sustainable style foundation*

I am so excited about my find this week! Finally I don’t have to feel guilty about all those wasted plastic lids and paper cups from my daily latte stop at my favorite socially and sustainably responsible coffee shop Gimme! Coffee. It’s a reuseable to-go “I’m Not A Paper Cup” cup that is so stylish, I’ve been showing it off to everyone. It’s porcelain with a silicone lid that can be washed and re-used. Keeps stuff hot or cold. I’ve already saved 4 cups and lids this week and am improving my eco-foot print daily. Find yours at the MoMa store on-line.

All the designers were in New York this weekend at the Javitz Center for the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair). The celebrating of design continued on through Tuesday with lots of showroom parties for the creative set too! As usual there were beautiful and inspirational pieces from all over the world at the show. Sustainability was a big provoker of new thoughts about product design. One piece really stood out and it was the OZ Lowchair by Cate&Nelson Design a Swedish and Spanish design team. I just loved it and kept dragging all my colleagues over to see the chair. It’s a chair that you would never need to reupholster, because you can just flip over a piece of the layered felt to change the color. Very clever and with a painted white metal base, it’s a chair that you would never tire of and would always be in style in any setting…a product that’s beyond re-use it’s all about convertibility.

SSF is happy to announce the nominees for the 3rd annual Outstanding Sustainable Style Achievement (OSSA) Awards program, recognizing the best in sustainable style for 2005. Ten recipients will be selected from more than 60 nominees and announced in our online publication, SASS Magazine. Three Premier Award winners will also be featured, and were pre-announced today. These award recipients are Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (Vision & Innovation Award), Prince Charles & Lady Camilla (Outstanding Public Expression Award) and Angelina Jolie, with SSF’s highest honor, the Style & Substance Award in honor of Audrey Hepburn.

"The OSSA Awards recognize outstanding social and environmental efforts across style industries that help us all 'look fabulous, live well and do good'", said Rebecca Luke, Co-founder and Senior Stylist at SSF. "This is a landmark third year for SSF as we continue to our bring community organizations, businesses and government together in demonstrating how the expression of individual lifestyle choices can help make positive changes in our world."

All the nominees are on the press release; check out the OSSA