Pop a cork for…cork!

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than with a paean to my favorite eco-friendly material? Versatile, sustainable cork (made from the renewable bark of Mediterranean cork oak trees), is experiencing something of a rebirth, with new shapes, colors, formats, and uses. Take a look:

1) Use cork on the ceiling to deaden sound, as edgy design firm AvroKO did at Park Avenue Spring, above!

2) Cork accessories are always divine, especially when rendered in really sleek lines, like VivaTerra’s tray.

3) Use it on the floor, where it’s both cushion-y and resilient; the material’s structure traps little air-like bubbles inside, so it spring back after you walk on it. Check out Globus Cork’s beautifully colored versions, which come in crazy shapes like hexagons!

4) Check out this great new(ish) product: cork penny tiles–love. Habitus will do them in custom colors, too.

5) You can even use cork to cover furniture! Try Tessuto in Sughero, a quirky-cool upholstery fabric, also from Habitus.

6) Cork comes in all sorts of intriguing formats. Try MIO’s easy-to-install, interlocking tiles on floors or walls–where it can dampen sound, function as a bulletin board, or even warm up a chilly room (it’s a natural insulator). MIO also just came up with these cool modular cork trivet/placemats, too:

7) Try out these other intriguing designs…Cork Concepts’ plank-shaped floor tiles that look like painted wood, AmCork’s tiles, animated with colored rivulets, and Expanko’s darkly decadent Terra tile.

Or pop a bottle of organic bubbly to celebrate the day. Check out picks from Treehugger, who grilled my fave New York shop– Appellation Wine & Spirits–on the subject.

–Jen Renzi

Technorati Tags: cork accessories, colorful cork planks, eco-friendly flooring

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I just love a weird coincidence!

Earlier today, I was chatting with Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch of vanguard New York interiors firm Roman and Williams—not about the chic homes they’ve kitted out for bigwigs Gwyneth and Kate Hudson (the design duo is very discreet), but about redoing the iconic Royalton Hotel’s public areas. Among other topics, the designers dished on the challenges of reworking the windowless rear dining room, above, into a stunning eatery, now named Brasserie 44 (and run by John McDonald of Lever House and Lure Fish bar fame). “Because it’s kind of a cul-de-sac back there, we wanted to make it lighter than the surrounding spaces,” explains Robin. “It’s a beacon to lure you in from the lobby.” In addition to subtly evocative details like honeyed-teak millwork and wall dividers of intertwined rope, the space is enlivened by mesmerizing blown-glass fixtures emitting a moonlit, gaslight glow that’s flattering to both the space and its sexy patrons.

Fast forward a few hours: I’m checking out Brooklyn glass artist John Pomp’s website to see if he’s previewing new goodies yet. And what do I find? In addition to his architectonic vases (below) and clever accessories, I discovered that he is also the behind-the-scenes fabricator responsible for the Brasserie 44’s fabulous orbs!

Caught the glassblowing bug yourself? Drop by one sixty glass, his Williamsburg studio/shop, and take a class. I was bummed to see that I just missed the beer-mug-making workshop, but perhaps that was no coincidence–a sign from a higher power discouraging me from mixing drinking and design? Hmmm…. –Jen Renzi

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