Sustainable Thinking

Epic EPIC

Last weekend Aloe Designs participated in the EPIC sustainable living show. And what a show it was. We met so many great people with great stories doing seriously great things. With Earth day past and Spring just around the bend, we are feeling very eco-friendly inspired to share with you the news from the show!

First off we would like to send out a ginormous thanks to all our friends, family and clients who came to support the cause! Without your smiling faces and words of encouragement we could not have made it through the 4 long days, or rather, 4 long weeks leading up to the event. We also want to say wurd to Tanya at Mango Design Co for helping share the booth and ideas in creating such an innovative showpiece. Future collaborative projects to come! Late nights designing sustainable concepts, mid week days of cruisin around town meeting suppliers and 2 very long weekends to build and construct- it all came together!

Some of the highlights and oos and ahhs of our booth were:

Table

1.0 The 'Harvest Table'. Our first furniture piece designed and manufactured by us! Made of recyclable aluminum framing and reclaimed cedar planks, this table works for both indoors and out. The center piece trough can be used for herbs and edibles, candles and rocks, or simply as a holding chiller for that nice bottle of wine. Furniture design and further production for this limited edition piece are in the works!

Container

2.0 Edible Planters. The smooth, modern concrete containers were provided by a local company Souls and were filled with lots of yummy edible herbs that sparked a lot of gardening conversations.

Accessories

3.0 Accessories. The Bird Feeder provided by Room 6, designed by J Schatz attracts those beneficial birdies to come and hang out among the landscape. Many juicy colors available. The dining table's settings from Provide (the coolest new store in town) worked flawlessly. We especially fell in love with the dish set from Heath Ceramics and may be taking a private visit this June, to their factory in Sausalito, CA. Lucky Us!

Flooring

4.0 River rock and Slate Entrance. With all the rain we get in Vancouver we wanted to showcase a way in which a small space can look contemporary, and also be good for the environment too. By using river rock throughout a slate walkway you can minimize the water run off that would normally not get absorbed by flat hardscaping.

Rainchain

5.0 Concept Rain Chain System. Our sleek and innovative rain chain plays a larger role in distributing rain water. The chain feeds into a waterbarrel, which then gets pumped into an underground low flow irrigation system, to in turn feed container plants the required water needed.

Due to a dated digital and some bad indoor lighting the images can only shine so well. One of those- should have been there in person experiences, but nevertheless, for those of you who couldn't make it out, some visuals for you to see.  O and I both agreed, EPIC was an amazing experience to be a part of, but no more show installations in the near future. What lies ahead- some seriously cool design projects on the horizon...

Turn it OFF!

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Just a reminder to turn off your lights tomorrow night from 8-9 for  Earth Hour. Come and join millions around the earth in a fight against climate change and by showing that you care about our planet. Landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, Sears Tower and the Sydney Opera House will also be taking part- very cool!

This will promote awareness to the world about the amount of energy we consume. Plus being stuck in the dark for an hour can be fun- think candles, a blanket, and old fashion transistor radio! If you feel further inspired, change those old light bulbs to energy efficient ones. The big Canadian Tire store on Cambie street has the biggest selection. You will save so much time and energy in the long run.

Fact: if 10,000 households turn off lights tomorrow night for just one hour, we’ll avert the CO2 created by an average apartment in a whole year.- Ideal Bite.