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And the Finalists Are…

August 26, 2010

Last night, a group of us met with the YouGoods guest judges at the Tribeca Grand in downtown Manhattan to pick our finalists among all the great entries we received.

And the finalists are:

The Grocery’minder by Francene Pisano Dudziec. With a wet-erase front, this bag is perfect for making your grocery list, checking it twice, and heading off to the market. . Judges thought the concept solved a basic problem; sure, everyone tries to be a good person and bring their reusable bag to the grocery store. But it’s hard to remember every time. With your grocery list stuck right on the front of your bag, the grocery’minder tote makes it hard to forget.

But the judges did have some questions.
1. Would you be more likely to use the grocery list if the bag were easily attachable to your refrigerator?
2. Are there enough blank spaces for you to fill in your personal shopping list?

If you’re a fan, you can vote for the grocery’minder tote through Sunday, August 29 at 11:59 PM ET.

The Double Wall Tea Cup by Endrit Hajno. The judges admired the basic concept of this tea cup made of glazed porcelain or ceramic. Each cup has an insulated double wall for keeping your drink warm, but not burning your hands. The bottom strip of color is notched, allowing you to tuck the string of your tea bag out of sight. While the judges expressed some reservations about how difficult it could be to make this cup and the choice of materials, they all agreed that with a little tweaking this tea cup had a lot of potential!

If you enjoy the idea of a Double Wall Tea Cup, vote for it through Sunday, August 29 at 11:59 PM.


And last but not least, regreet by Christy Eichers. regreet offers you a way to reuse old greeting cards without the stigma of seeming cheap. Judges thought of this entry as a great social concept. These greeting cards make “regifting” cool and give senders a way to reuse last year’s greeting cards. The designer even included a way for you to track your regreet-ed card’s journey using Google maps.

Judges were curious to know what the environmental impact is of using additional paper to regreet an old card.  And judges also wondered if after seeing the idea of regreet, you wouldn’t just use your own scrap paper to reuse your stack of birthday and holiday cards. But everyone acknowledged it was a great way to inspire us all to be more sustainable during the holiday season.

If you love the regreet gift card set, vote for it now through August 29 at 11:59 PM.

If you like them all, don’t worry. You can vote for each entry once, through August 29.  And feel free to leave a comment if you have a question or idea about the designs. We’ll announce the winner on Monday!

Special thanks to our guest judges: Becky Stern, editor at CRAFT and Make: Online, Debera Johnson, Academic Director of Sustainability at the Pratt Institute, Allan Chochinov, Editor-in-Chief at Core77, Coroflot.com and DesignDirectory.com, and Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com.

Design

The Latest Inventions in Line Drying

August 19, 2010

Air-drying your clothes is one simple way you can lower your carbon footprint. And I’ll be honest– living in an apartment in a city, it’s not something I ever thought I could do. But after seeing all the great entries from the Care To Air Design Challenge, I just might get started.

A few days ago, our CEO Dave Bolotsky went out to San Francisco to join a panel of judges for the Levi’s Care to Air Design Challenge, hosted by Myoocreate.

And after some careful deliberations and some great presentations from the finalists, the judges picked a winner– Nothing is What It Seems

Photo by Eurydice Thomas

Nothing is What It Seems blends modern design with functionality. The perfect size for small apartments, it folds out from the wall when you have a load of laundry to dry. And when your clothes are put away, it folds back in, cleverly disguised as wall art.
You can check out all the entries at Myoocreate.

Once you see them all, I’ll bet you’ll be inspired to start air drying your laundry too!

Maker Stories

Inventors Month: The Alyce Santoro Story

August 18, 2010

When I first saw the sonic fabric tie, I knew which uncommon artisan I wanted to talk to for National Inventors Month.  Alyce Santoro makes each sonic tie from prerecorded audio-cassette tapes– and if you’ve got a tape deck handy, you can actually listen to your tie sing. The sonic fabric tie is available for $120 in platinum or onyx black.

Read my interview with Alyce Santoro below

Continue Reading…

Maker Stories

Dog Blueprint Giveaway

August 16, 2010

Congrats to Amy S. who loves Jack Russel Terriers and shared this sweet story: “Jack Russels are the best. Mine Sargent Pepper, usually called Sargent, Stinky or Bubba, is the greatest dog in thee world. When Sargent met my fiance a little over 3 years ago, it did not go well. Sargent was my protector. And Adam was very allergic. It was a tough start, but I wasn’t going to give u. Then a year later, Adam was in a horrible car accident and Sargent would not leave his side. I cant’ separate these two now for anything. The bedroom used to be a ‘dog free zone’ but now Sargent sneaks in to share his pillow.”

Amy is now the proud owner of a Jack Russel Dog Blueprint!

 

Thanks to everyone else who left a comment! We loved hearing your stories. Remember you can subscribe to the Goods via RSS and get a heads up for all our future contests and giveaways.

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We’ve loved all the emails you’ve sent us about your favorite dogs this week. We’re working to add many more breeds to our dog blueprint collection.  And in the meanwhile we want to say thanks with a Friday giveaway!

Leave a comment below, telling us about your favorite breed of dog, to win a free Dog Blueprint.

And triple your chances to win by tweeting about your favorite dog breed to @uncommongoods, or leaving a comment on our Facebook wall. Don’t forget to leave your Twitter name in the comments, so we know to count you!

Be sure to leave your comment by Saturday at midnight ET.  And we’ll pick a random winner to announce early next week.

Happy Friday!

Remember, for a heads up on all the latest contests and giveaways, you can subscribe to our RSS.

Design

Announcing the YouGoods Guest Judges

August 11, 2010

Update 8/12, 1:18 PM: Meet Allan Cochinov, Editor-in-Chief of Core 77.com and our fourth YouGoods judge.

Update 8/11, 5:52 PM: Meet Becky Stern, an editor at CRAFT and MAKE: Online, and our third YouGoods guest judge!


We only announced the YouGoods “Inventors Month” Design Challenge last week, but already, we’ve seen some really clever and sustainable product ideas.  And there’s still a few more days to enter. In fact, we’re extending the entry deadline to August 23!

So be sure to submit your great ideas to the YouGoods Design Challenge today.

In other exciting YouGoods news… I’m thrilled to introduce two four of our guest judges.

Allan Cochinov is a partner of Core77, a New York-based design network serving a global community of designers and design enthusiasts. He is the editor-in-chief of Core77.com, the widely read design website, Coroflot.com design job and portfolio site, and DesignDirectory.com design firm database. He has been named on numerous design and utility patents, and has received awards from Communication Arts, The Art Directors Club, I.D. Magazine, and The One Club. He teaches in the graduate departments of Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and serves on the boards of the Designers Accord and Design Ignites Change.

Continue Reading…

Maker Stories

Joseph & Joseph Giveaway

August 6, 2010

Congrats to Lindsay, who said, “My favorite thing to make is hearty fall and winter soups. Potato, vegetable, french onion and cauliflower soup. Warm, filling soup … yummy!” She’s winning a set of Elevate kitchen utensils.

And congrats to Amanda, who won the nesting prep bowls. Her favorite meal is, “kabobs! Yum! So simple! So tasty! So easy!”

Thanks to everyone who left a comment! Remember you can subscribe to the Goods via RSS and get a heads up for all our future contests and giveaways.


Happy Friday everyone! In lieu of our usual Friday Scavenger Hunt and in honor of National Inventors month, we’re giving away a set of elevate kitchen utensils and a set of nesting prep bowls from innovative designers Joseph & Joseph!

To enter is easy. All you have to do is leave a comment telling us what your favorite dish to make is. Make sure to leave your email address and name when you submit a comment (Don’t worry, your email address won’t be public – It’s just so that we can contact you.) Also, leave your twitter name if you have one!

Wait there’s more! If you want to triple your chances, tweet your comment to @uncommongoods and leave a comment under the post on our Facebook wall for up to two additional entries. Everything must be posted before 12 noon ET on Sunday. We’ll announce the lucky winners on Monday.

Happy Friday!

Maker Stories

Carolyn Parello Opening

July 30, 2010

 

Usually on a Friday afternoon, I’m looking forward to the weekend, but right now I’m looking forward to Monday!

That’s because we’re sponsoring artist Carolyn Parello’s exhibit at Piola Pizza. The opening is this Monday, August 2, from 6-8 PM.

Come out to see Carolyn’s fantastic paintings, meet some of us UncommonGoods folks in person, and of course, grab a slice of pizza.

Hope to see you there!

The Uncommon Life

Better to Give: Quarterly Update

July 29, 2010

Way to go! Between April and June, you helped raise more than $15,000 for our Better to Give partners. Let’s check in and see what these great nonprofits have accomplished this year.

 

Americares has done incredible work in the past few months to support Gulf Coast families affected by the BP oil spill.  They’ve also sent more than $30 million in aid to Haiti, and continue to send aidworkers and fund to help the one million people who are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

American Forests is also reaching out to communities around the country and the world. In 2010 they’ve pledged to plant 4.8 million trees this year to help restore our planet’s forests.

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund is an amazing resource for artists and artisans around the country. They provide emergency relief and help artists to protect their work from natural disasters and other incidents. In this video, Katie Tonguis, a New Orleans potter talks about how CERF+ helped her rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Defenders of Wildlife was a quick responder to the BP oil disaster on the Gulf Coast. Their experts have been coordinating efforts to protect oiled birds and animals, and they’ve also been on the ground working to clean up beaches. In the continuing months, they’ll continue to advocate for wildlife and be part of the efforts to recover Gulf Coast wetlands.

And CDI is working hard to help students here in New York City, to graduate high school and go on to successful lives.

Starting this month, we’re introducting a new Better to Give partner: B  Corporation. B Corp promotes a new kind of business that uses its profits to inspire social and environmental change. Rather than reward companies that seek profit at all costs, B Corp looks for companies that are accountable to their communities and working for positive social change.

UncommonGoods is one of the founding members of B Corp and we’re proud to include them in our Better to Give program.

So what’s Better to Give? It’s simple. Whenever you’re buying a gift at flowslowly.com, you can choose one of four organizations at check-out. We give a dollar from our profits to the organization of your choice. Easy, right?

Got an idea for an organization we should feature?  Leave a comment below!