reside architecture

with less than 15 hours to go before august ends, i’m finally getting to this month’s COOL product post. so here it goes; drumroll please……COOL product of the month for August is ECObags!

now i know this may not seem that exciting, especially since following that dramatic drumroll, but this is a very important COOL product. ECObags sells several sizes of reusable canvas bags. one of the first places i go to when visiting a website is the “about us” page, especially if i’m considering purchasing that particular service or product. incidentally, my own “about us” page at reside architecture is one of the most visited pages on my website so i’m not alone in my thinking. from the ECObags website, their mission is clear;

Ecobags Products, Inc. opened for business in 1989 with a simple goal; to produce quality bags at great prices so that “Reusable becomes a way of life.”

“reusable becomes a way of life.” Pretty smart and simple concept and one that more of us are embracing everyday. my wife and i purchased several ecobags about two years ago and have been using them religiously (assuming we can remember to grab them as we leave the house… along with two boys, sunscreen, stroller, ergocarrier, drink cups, diapers, snacks, shopping list… you get the idea). we always take them with us when grocery shopping to trader joes and many grocery stores will give you 5 cents (couldn’t find the cent sign on my keyboard so i had to spell it out) for each bag you bring in, not something we’ll get rich on but it’s nice to have the acknowledgment.

my favorite, the half size produce bag

for me, where the ECObags really shine are the smaller sizes for taking to the farmers’ market. generally speaking, i do believe that people that take the time to go to their local farmers’ markets and support local farmers are concerned about their health and the health of the environment, agreed? then why oh why do i see so many people walking around with lots and lots of plastic bags to carry their fruits and vegetables in, only to get home and throw them away (or recycle). the answer to all of that is the half size produce bags. i love ours. we have about 10 of them and they are perfect for putting in 3 or 4 sweet potatoes or a handful of plums or peaches. we usually get approached once each time out to the farmers market by someone asking about the smaller size ECObags because “they are so cute.” we’ve probably saved using over 1000 plastic bags over the last couple of years. you can buy 5 of them for $13.00 so there really is no reason to not have these in your shopping arsenal. hopefully you’ll be as excited about your ECObags as i am, then you’ll tell a neighbor, and that neighbor will tell their neighbor, and that neighbor will tell their neighbor….

i just returned from visiting my friends’, dorian cheah & ally hamilton’s, new yoga studio in santa monica called yogis anonymous. i had been helping them out with the design for the last couple of months and construction is just about completed. the space was previously a hair salon and my friends transformed it into a cool, green yoga studio. dorian and ally selected an environmentally friendly pre-finished bamboo floor made by smith & fong called plyboo. this floor is formaldehyde free as well as FSC certified. they also specified a no-VOC paint by dunn edwards.

yogis anonymous is a new kind of studio. rather than utilizing the standard method that involves the participant purchasing individual classes or a series of classes, yogis anonymous functions on the premise of a donation system. participants pay what they are most comfortable with. i think this will create much more of a community environment at the studio. with already over 1300 fans on their facebook fan page, i’d say the strategy is working, considering they haven’t even opened their doors yet. they will be having a big launch party this saturday evening for anyone in the los angeles area, details can be found on their fan page.

they are also putting on a “human logo contest” and accepting entries for interpretations of couples performing their interpretation of their new logo. my wife came up with the idea of entering our boys, so we created our own entry. yes it is photoshopped (getting two boys to do that pose at the SAME TIME is impossible when they are 1 and 3 years old) but they each did perform the pose and yes, jake did do a headstand, albeit with the help of wendy’s hand that is photoshopped out of the pic.

if your in santa monica, be sure to check out the studio. ally hamilton is well known in the yoga community and she has put together a powerhouse lineup of super-duper yoga instructors. makes me want to get back into yoga…

yogis anonymous logo

jake & remy do the YA logo

image appears courtesy of www.zrecommends.com

if you haven’t heard, the makers of the SIGG bottles have admitted that their bottles were made with a liner that contained the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A. at some point last summer, they quietly switched out the liners but many people who jumped on the bandwagon for SIGG did so well before that, yours truly included. we have or should i say, had, the old liner until yesterday. buh-buy SIGG.

i wrote a few months back about SIGG being the COOL product of the month and i’m very sorry for that. my family, including my two boys have been drinking out of SIGG cups. it upsets me that a corporation that it supposed to be so cool and concerned with the environment could be so deceptive. they are even part of the 1% for the planet, donating 1% of their worldwide sales to protection of the environment. how much more deceitful could they be?

i usually take things in stride,  BUT this one does upset me.  i read the article and the claim is the bisphenol-A doesn’t leech out so it’s not a problem. um, okay, SIGG but why is it in there to begin with and why did you keep quiet for so long? the whole thing just stinks.

they are even offering customers to switch out the old ones with their “new liner”. REALLY? no thanks SIGG. luckily, i  am a “the-glass-is-half-full-kind-of-guy” and will get over this, it just won’t be half full in a SIGG cup anymore.

here’s the link to the SIGG article where my wife found out about it and also a special thank you to jeremiah at zrecommends for writing the article. it’s most interesting to read the peoples’ comments at the end of the article,  a lot of upset people and rightly so.

i also just noticed zrecommends is still on it with “need a new water bottle? we have 40 ideas for you.” check it out.

here are a couple of “rough” computer renderings of our banyan project.

in the living room, notice the new open stair and how it helps the space feel more open. also notice the new entry way and frosted glass that will allow more light into to the room but maintain the privacy.

in the master bath, below, notice the large sink, selected by the owner and double faucets. also notice the large shower and skylight. this room will be great!