Fast Company US Design Pop-Up Shop

For those of you like us without an iPad, here are a few "screen shots" (thanks to Chelsea's Mom) of the Fast Company US Design Pop-Up Shop featuring our Electric Love bangles. Fast Company paired with our friends at Fab.com so you can purchase all the products featured and get a free Fast Company subscription while your at it!

Bound in Western Living!

Big thanks to Thom Atkinson of Western Living for including Bound in this sneak peak feature on IDS West. We'll be heading to Vancouver later this month to show at IDS West with fellow Northwest designers Iacoli & McAllister, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and urbancase. More on the show soon!

Team Players

Yes, there is strength in numbers! Huge thanks to Jess Chamberlain of Sunset for her continued support of all of us at JOIN and her fun piece in the latest issue of Sunset featuring a full page pic of our fearless founders, Jamie and Brian of Iacoli & McAllister.

Post Design Week Press

We had an amazing time in New York last week. We're still processing, but wanted to share a few links from the nice press we received. Thanks to everyone for their support!

At the airport, we were excited to find our Bound hand mirrors mentioned in the New York Times' Three Design Shops Popping Up in New York. For a recap from the Noho Design District (where we showed work with the American Design Club and Sight Unseen), here is a great summary from Sight Unseen.

While we were setting up our ICFF booth, we found this nice post from Laura Cassidy's Wear What When blog for Seattle Metropolitan Magazine featuring our work along with fellow Seattle designers: Greypants, urbancase and Iacoli & McAllister.

After ICFF, we were happy to read that we were selected by Inhabit as part of the Best Green Furniture Design at ICFF 2011 (see above) as well as one of 15 Young Designers and Collectives to See at ICFF according to Apartment Therapy.

We also wanted to send thanks to Jess Chamberlain of Sunset for her ICFF 2011 (some Seattle-based faves), Ghislaine Viñas of Interior Design for including our Bound hand mirrors in a nice post from the Noho Design District, and Carl Collins of Core77 for including our Bound wall mirror in their Noho roundup.

Seattle Mini-Boom

Big thanks to John Rambow for the great article on JOIN and the Seattle design scene on Fast Company's blog today! We always love being mentioned along with our fellow JOIN'ers: Iacoli & McAllister, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and BLK Pine.

N.E.E.T. Magazine

We just wanted to give a quick thanks to N.E.E.T. Magazine for featuring Electric Love, Sololá and Bound in their March issue. N.E.E.T. is an "eco-friendly, grassroots style bible for the digital age" founded in 2005 in the UK and we're thrilled to be included throughout the issue. Thanks again Stephanie!

Electric Love in Toffee!

Thanks to Australian indie arts and crafts magazine, Toffee, for featuring Electric Love in their first issue!

Do It Yourself Douchegordijn

Huge thanks to editor Kim van Rossenberg for featuring Ty D.I.Y. Edition in the latest issue of Dutch magazine 101 Woonideeën!

Electric Love featured in Seattle Magazine!

Check out the November issue of Seattle Magazine to find our Electric Love ring featured on page 36! You can enter to win the pictured ring through their website or get one from our online shop right now for $19.00. Thanks Kate!

Electric Love + SFMOMA

Check out the new SFMOMA holiday catalog. Our Electric Love rings are on page 12!

Vinyl shower curtains are scary!

Matt Hickman posted a great response to the question of why standard PVC shower curtains are so dangerous to our health and environment on the Mother Nature Network yesterday. Here is an excerpt:

"...PVC vinyl shower curtains... contain the infamous and ubiquitous chemical plasticizer, phthalates, and a slew of other toxic chemicals that can easily off-gas in a hot ‘n’ steamy bathroom and pollute the air in your home. In various studies, phthalates have been linked to a myriad of health concerns including genital deformation, abnormal breast development, lowered IQs and ADHD in boys; shortened pregnancies in expectant mothers; and damage to the liver, kidney and reproductive system."

On recyclability he wrote:

"...PVC, a compound of chlorine and petroleum products, is the hardest to recycle of all the plastics and the production of it is highly polluting and releases carcinogenic dioxins into the air."

On safer alternatives he wrote:

"Mercifully, there are numerous alternatives to vinyl shower curtains made from materials like hemp, organic or non-organic cotton, and non-off-gassing EVA plastic, but be warned, you’ll probably have to pay a bit more. But as evidenced above, I think you’d agree it’s worth it. While perfectly acceptable, non-vinyl shower curtains can be found at major retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond and Target, I’m a huge fan of Grain’s Ty Shower Curtain that’s made from recyclable, long lasting and breathable — less mold and mildew! — HDPE (#2 plastic). For a couple bucks more, Grain also offers a Ty DIY Edition that comes with a permanent marker for shower curtain doodling."

Thanks Matt!

More Electric Love Press!

Electric Love has been getting some great press over the past few days. Thanks Sunset, Design For Mankind, Mother Nature Network, Design Milk, Ethical Style and Color By Numbers for helping to spread the word!

DIY Tutorial: Electric Love

On Monday we posted the how-to steps for making your own Electric Love on Ecouterre. Here they are if you'd like to give it a try:

MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES

• Small needle-nose pliers
• Wire cutter
• Ring mandrel (shown) or dowel, carrot, thumb, etc.
• Reclaimed electrical wire

STEP ONE

Find some wire in a color you like. The best wire for this project will have a solid core (it holds its shape better than braided wire) and a
thin plastic coating.

If it comes wound with other wires (as shown), carefully split out the color you’re after. You’ll need about 19 inches (50 cm) for the ring.

STEP TWO

Start your ring by twisting a tight hook on the very end of the wire. Make it as small as you can, then clench it flat with the pliers.

If you left a long tail, snip it down close to the bend with the wire cutters. This step shall henceforth be known as the “hook” and will prevent
the finished ring from coming undone.

STEP THREE

Locate your ring mandrel (or other sizing device mentioned above). Hold the hook down against the mandrel with your thumb and begin to wrap the wire around the mandrel. This step will determine the final size of your ring, so wrap it tight.

STEP FOUR

Three full wraps around the mandrel should do it. On your last time around, go past the hook a touch, then bend the remaining wire up at 90 degrees (shown).

STEP FIVE

Slide the ring off the mandrel and begin the top wrap by bringing the free wire over the top and through the ring. Pull.

STEP SIX

Be sure to place the first loop before the hook to keep the ring secure, and make it tight so the hook won’t come out. Then, make a few more loops sending the wire over the hook and through the ring in the same manner.

STEP SEVEN

Keep wrapping tightly until you’ve covered the hook, then do two or three more wraps beyond the hook but keep the loop diameter the same (shown). This will allow some space underneath the loops to tie off the end of the wire.

STEP EIGHT

Bring the wire around and poke it back through the loops from step 7.

STEP NINE

Pull it tight so it feels secure under the loops. Snip of the excess wire as short as you can manage.

STEP TEN

The loops probably separated a bit during this process so tuck in the loose end and mash everything back into shape. Voilà!

The finished ring, which can also be purchased from Grain’s online store, ready-made, for $19.

The ring in action.

Press: Electric Love

We have been getting some fun blog coverage of Electric Love lately...

Abigail Doan wrote a really thoughtful post for Ecco*Eco (above) and then we found them over on Treehugger (below) thanks to Emma Grady.

For more, check out NotCot, Nacional Design, GreenMuze, and Girl In The Green Dress (written by Traci Roloff the co-owner of filzfelt). Thanks for the support everyone!

Café America in Chicago Home + Gardens!

We're super excited to have our Café America chair featured with Mike Perry's Eames chair and Damian Barton's Petal chair in the July/August issue of Chicago Home + Garden. Thanks Deborah!

Grain in the new RISD XYZ magazine!

Rhode Island School of Design's new alumni magazine, RISD XYZ designed by WellNow Design, is finally out. Inside, we were excited to find our Sololá purses featured next to Paul Loebach's Gradient Table and Micheal Maltzan's Skid Row Housing Trust which we hope to see when we are in LA later this week.

Thanks Liisa for thinking of us again!

Grain Link Trades

Big thanks to Laura Cassidy for including our favorite links in her Wear What When blog for Seattle Met. Laura first wrote about our Chi-Chi necklaces in April, so we were delighted when she asked us to participate in her Link Trader series.

Thanks again Laura!

Sololá in Lucky!

Big thanks to Editor At Large, Elise Loehnen for featuring Sololá in the upcoming July issue of Lucky!