There are various ways to love nature, conserve it and be in touch with it. One of them is a chair designed by Swiss designer Michel Bussien. Bussien simply turned growing plants into a chair so that you can literally touch nature.

Growing Chair by Michel Bussien

The chair “sits” on a rolling planter with willow trees growing from each leg. Russian vine wraps around the willow branches, adding to the effect of greenery.

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On show recently at Designers & Agents Green Room, Aurora Robson’s unique artwork has been a refreshing combination of intricate patterns and colours. Her work uses recycled materials that are stylishly highlighted with solar-powered LEDs.

Aurora Robson, hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a contemporary artist who works with installations, works on paper, paintings, sculpture, video, photography, and performance art. She would like to describe herself as being primarily a sculptor.

For her recent show at Designers & Agents Green Room, Aurora made use of about 20,000 plastic bottles from the landfill. She uses recycled materials in her works of art to such an extent where she enjoys receiving junk mail because “it gives her new material to create her work.”

“The language and costly graphic devices and fancy printing used in junk mail gives it a persuasive, positive and personal flavour, making it great fodder for my work. My practice is ultimately about recognising and embracing new possibilities and displays and encouraging others to do the same,” she said.

Some of Aurora Robson’s outstanding pieces of art included works involving plastic bottles carved, cut and twisted into what one critic described as “romantic, unrecognizable forms.”

In short, like all good artists using recycled materials as their medium, Aurora Robson transforms the trash into things of beauty shrouded in mystery.

Quite inspiring, isn’t it?

[via Inhabitat]

The solar-powered ‘dragon’ stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is the world’s first stadium which gets all its power needs from the sun.

The solar-powered ‘dragon’ stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Designed by Japanese architect Toyo on a steel-rod structure with a roof covered with solar panels, the horseshoe-shaped structure has been constructed for the World Games to be held in Kaohsiung city in July 2009. Spread over 19 hectares and having a seating capacity of 55,000 it will be used mainly for athletics and rugby events, including hosting the main events for the 2009 World Games.

After the World Games, the Taiwanese national football team will play home matches at the ‘dragon’ stadium.

The stadium’s unique, semi-spiral shape imitates a dragon and is intended to provide a “cordial welcome and a cheerful greeting to athletes and spectators with its open-ended structure,” according to the organizers of the World Games.

There are 8,844 solar panels on the roof which are expected to generate more electricity than is needed to power the building’s 3,300 lights and two gigantic television screens. Some 1.14 million kWh of electricity a year will be generated – preventing, in the process, 660 tons of carbon dioxide from being discharged into the atmosphere.

As for the surplus energy generated during the warm weather, the government of Taiwan intends to sell it.

Source

An art student came up with her own idea of how to promote recycling. She created an invisible car. Kind of, sort of. She painted her car to match the parking lot in front of her art studio entrance. How cool is that? But, the car is still there. Or is it?

My question – is she really wearing clothes or are they painted on, too? I mean there are girls who are saving on textile recycling by just painting their clothes on, right?

The young lady’s car will be used to advertise for a recycling company.

“I was experimenting with the whole concept of illusion but needed something a bit more physical to make a real impact.” She went on to say that “People have been stopping in the street to look and coming up and almost bumping into it, so it’s had the desired effect,” said Sara Watson.

Hats off to Sara for a cool and original idea as well as the lesson she wants to teach to the rest of us.

[Via Inhabitat]

If you’ve been wondering what to do with all those paper rolls, pizza boxes or shopping bags instead of recycling them the old fashion way, Japanese Yuken Teryua has a brilliant solution. An elegant and highly attractive collection of recycled materials that has been turned into eco-art. Yuken seems like a gifted artist with a vision, that finds beauty in the ordinary. That toilet paper rolls tree that could hang delicately in any contemporary home or the bag tree with the green light are definitely our favorite. An amazing mix of functionality and awareness. No? [via booooooom]