Putting the 'eco' in decor

Columnist Arianna Huffington said it:

“It’s been a great transition: Hollywood has gone from the capital of conspicuous consumption to the cutting edge of conspicuous conservation.”

But when you’re watching Ryan Seacrest pronounce the Emmy Awards as an eco-friendly event while he’s surrounded by burning klieg lights, things can get a little confusing.

“I started to think about all this stuff because I’d be going to events and the invitation would be printed with the words, ‘This is a green event!’” said conceptual event designer David Stark. He has worked high-visibility events for some of the nation’s elite organizations and celebrities. “There’d be burlap tablecloths and green lighting – and I don’t mean fluorescent bulbs, but the color green – and somebody would stand up and say, ‘Change starts here!’ and I’d think, you’ve got to be kidding.”

Stark was then commissioned to take reigns in designing the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s awards gala. “I wondered how that stuff could be more thoughtful," he said. "And then the artist in me wanted to present a commentary, not just a solution.”

Stark had the museum shred six months’ worth of their office paper, which he combined with papers from his own office and personal tax returns. Those 6,000 pounds of paper were then transformed into giant chandeliers and topiaries resembling those of Versailles’ gardens.

Stark was also concerned with what to do with such decor after events. Two years ago, the Costume Institute’s party for Chanel was decorated by artist David Monn. Afterwards, the 7,000 gardenias and 25,000 pounds of boxwood used for the event “went into the Dumpster,” said Monn. Making the effort to create environment-friendly decorations seems redundant when it is just thrown in the trash the morning after.

Simon Doonan, the creative director of Barneys New York, has also taken a genuinely earth-conscious approach to decor this year. This month’s holiday storefront windows feature mosaics using recycled products like soda cans.

“You can do this stuff at home. You can go gold with decaffeinated Diet Coke, and there’s lots of blue and silver in drinks like Pepsi and Red Bull. You can make wreathes out of old silver pot scrubbers,” Doonan said, giving insight on the do-it-yourself phenom.

If you're design-savvy enough, you just may be able to save yourself a trip to the store and your wallet by reaching for your garbage can.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/garden/29eco.html?_r=2&ref=environment&oref=slogin&oref=slogin