Book burning - but in a good way

This week’s Hot Home Products column is about the role books play in décor, and includes a great interview with Lisa Occhipinti, who turns neglected old books into beautiful objets. Occhipinti manipulates pages and covers in a number of ways, including burning the edges of book pages.

“It makes brilliant black edge, an amorphous shape that you could not draw — it’s so elegant,” says Occhipinti, whose smaller works are available on Etsy.

If you’re nimble of hand, you can recreate some of her designs, because she’s also written The Repurposed Library ($30 list price, available from Chapters), which includes 33 projects designed by Occhipinti and other artists and crafters — with detailed instructions for making everything from a chandelier to a hanging book mobile. 

Just don’t assume that Occhipinti’s work reflects a lack of respect for the text. She’s a life-long book lover who despairs over the declining role books play in many lives. “I feel like people don’t read entire books anymore – people read blogs and tweets. But when you get involved in a book you slow down time and create a quiet time to contemplate yourself and the world. My work is partly a motif for that. I get a lot of feedback from people who say my books give them a break from the cyber/virtual/digital noise.”

If you love old books, and old book stores, you MUST check out the website Biblio-Files. Going there if like a mini vacation for me. And if you’re looking for an old or obscure title, check out the wonderful ABE Books. Don’t leave the site without visiting the Weird Book room. Because in a way, weird books are what make the world go round.  

Easy being green? Not really. But there is help.

With apologies to Kermit ­— and headline writers around the world  — I’ve never actually thought it was that easy being green. Living a low eco-impact lifestyle is full of challenges, questions and sometimes compromises. So I’m delighted to see that there’s a new website called Practically Green that offers information and inspiration for living more lightly on the planet. You can go there to do a survey that will tell you how green you currently are, and get  tips for amping up your eco quotient. Good greenies are rewarded with fun “badges”. There’s also a blog section, where you’ll find world-famous writers (like me, for example) offering suggestions on how to be eco-sensible in every area of the home. Do check it out.

 

What does YOUR environmental footprint look like?

Three Canadian families have just begun taking part in the Great Green Challenge, a month-long promotional program launched by Whirlpool Canada that will be chronicled on a new website. The goal is for each family to reduce the environmental footprint of their household – with the help of Energy Star products from Whirlpool, natch. BTW, Whirlpool Canada owns Whirlpool, Maytag and KitchenAid. The website also offers regular tips on saving energy from Warrington Ellacott, energy efficiency expert for Whirlpool, and blog entries from each family. There’s also a contest for visitors to the site; enter it and you may win an energy efficient Whirlpool Duet laundry pair, which has a speedy 30-minute wash and dry cycle option and an energy-pinching dry cycle that shaves about 40 per cent off the energy used in a conventional dryer cycle. And it comes in a sexy, sexy red (see below!) Eco-function and form – what more could you ask for? PS - While I love the idea of a quick dry feature - never forget that the most energy efficient way to dry clothes is to hang them on a line - indoors or out.

Mrs. Murphy - my kind of gal

Found a glorious new website that sells beautiful everyday items for the home made by independent Swedish designers, most of which have not previously been available in North America.Fromsthlm(that’s short for “from Stockholm”)  is a kind of a virtual pop-up store which every month offers new stuff by featured designers in limited editions for 30 days only. I came across it while researching designer Lotta Kühlhorn, whose pretty fabrics are now available at Ikea (more on that later). While I was on the site, I fell in love with cutting boards inspired by the traditional folk patterns on Nordic mittens, which come from Mrs. Murphy, a Swedish design firm headed by the elusive and slightly mysterious Mrs. Murphy. Fortunately, Murphy’s assistant, the pixie-like  Malin Ehlin, seems to know something about her and was willing to share in an online interview.  

Best of blogs

What the heck?! Domino magazine has just published its list of 12 best design blogs, and mine’s not listed? How can that be? Okay, I admit, the competition is pretty fierce, and the bogs they list do have great design and decor stuff...but I’m just sayin’. Check them out anyway, loyal readers.