Aesthetic Sustainability as Environmental Principle?

I am constantly struck by its levels of creativity and inventiveness inherent in eco-friendly design. It takes a broad mind and technical skill to turn  vintage tea boxes into cabinets or plastic bottles into chairs or weeds into floors. Most ‘green’ design incorporates the principles of recycling and upcyclingand sustainable materials but here’s a dilemma I have–what of aesthetic sustainability?

I love these natural, red Marmoleum floors but does their niche appeal mean they are less-than-best for the environment? Via Remodelista

I recently gushed about Marmoleum, the natural flooring option with substantial eco-cred while cautioning that these floors are not exactly likely to be appreciated by future homeowners. Here’s my dilemma: If these beautiful (in my opinion) red floors are torn out in a few years, to what extent does that negate the short-term positivity of their natural content? Would it be more eco-friendly to install a more conventional material like ceramic or porcelain tile if these options are retained longer? And to what extent should someone seriously interested in eco-design sublimate their lust for bold colors and odd shapes in order to create something that has longevity?

Another example might be Vetrazzo glass countertops:

Blue Vetrazzo countertop at eco ice cream emporium Blue Marble, in Brooklyn

Made of recycled glass bottles, its eco bonafides seem strong and given its availability in a rainbow of colors, it offers a great deal of flexibility for a renovator. But….What do you think is the aesthetic longevity of any of these looks?

via Vetrazzo

I have some difficulty imagining that these countertops will survive beyond one owner or even, perhaps, a few years of use because of their limited aesthetic appeal. That is to say, these recycled countertops seem more likely than some other choices to end up in the landfill than, say, a nuetral slab of marble or a plane of commercial stainless steel.

Here’s my question: would more longevity be achieved by more neutral choices? Is there an eco argument for a certain classicism and restraint in our renovation choices so that they will live on beyond a trend, a moment, an impulse?

Consider these choices for comparison

via Poetic Home

Vetrazzo in a more subdued Palladian Grey via Comparance

via Brooklyn Limestone

via Dark Style Design

Updated but intact period kitchen via Rejuventation

I see them looking less dated, less particular and peculiar throughout time and thus more likely to survive intact. I’m not advocating a a homogenization of design so much as an interrogation of aesthetic disposability, looks that are fashionable today and wretched tomorrow, as part of the philosophical program of green design. Or in the end are choices so transient that we should consider all aesthetics equally apt to be disposable and should aim only to make our current selections as earth-friendly as possible?

The Conran Shop Winter Sale

There are great deals to be had at The Conran Shop today. Prices are slashed deeply and the inventory is changing almost by the minute so surf on over ASAP. Here are some of the incredible and interesting bargains:

Karlsson DIY Wall Clock. Now $20, Was $80

Large Red Mercator Globe. Now $5, Was $20.

Chair of The Rings. Now $146, Was $585.

Blue Splash Teapot. Now $20, Was $75.

Site Update

Just a quick note that I am working on some admin stuff on this site and while my crack team of experts (basically me and a cup of tea) are trying very hard to make the site more legible, purrrty and easy to navigate, the truth is that I or my cup of tea may just break the whole thing. Or part of it. So if you see something funky or weird in a less-than-good way, please pardon the dust. And feel free to drop me a line at onegrandhome[AT]gmail.com to let me know just how much my CSS coding skills blow.

Mmm, Marmoleum. (And VCT, too.)

Delicious Marmoleum via MassDistraction

I must blame all of you fantastic renovators (like Sara at Russett Street Reno) for giving me a serious case of reno-fixation despite the fact that we are still house-hungry renters. Since we are shopping for a place that requires some rehabilitation, my particular interest has been in affordable kitchen design and I’ve been looking at flooring options. While ceramic and porcelain tiles are the most standard options today, I’ve fallen in love with the affordable, eco-friendly option of marmoleum and the rock-bottom pricing of vinyl composition tile.

Plank-style Marmoleum laid on the diagonal via Green Your Decor

Forbo’s Marmoleum is the new brand of old-style linoleum, made from 100% natural, and often renewable, sources. Priced at $3 to $6 per square foot, it is far more affordable than many harder surface options. It’s available in sheets, stick-down tiles or a floating, cork-mounted click tile that can go over an existing floor. The latter is very soft underfoot and the options can almost endlessly customized:

Elaborate Marmoleum inlay via Lofts Toronto

Need a barnyard silhouette floor? There

Standard square Marmoleum laid on the diagonal via 1030Carlton on Flickr

A template, some time and a masochistic streak lot of patience, and you can even cut a pattern like this gorgeous fishscale. Ceramic tile via Luxury.

Marmoleum cons?
- It is 2x-3x the cost of vinyl flooring, uninstalled.
- Custom patterns, inlays and their installations can be very pricey.
- Unless you find a buyer with your same taste and/or values, you can probably anticipate a less-than-stellar return on your investment in a higher-end home. Don’t do this for resale.
- Some solvents will damage the floor and you are advised to use a special cleaner.

If you are looking for something even more affordable and with a similar look, consider vinyl composition tile, the same stuff that graces your supermarket floors but so much better in smart applications:

Custom VCT via Barry Carlton

DIY-cut Armstrong VCT floor and backsplash via RockPaperScissor

Vinyl Composition Tile downsides?
- Custom inlays can get pricey.
- Being synthetic and petroleum-based the tiles will likely off-gas for awhile, which is problematic for sensitive people.
- Yes, that means it is not particularly eco-friendly.
- All standard-issue resale caveats are applicable since VCT is not the flooring du jour.
- It lacks the inherent softness / cushion of natural linoleum.

So what do you think? Do you find these options compelling, attractive? Or not your taste? And I’d love to know if you have any experiences with these products in your home.

What would you pay to cozy your coffee? And musings on Etsy cheap.

via Megan Auman on Etsy

Megan at Crafting an MBA has written an interesting series of blog posts about her experience with pricing coffee cozy / wrist cuffs on Etsy.

These laser-cut wool coffee cozies double as a cuff-style bracelet, an eco-friendly alternative to disposable java jackets that contribute to landfills. Their $32 price sparked some controversy on the Etsy Facebook page as well as considered meditations at Everyday Object (where I found the story) and Queering Domesticity. Megan Auman has struck back, asserting

• Etsy’s prices are artificially low because most sellers are amateurs who undersell their goods  because they have no business / profit model.
• Wholesale costs leave her with a slim profit margin.
• She designs, manufactures and lives in the US and deserves a living wage as a crafting professional.

The discussion that has followed has been interesting, with many supporters arguing that mass retailers like Wal-Mart have convinced Americans to undervalue goods; that Etsy encourages sellers to underprice goods so as to reap their own profits by increasing sales volume; that consumers are ignorant of the inputs into craft and need to be educated.

My take?

While it is tempting to just assume that customers are a confederacy of dunces who don’t know what is good for them, what is well-made and what is well-worth-it, I think that the failure of a niche product is usually due to the product or the marketing of the product rather than price competition. While large scale discounters do indeed encourage price-sensitivity, I think a “Walmart has ruined the craft market” argument ignores a number of realities about Etsy and indie craft that is marketed online generally:

1. Quality. Quality is highly variable on Etsy (and arguably generally poor) which makes many customers shy about large investments in largely unknown and unscreened designers.

2. Product differentiation. While I understand that an artisan likely sees a great deal of individuality in what they do, there is a glut of certain products –silkscreened posters, decals, stencils, letterpressed stationery, limography, t-shirts come to mind– that are replicated along familiar themes and motifs and most consumers cut through the clutter by price comparisons. If you want to charge a premium, you are going to have to innovate.

3. Uncertainty of value. Many crafts on Etsy require the buyer to make a largely uninformed valuation of the item. For instance, if you’ve always considered coffee cozies disposable, how do you know what you are willing to pay for one? And while you know the difference you can expect in say, Cartier versus Tiffany versus Alexis Bittar versus Claire’s jewelry, how do you know which Etsy seller’s agate ring has the worksmanship or even the aesthetic that justifies the price? You are essentially buying into an unknown brand or even a new category.

And that is no dig at Ms. Auman–her cozy/cuffs are quite successful and apparently worthy of their price.  But many of the Etsy offerings inhabit a nebulous space of either poor conception, uncertain execution or confused marketing in a very crowded marketplace. I would suggest that if artisans want their goods to bear a luxury price, they follow the lead of say, Confetti System and target a more upscale and edited marketplace and not blame the mass craft buyer.

Do you go to Etsy to bargain hunt? And do you think that customers should be more willing to pay premiums for artisanal goods. Please let me know in the comments.