ConnectingTheDots

Reinventing Wine Jugs

I'm a big fan of sidewalk picking as a frugal but potentially chique home furnishing option.  My previous apartment had the inside of a piano for a coffee table, stone slabs as kitchen counters, and hammocks repurposed as indoor seating.  Equally cool (and potentially cleaner) picking can happen from one's own trashcan. 

While perusing online for a desk for my new apartment, I stumbled on Carlo Rossi's JugSimple (via Treehugger).  Stylish couches, sounds systems, and even chandeliers are weaved together with empty wine jugs.  How-to videos demonstrate Rossi's "Art of Simplism" ("using what you already have to create something new and practical.") Aside from being nice rebranding, playing on the past popularity of his vintage TV commercial, these new streaming videos show customers how to recycle and home decorate (after buying some Rossi wine). 

Green Cookies: Good Inside and Out

My boyfriend's nickname for me (appropriately bestowed on a girl who enjoys at least one cookie or brownie per day) is Sweets.  Wandering around the East Village, my bakery radar spotted  Build a Green Bakery. 

The sustainable, renewable materials of its store matches the philosophy in the organic ingredients of its cookies.  A floor of cork, wall of wheat, and counter of recycled denim make for a surprisingly appealing asthetic.  (The chocolate chip cookies are pretty tasty as well.)

Staying on the cookie topic, other entrepreneurs have similarly changed the baking of a cookie to effect more than just tastebuds.  Boston's Dancing Deer Baking Company meshes its founders' concern over poverty into the dough of its cookies.  Aside from providing work opportunities, its Sweet Home Project donates 35% of profits to help homeless families.