld.com and we are launching our digital edition for computers and iPad in March 2012. This will be available on our website as well and on zinio.com. Currently we are looking into physical distribution into Australia and New Zealand.
++ GIVEAWAY DETAILS ++
To celebrate the worldwide launch, we have 3 online subscriptions to giveaway!
To enter simply follow instructions below.
(i) LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW telling us why you’d like to win a subscription to Natural Child World; AND for an extra entry
(ii) By midnight on Friday 24th Feb (Australian EST), “Like” Natural Child World on facebook with comment “I’d love to read Natural Child World in Australia”.
The winners will be drawn at random on Saturday 25th February 2012 (Australian EST). The winners will be notified by email. GOODLUCK!
Posted in Competition/Giveaway, eco baby + child, Interviews
12 Comments
Giveaway ~ 500 Places To See Before They Disappear
If you had a limitless travel budget, where on earth would you visit? Stepping away from the usual country themed travel guide, Frommer has just published “500 places to see before they disappear“, which includes some expected, but also some lesser known travel destinations that are threatened to either crumble, be over-developed, be washed away by rising sea levels, subject to pollution, climate change or loss of habitat. And we have one copy to giveaway!
500 travel destinations is ALOT to pack into your lifetime – I wonder how many you could tick off your list so far. There is the Great Wall of China, The Great Barrier Reef, The Pyramids of Giza, Borobudur, The Colosseum and Pompeii (been to 5/6!) – all well known landmarks. But this is just scraping the surface of a long list of truly amazing destinations, some which may be on your doorstep.
The guide is divided into themed chapters. From Crumbling Landmarks to Ancient Ruins, One of a Kind Landscapes (Amazon, Serengeti, The Burren), The Last of their Kind (Komodo Dragons, Monarch Butterflies) , Holy Places and even Neglected Moderns (think Cannery Row, Battersea Power Station, The Berlin Wall) and Disposable Culture (The Oldest McDonalds & Hamburg Music Clubs) amongst others. You could visit the disappearing beaches of Crete and Portsea (did that just a few weeks ago!), to shrinking glaciers in Tibet, the Grandfather Mountains (threatened by the deadly white-nose fungus that ravages old growth forests) or the kitsch Doo-Wop Motels in Jersey, USA – Honestly, there seems to be a destination for everyone!
Even if an armchair traveller, this book makes for an interesting read to learn about the myriad of factors threatening the future of various landmarks and landscapes all around the world. It is perhaps ironic that this travel guide lists some destinations that are threatened to disappear due to tourism, so choose your travel destination wisely!
~~ GIVEAWAY DETAILS ~~
To enter, simply leave a comment below, and we will select a winner at random on Friday, 10 February 2012 after 7pm. Goodluck!
Posted in Competition/Giveaway
37 Comments
GIVEAWAY: The Green Travel Guide Australia 2011/2012
An eco holiday does not have to stop at carbon offsetting your flight, and reusing the bath towels in your hotel. If you want to tread as lightly on the planet as you can next holiday break, The Green Travel Guide Australia 2011/2012 published by EcoTourism Australia will provide you with a great range of ideas – and they have generously provided State of Green with 5 copies to giveaway!
Eco holiday ideas at your fingertips ........
The Green Travel Guide is an easy read. Divided into chapters dedicated to each State, you can simply flick through to the State you wish to visit, then peruse the wide selection of eco certified businesses operating across that State. Eco tours, attractions and accommodation are all covered, and includes suggestions ranging from relaxing beach resorts to bird watching lodges, marine discovery cruises, aboriginal culture parks, and even organic restaurants to visit in the region.
Holiday ideas galore!
Each of the businesses listed in the Guide includes an eco certification logo which are graded into three categories – Nature Tourism, EcoTourism and Advanced Ecotourism. Generally, the logo identifies those tourist operators that have committed to minimizing their impact on the environment, use resources wisely, help local communities and/or contribute to the conservation of the environment- all incredibly commendable!.
++ GIVEAWAY DETAILS ++
To win one of 5 copies of The Green Travel Guide 2011/2012, simply leave a comment below. The winners will be drawn at random on Sunday 15 January 2011 after 7pm, and notified by email. Goodluck!
** If you want to purchase a copy now, we have also just commenced stocking The Green Travel Guide 2011/2012 online at State of Green – Happy Holidays!
Posted in book review, Competition/Giveaway, eco travel
28 Comments
Giveaway: Double pass to screening of Waste Land
Who loves going to the movies? A new and thought provoking film named Waste Land is being released THIS week, documenting the story and amazing artwork created by the “catadores” in Brazil, who work on the worlds largest rubbish dump – Jardim Gramacho located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
The film follows the journey of renowned artist Vik Muniz who travels to his native Brazil to photograph an eclectic band of “catadores” – self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Whilst it was Muniz’s initial objective to “paint” the catadores with garbage, the collaboration evolved into them creating artistic images of themselves out of garbage. This incredible artwork created from all manner of waste materials have since sold for hundreds of thousands dollars, and the money returned to the community to help them transform their lives.
++GIVEAWAY DETAILS++
Thanks to Hopscotch Films, 5 Double passes are available to see a screening of Waste Land at Sydney Hoyts Entertainment Quarter commencing December 1, 2011. To enter, simply leave a comment below! The winners will be drawn at random on Wednesday 31 November 2011 after 7pm, and sent to you ASAP!
**Also showing at Cinema Lygon, Melbourne from Dec 1, 2011.
Posted in Competition/Giveaway, eco awards
6 Comments
GIVEAWAY: Planks by Green Hat Workshop appeal across generations
What type of present do you buy for kids at Xmas time? Do you go for the whirring, spinning and flashing toys that chomp through batteries but excite kids no end. Or do you focus on toys that inspire imaginative play and get little brains thinking and analyzing. Planks falls into the latter category, and the kind creators from Green Hat Workshop are offering up a Box of 100 – perfect timing for Xmas!
Box of 100, 200 and 500 Planks!
No shaky hand placement there!
What may look like a simple concept, is in fact pure genius. Long slender pieces of plain timber are used as building blocks to construct anything you like. And it WILL appeal to all ages. The planks are perfect for little fingers learning to stack and knock down. A few years down the track, the same fingers will be constructing forts, trains, fairy houses and more. As teens and adults join the throng, wondrous architectural and sophisticated forms will take shape.
Defying the laws of physics - now that's just showing off!
To see the Planks in person, you can visit the Magnolia Square Market at St Kilda Town Hall in Melbourne THIS weekend (Fri evening – Sunday) where they will be exhibiting…..OR…..you can enter the giveaway below!
++ GIVEAWAY DETAILS ++
To be in the running to win a box of 100 Planks, just show Green Hat Workshop a little love by liking their Facebook page AND leave a comment below. The winner will be drawn at random on Wednesday 16 November 2011 after 7pm. (Australian entrants only).
Posted in Competition/Giveaway, eco baby + child, gifts
16 Comments
