Muwi Lawn Mower

Four South Korean designers came up with a new concept for a lawn mower. The Muwi is an innovative lawn mower that calculates the size of the lawn and automatically cuts the grass., similar to how a Roomba operates. As the grass cuttings accumulate inside the machine, the Muwi constructs and compresses them into cylindrical blocks. The blocks can become balls for children to play with or discs that can be combined to make a chair. After the blocks are used, they can be left to return to nature.

Zero Carbon Food

Thanks to a couple of foodie entrepreneurs and a Michelin-star chef, London is now home to Zero Carbon Food, the first bomb shelter turned underground farm. The cavernous bunkers near Clapham North Underground station once housed up to 8,000 Londoners during the World War II, now hosts a  hydroponic garden full of peashoots, arugula, radish, and more. The soft purplish-pink LED light and the extremely minimal travel distance to local restaurants and markets makes the initiative’s carbon foot print nearly nonexistent. Other environmentally impactful benefits include price stability, year-round availability and no agricultural run-off.

Nele Azevedo

Nele Azevedo is a Brazilian visual artist best known for her “Melting Man’ installations. Azevedo carves thousands of small figures and places them on monuments across the globe where audiences congregate to watch them melt. While she doesn’t claim to be a climate activist, the basis for these interventions is to draw attention to urgent matters that threaten our existence on this planet.

Thanks to Joe Koufman for today’s fodder.

Justin Gignac

New York based artist Justin Gignac is from the school of thought that packaging is the most important part of marketing a product. He believes in it so much that he has enterprisingly began selling trash. Gignac takes ‘hand picked’ pieces of refuse from the streets of New York, sorts them into loosely related groups and places them in simply designed acrylic boxes. So far, he has moved over 1,400 units to buyers from over 25 different countries.

The regular units sell for $50 each, while limited edition ones from events like Obama’s inauguration go for double the usual asking price.

Thanks to Joe Koufman for today’s fodder.

Scandalous Bags

In an attempt to make using plastic bags a less appealing option – creative agency Mother, have designed a carrier bag that will make you think twice about whether you really need one.

Available in four styles (robber, junkie, sex addict and terrorist) the bags force you to consider whether the stares and judgement of the general public are a price worth paying for a plastic bag.

Thanks to Joe Koufman for today’s fodder.

Barry Rosenthal

New York City based photographer Barry Rosenthal latest series “Found in Nature” is a collection of neatly sorted beach trash. While the concept might sound simple, the series includes abandoned items that have been accumulated over the course of 10 years. Rosenthal’s inspiration was to remind us that there is beauty even in trash and, less subtly, that there is a whole lot of trash in the oceans.

Griffen Hollow Studios

Griffen Hollow Studios is a Columbus, Ohio based business that is driven by the concept of up-cycling. Primarily focusing on an eco-friendly approach to wood working, Griffen Hollow reclaims materials that others deem waste to produce bar tops, beer taps and fashion accessories–most notably using redwood from the original bleachers at Ohio Stadium.

Visit Griffen Hollow Studio’s Kickstarter campaign to learn more about the quest to purchase a Laser Cutter and to make a pledge. There are a variety of unique gifts that pledger’s will receive in exchange for supporting this project.

WonderRoot

The Atlanta metro area supports many farmers markets and several Community Supported Agriculture programs from local farms such as Love is Love. With that concept in mind, a local Atlanta non-profit organization, WonderRoot, has announced their latest project: Community Supported Art subscriptions. Those who participate in the program are able to buy “shares” with a group of local artists. After purchasing a share, participants will receive nine original works of art over the course of a year. This program not only supports local artists but also benefits the city’s local art culture.

If you are interested in purchasing a share or participating in the program, please contact Engauge’s own Eva Taylor at Etaylor@engauge.com.

Carton King

Now there’s a restaurant in Taiwan that’s made completely out of cardboard. At Carton King restaurant, everything but the food and utensils is made from cardboard–it is a revolutionary concept. Even thought cardboard damages easily, it can be recycled and efficiently repaired. 

Mademoiselle Jean-Claude

Smokers have always gotten a bad rap for contributing to the polluted state of the world. Now French collective Mademoiselle Jean-Claude have emerged with a new invention in the defense of smokers: an eco-friendly ashtray that doubles up as a potted plant pot. Basically you can dispose of your cig butts here, and leave it to the device to filter out ashes from the cig butts as fertilizer for the resident plant.