Organic Bug Artist Spotlight: Josh Jakus- Founder of FUZ

A new year brings more new artists and designs to the Organic Bug family.  We were thrilled to add FUZ; an innovative line of modern home accessories to our sustainable collection.  Designer Josh Jakus of Berkeley, California is the artist behind these smart and elegant pieces for the home.   His work is inspired by the connection between form and function.

Josh embraces what he calls a “strict material sensibility~using materials in their simplest form so intrinsic qualities show through~and a rigorous design efficiency that strives to get the most impact out of the fewest moves.”

We are not surprised to learn that Josh is an architect by training with an M.Arch from UC Berkeley. Studying architecture was a way to continue his lifelong interest in the nature of structure, space and materials. With his understanding of the built environment and how it is inhabited, coupled with his innate curiosity and passion for pushing the envelope, Josh founded his design practice in 2005.  He began by designing pressed wool felt UM Handbags made from industrial factory excess and went on to experiment with other post-industrial waste materials.  Some of his current products the Josh Jakus FUZ Winepocket made from recycled grey wool from factory excess (featured on our homepage)  and (I love this one!) the 6-Pack Set of Coasters made from recycled rubber from tires and other factory excess.

All of the Josh Jakus collections are made in the USA. By producing small batches to meet customer demand, the company not only stays lean and local, they can better oversee quality and offer reasonable pricing that remains competitive. This labor of love keeps Josh in the driver’s seat and I, for one, am happy to ride along and enjoy the scenery.

Happiest making things that are meant to be used, he hopes his functional designs will attempt to foster a more intuitive understanding of all objects in the people who use them.

Organic Bug Product Spotlight: The BAT Shop Bracelets are Sustainable & Wearable Art

We are kicking off the traditional holiday shopping season by giving kudos and shining a spotlight on a well deserved company.  Many of our customers have been raving about our newest vendor, The Bartel Arts Trust aka- “The Bat Shop” based in Based in Durban, South Africa.  We recently added their stunning Telephone Wire Bangle Bracelets to our collection and I have to admit these have become one of my favorites!

Part of our mission is to support companies who exemplify fair trade practices, sustainable product development and respect for cultural diversity.  The BAT Shop is a shining example of an organization that practices all of the above. The company is made up of over 400 artists from four communities across KwaZulu-Natal who are able to support their craft and their livelihood because of the work they do. The focus of the BAT Shop is on local arts, culture, crafts and entertainment that reflect the Zulu, Indian and Western heritage of KwaZulu-Natal.

The BAT Shop Telephone Wire Bangle Bracelets are an innovative design made from telephone wire that is woven together to create a dazzling, colorful and fashionable accessory that will last for years. Should I mention we are not the only ones who think this product is wonderful?  The bangle bracelets also graced all of Diane Von Furstenburg’s models during Fashion Week debuting her Spring 2010 Collection!  Watch video below:

Turning Your Dinner Party Green!

With the Holiday season just right around the corner, your busy schedules probably just got slammed with a number of dinner parties to attend. Attending dinner parties are fun but hosting dinner parties can be fun too! Whether you are having a small get together or many people over for a green celebration, planning does not have to be stressful and hopefully this article will ease your list of things to do.

So you’ve decided you’re going to have a dinner party. Next step is figuring out how you’re going to send your invitations. To go green and ease the carbon footprint on getting your attendees attention to save the date, may we suggest using social media? What a quick and easy way to contact your network of friends. Remember, just because its online doesn’t mean you can’t get creative. Send your invites a jazzed up email, they will be excited to open it making them even more excited to attend, we like to use Evite.com.

Another idea is to suggest a prize for those who arrive by alternative forms of transportation other than by car, but whatever the prize is, make it green and make it goodJ. When you decorate for your party create displays of fresh flowers and soy candles and get creative with the seasons offerings. Pinecones, lemons, leaves, and oranges are all things found in or around your house that can add to the fall season and add to the mood of a comfortable environment.

Don’t forget to invest in some ‘green wine’; no, the color of the wine is not green but you can compliment any dish by supporting an ecologically sensitive winery.  Or, you can have green drinks by supporting a local micro brewery, as more and more breweries are using organic ingredients. When shopping for your dinner party, don’t forget about the after dinner coffee which you can go green by supporting fair trade. If there are leftovers, send everyone home with whatever is left, or compost your scraps for your garden. When you’re cleaning up, make sure to skip the prewash, however if you don’t have a dishwasher, use some eco friendly soap to hand wash your dishes like Seven Generations or Shaklee. You should always seek out green household cleaning products because they are good for your health and good for the environment too.

As you can see these are quick and easy steps to use when you’re plan for your green celebration. We aren’t asking you to make drastic changes in the way you plan but as you can see by changing a little, you can and will reduce your holiday dinner party carbon footprint. All of these things are easy on your wallet; health and the environment too. Have fun and stay green this holiday season!

Want to Start a Grassroots Campaign?

Here are a few pointers of how to start a grassroots campaign. If you’re passionate about it, just like anything else, itwill be a success.

1. If you have an issue that you want to gain attention to, you must first know what it is that you want to change or accomplish before you start your campaign.

2. What’s the mission? Just like a business or non-profit, you need to have a mission for the campaign and a pitch that goes along with it. Within the mission, you must be able to articulate the goal(s). If you cannot do this, you either need to do some researching and brainstorming, or it might not be time to start your campaign. You must have a clear and focused plan.

3. Promote it – once you’re clear on what you want to accomplish and what you stand for, create promo items like flyers, signs, brochures, a website, social media accounts, etc., to help spread the word about your campaign. Make sure all the info you need people to know is on every piece of materials, you want it to be as easy as possible for them to join you and support the cause.

4. Who’s the spokesperson? This might be you, but make sure whoever it is, they are articulate, believe in your cause, and can handle the media. They are going to be the face for this cause and need to be able to represent it appropriately.

5. Contact your local, state and federal representatives and don’t give up, because you most likely won’t reach them the first time. Keep calling, emailing, and maybe even Tweeting them till you contact someone that will listen and might be able to help.

6. Money, money, money, money…MONEY! You’ll need to do some fundraising for your campaign. Most grassroots campaigns can be fairly inexpensive, but unless you are wealthy, you might run into a time where you need outside capital. You can do this by asking, accepting donations online, selling personal items, or you might find people just want to help monetarily because they believe in the cause. However it gets to you, make sure you….

7. Hire a CPA. You need someone on your side that knows your books which may end up saving you money down the road. Unless you know the ins and outs about taxes, tax codes, etc., then I would get a professional to help you out.

GrassrootsCampaigns.com is a great resource to help you gain support, find a team of organizers, and learn how to get funding.

Organic Bug Product Spotlight: Piggy Paint™ Nail Polish

Organic Bug recently added a unique new product that we simply adore.   Piggy Paint™ Nail Polish is an environmentally friendly,  non toxic nail polish we featured last week when we announced that we are offering Piggy Paint’s Fight Breast Cancer Gift Set to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Piggy Paint donates a portion of every purchase directly to Susan G. Komen for the Cure PLUS Melanie (Piggy Paint’s fabulous founder) donates a bottle of nail polish and nail polish remover to a woman currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer!   In addition, Organic Bug will be donating 10 percent of its sales of Piggy Paint’s Fight Breast Cancer Gift Set to the local Relay for Life event that will happen in April of 2010 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

We love this product because it is safe and ideal to use on children (and adults too) because it is water-based and made from natural ingredients.  The product was invented by Melanie Hurley- whose 2 young girls love to dress up and have Mommy paint their finger nails & toes. As she applied the coats of polish to her girls’ nails, she realized the awful fumes were just too overwhelming-even on polishes that claimed to be safe for children.

At one point, she accidentally spilled some polish onto a disposable plate and realized to her horror that the same polish she was putting on her daughters’ nails had eaten right through that plate.  At that moment, she set out to create a nail polish that was nonflammable and made from natural ingredients- thus Piggy Paint was born.   Piggy Paint is a water-based polish completely free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, biphenyl A, ethyl acetate and acetone.  The product is even getting some Hollywood attention! Celebrities such as Tori Spelling had the gals from Piggy Paint on hand to paint nails during her daughter’s 1st birthday party, and the product been featured on numerous blogs and magazines including  Celebrity Baby’s Blog, and Celebrity Baby Scoop.

As Melanie says about her product- “It’s as natural as mud in the sense that every ingredient is biodegradable with no residues left behind to harm the environment.”  Hope you enjoy!

Do You Have What it Takes To Live a “No Impact” Lifestyle?

Many of you have probably heard the buzz about “No Impact Man”- an green living experiment by New Yorker Colin Beavan and his family. The premise of this story is Beavan, along with his wife, 2 year old daughter and family dog- give up their luxurious Manhattan lifestyle and commit to a full year of eliminating their “carbon footprint” by eating vegetarian, buying only local food, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, no garbage, no cars, buses, or airplanes.

Colin blogs about his experiences (the good and the bad) in his widely followed blog: No Impact Man.  The experiment was so fascinating it was turned into a documentary:

As you see- this family goes to extremes to change their lifestyle and eliminate their impact on the environment.

What about you?  Could you do this for one year?  Give up electricity?  Meat?  Television?  Eating out?  Cars?  Shopping? Producing garbage?

How about just one week?  I came across the No Impact Challenge for those of us who are curious to test our limits and see what we can live without.

The No Impact Experiment is a one-week carbon cleanse.  It is a chance for you to see what a difference no-impact living can have on your quality of life. It’s not about giving up creature comforts but an opportunity for you to test whether the modern “conveniences” you take for granted are actually making you happier or just eating away at your time and money.

How would giving up modern conveniences change your quality of life?  Is this kind of challenge something you and your family could benefit from?

When I look at my own family and our daily patterns, it bothers me  how much time we spend disconnected from each other watching TV, movies, surfing on the computer, talking and texting on our cell phones, etc.  I also see how wasteful we can be in the name of convenience and how much money we spend of things that we do not need?  How would our health change if we committed ourselves to buying just locally grown seasonal fruits and vegetables?  It is a lot to think about- and I am not saying we all have to go to the extreme measures the Beavan family did.  But it is an interesting question.  Do think you have what it takes?

Genius Mom Entrepreneurs-The Story of Shady Day Sunscreen

One sunny summer afternoon in 2004, two young mothers in New Jersey were enjoying a day at the beach with their children.  As all good mothers should, they applied their kids relentlessly with sunscreen, while complaining to one another about the challenges of the messy, sticky, awful smelling lotion.  They began thinking about what the perfect sunscreen would be, and researched extensively for two years under the careful advisement of a leading dermatologist.  The result was the launch of Shady Day Inc. in April of 2006.

Although in their infancy as a company, they have already received global recognition, celebrity favor and countless honors including Best New Product by EX-TRACTS and Top Sunscreen by Luxury Spa Finder. Their product line is loved by celebrities (seen carrying Shady Day gift bags at the Golden Globe Awards) and has even gotten the nod from Oprah.

Moms everywhere are celebrating their genius. Their collection of sun protection products combine mess free application solutions, with all natural, high quality ingredients.

In line with the Shady Day commitment to using only ingredients that are safe for us, and the environment, Parabens are never used in any of their products. Parabens are a group of chemicals that are used as an inexpensive way to maintain the shelf life of a product. They can cause skin irritations and some studies have even connected Parabens to breast cancer. Shady Day opted to use safer, all natural Paraben alternatives including grapefruit seed extract and vitamin E rather than the harmful Parabens found in most sunscreen products.

Big fat kudos go out to the gals that invented this product. We absolutely love it!