Top Designs 2012

The Top designs 2012 exhibition is on until 15 of July 2012 at the Melbourne Museum.

The temporary exhibition showcases Victoria’s emerging designers who are students from Victorian institutions. There are some great works including furniture, fashion, graphic and product design, film, print layout, photography, animation, food product planning, websites and mechanical electronic projects. All the works are accompanied by folios, brainstorm and design plans produced by the VCE and VET students.

I went to the exhibition with a friend and in my opinion it’s worth a visit. I was glad to see that there are some great students out there with good ideas and creativity. I was quite impressed with the quality of the work on display.

I would like to say ‘Congratulations’ to all the students who participated in this exhibition. I really enjoyed the exhibition and hope you will enjoy it too.

Melbourne Museum 

Temporary Exhibition – Melbourne Gallery

Daily, until 15 Jul 2012

10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Blogging Exchange

As a blogger I obviously follow other bloggers too. This page ‘Blogging Exchange’ is where I share my ‘likes’ of the blogosphere. If you have a similar blog or any content that matches my blog, please send me the link and I will share it here. Every week I will be sharing pictures, articles, pages, links and videos.

Outback dream

Today I was pining pictures into my Pinterest board when my backpack Aussie trip came to my mind. Suddenly I was totally overwhelmed with images of wonderful moments, so many nice people I’ve met… this inspiring trip was definitely an important part of my life and this is why I’ve chosen to live in Australia. I love this country!

For this post I prepared a small picture gallery of some great moments of my trip with a great Swiss friend in the Outback.

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Around the world eco-friendly glasses

Being shortsighted, I wear glasses all the time.  Glasses are also a very fashionable accessory that we can match with our clothes, style and mood of the day.  I see lots of people using only the frames, without the actual glass.  Personally, I don’t really like that, but fashion is all about taste and thank God we all have different tastes!  I admit that mine are not eco-friendly, but when I bought them I didn’t know about these great ideas.  You can be sure that my next glasses will be ultra eco-friendly and trendy!

The Canadian brand ICU Eyewear offers eco-friendly reading glasses made from reclaimed plastic, recycled metal and sustainable bamboo.

Quite famous in the USA, the brand has received editorial compliments from some iconic fashion magazines such as ‘Vogue’,  ‘O’, the Oprah magazine and the National Geographic ‘Green Guide’.

 

And what if your glasses were made from timber?  Herrlicht is a German brand 

that offers wood frames crafted by hand.  Nice, original and trendy they have different styles and offer a range of wood such as maple, cherry, walnut and oak.  I also love their wood cases! So nice!

 

Have you ever thought about the amount of hair that we cut per year that goes straight to the bin?  

A British design company has decided to take action.  Can you imagine glasses made from human hair?

Yes, they did it!  Studio Swine has created an eyewear collection made entirely from human hair.

Very stylish and fashionable shapes that I really can picture myself wearing!  They have developed a chemical process using a bioresin that is entirely biodegradable and not harmful for the environment.  Trendy, cool and definitely eco-friendly!  We love that!

 

Available in Australia, Linkskin uses recycled material to make their frames. They also don’t use any soldering, screws or hinges to produce the frames.  The company provides a recyclable system; when you don’t use your glasses anymore, you can give them back to your optician for recycling. Isn’t it great? So let’s introduce the ‘go green’ attitude into our glasses too!

Businessmen ahead of politicians

Nowadays more and more companies are stepping up to the mark and making the difference regarding sustainable business solutions. Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, one of the world’s largest companies, took part in the launch of the Natural Capital Declaration at the Rio+20 convention centre.

“We have to bring this world back to sanity and put the greater good ahead of self-interest. We need to fight very hard to create an environment out there that is more long term focused and move away from short termism.”

Paul Polman says that the most effective way to look for change on a global level is working more with other business leaders and NGOs rather than with politicians who are showing a lack of ambition at the Rio +20.

“We are entering a very interesting period of history where the responsible business world is running ahead of the politicians. The political climate is very difficult and to some extent paralysed.

“Over the next two to three years I believe there will be enough critical mass with groups of countries and companies starting tangible projects.”

Paul encourages companies that have started to contribute to a better cleaner and more equal world: “Continue to be courageous and set the standards. Work with your consumers, because we have seen how Facebook and Twitter can bring down a regime in 17 days. Social networks are increasingly becoming more powerful. We need a critical mass of responsible leaders who are here to convert these markets.”

And for companies who are not taking any action yet, his message is clear: “Just look at the figures. Unless we change direction, models show that the profit of the entire consumer goods sector could be wiped out by 2050.”

“The alternative? Is it too late to be pessimistic? The alternative of not doing anything, I frankly cannot look my kids in the eyes and say we did not try. That is why we are here and will continue to give it our energy.”

Personally I agree with him when he says about the power of social media and the fact that companies have to work more with consumers with the aim of changing the actual situation. Many companies have started it and I totally support them. I am not an activist, I am not an eco-friendly warrior, I am just an average consumer who believes that we can all make small changes in our attitude towards living green.

Sustainable practices brand

The White Tent label was concieved in London by Evigna Tabakova, a Russian and Pedro Noronha-Feio, a Portuguese who are advocates of social responsibility and want to make it a sustainable process brand.

I love this idea, because I also think that the fashion industry should invest more money and time in finding ways to use more sustainable materials in their production lines. Fabrics can be made from so many recycled items. There are also organic cotton and bamboo fabrics that are very stylish and super comfortable. I hope that more businesses will follow the good example of some small brands that are making the difference in the fashion industry.

What a great event to be shared!

Yoga at Times Square in New York city! I have some friends who are yoga fans and who are quite skilled. Personally, I don’t practice yoga, but more and more I am tempted to try it. I have done some pilates lessons and I really enjoyed it. I should restart pilates classes and maybe also add some yoga lessons. This video has just inspired me to start yoga classes!

Rio+20 is taking place now

Rio+20 is the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

June 1992 the first Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, where countries adopted the Agenda 21 — an action plan created by the UN to rethink economic growth, social equality, fair trade business and sustainable development.

Now, in June 2012, twenty years later, the UN is again bringing together governments and international institutions at the Rio+20. The objectives of this new Summit are to reach an agreement on a range of effective measures to tackle issues of poverty, to promote economic growth in poor and emerging countries and to support and encourage a more sustainable and fair use of world resources.

Buda Mendes/Getty Images

This summit is an opportunity to carry out an assessment of what countries have been doing to maintain the commitments they undertook twenty years ago. Although we have come a long way in making progress regarding fair trade in business, social equality and sustainable development, many problems remain. Financial crises and political issues in Europe are giving rise to uncertain economic growth, and we still have a long way to go to achieve clean energy and sustainable development.

In my view it’s very good that governments and institutions discuss about theses important issues, but people like you and me should also think about and do something to help the environment. Simple gestures that we can do everyday are fundamental for the environment, like saving water while having a shower, brushing our teeth, gardening, etc. We can also contribute to saving energy, buying locally produced goods, recycling…there are so many things that we can do in our everyday lives! Let’s do it!

The world map of CO2 emissions

I read some great articles in the British newspaper The Guardian and I found an interesting graphic that shows the world map of CO2 emissions. You can see which countries in the world emit the most CO2.

You will also observe China’s fast growth along the years and how they have overtaken the US to reach the number one position. This interactive guide gives a chance to navigate the latest Energy Information Administration data.

It’s worth checking it out! world map of CO2 emissions

Eco-friendly skin care, we love that!

We all know that healthy diet is the secret for a beautiful and healthy skin. But did you know that you also have in your kitchen all the ingredients you need to make sustainable skin care that works? I use to call them ‘grandma recipes’. This amazing video teaches how to make a sustainable body scrub witch removes dead skin cells, moisturises and nourish your skin. Fantastic!