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Hey folks, welcome to the Aamodt/Plumb YouTube Channel where we give you tips and advice for creating a Slow Home that is Good, Clean, and Fair. If you are a DIYer looking to save some money while saving the planet, then stay tuned because you’re going to like what we have in store for you today. In this video, you will get our curated list of the best restored and repurposed furniture videos on YouTube. No need to go searching yourself because we have done it for you. These are some awesome creators and we’re really excited to share them with you. I am Mette Aamodt, cofounder of Aamodt/Plumb Architecture, Interiors and Construction, and we design eco-friendly, Slow Homes for our clients every day. Hit the subscribe button and the notification bell so you don’t miss any of the new videos we will be putting out.

Mette Aamodt: This is a six part series on sourcing eco-friendly furniture. In the first video, where we talked about the goals and sources for eco-friendly furniture, we mentioned that restoring and repurposing furniture is the most sustainable option. The reason is because it requires no new production, pollution, and waste, it reuses existing materials, and, in some cases, it provides jobs for local restores. And since we are not DIYers ourselves, or at least I’m not, and there are tons of great creators on YouTube already doing this, we thought we’d be best to give you a roundup of our favorite restored and repurposed furniture videos on YouTube.

MEGAN BELL

The first one is this video from Megan Bell. On her channel, she does a lot of DIY, macrame, and other home projects. In this video, she repurposes an old dresser by painting it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Annie Sloan Wax. This paint is low VOC, non-toxic, and water-based, and has a matte finish that is beautiful for furniture. The wax is made from beeswax and it dries in a hard finish but has a velvety touch.

PERSPECTIVE DESIGN

The next one is from Perspective Design. Matt and Heather Hallum are a really cute couple selling repurposed vintage items. They’re focused on items that have a history and help you tell your story. They have a monthly market in their shop in Hobbs, New Mexico, and they travel around to furniture fairs like Junk in the Trunk Vintage Fair in Pomona, California, and Marburger Farms Antique Fair in Round Top, Texas. They have an online shop and an Etsy store as well. In this video, they show us how to use things you find in a flea market, like old rope and a dough bowl that you can use as a sculptural centerpiece, or old chicken feeders that can be repurposed into interesting industrial lights or a dish display or a mail sorter.

DIY PASSION

Next step is DIY Passion. Aaron shows us how to clean thrift store finds. In this video, she picked up an old buffet cabinet that’s in pretty rough shape. It has gouges in it, one of the glass doors is broken, and it has a really bad thrift store odor. She talks about how to remove that old furniture smell, first of all by using sunlight, which is a great natural deodorizer, and then using baking soda and vinegar. If that doesn’t work, she does have some more toxic options if it’s really, really bad.

Quick question. Are you a DIYer or do you prefer to let other people handle the messy stuff? If you’re a DIYer, type “DIY” in the comments below. If you’re not a DIYer, type “No DIY” in the comments. I, myself, am a no DIY, but I do occasionally get inspired to do something. Now, let’s keep going with the list of videos.

DASHNER DESIGN AND RESTORATION

The next video is from Dashner Design and Restoration in Minneapolis. Steve Dashner restores vintage mid century modern furniture. Many people have commented that he is the Bob Ross of furniture restoration and watching his videos is like doing a guided meditation. He likes to go thrifting and pick up really beat up pieces like this one and then restore them himself, and he does an amazing job.

I chatted with Steve when asking him if I could feature his video and he mentioned that his cousin Alice owns Long Leaf Lumber right here in Cambridge, Massachusetts where we’re located as well. What a small world. We love using Long Leaf Lumber for their reclaimed wood and other amazing finds. And Steve agreed, we should definitely do a video over there. In this video, Steve purchased a mid century modern Lane Cedar chest for about $75 at a flea market. He strips off all the old finish, which is really disgusting but also satisfying in a kind of gross way, and he even makes new wood knobs because one of them was missing.

THOMAS JOHNSON ANTIQUE FURNITURE RESTORATION

The next video is also from a master restorer, Thomas Johnson Antique Furniture Restoration in Maine. This guy is amazing. He starts every one of his videos with footage of local animals running around his property in Maine. He has a lot of videos restoring that old dingy brown furniture that people leave out on the side of the road. In this video, he is doing a restoration of a set of Hans Wegner mid century modern chairs. Next up is this video from Ed and Cindy Hammond of Peerless Rattan. We chose this video on weaving a cane seat because rattan and cane are gaining in popularity, and this seems like an easy way to restore this kind of furniture. It also looks really fun and like a really calm and slow thing to do.

Now you have a great list of repurposed and restored furniture videos that you can bookmark and refer to when you’re DIYing or hiring someone else. Repurposed furniture is our top choice for eco-friendly furniture sources because it’s good for the planet and good for your budget too. Please subscribe to our channel, give the video a thumbs up if you liked it, and share it with someone who you think might find it valuable. We will switch themes after this video to talk about slow gift ideas and winter hygge. And then, after the new year, we’ll be back on topic with this series. The next video in the series will be about sustainable furniture sources when buying new. You can find all these videos in this playlist. Thanks for watching and see you next time.

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If you are a conscious consumer, minimalist or practice slow living, then I’ve got a special Holiday Gift Guide for you with 18 ethical, sustainable, slow and minimalist gift ideas. While the holidays are supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, the over-consumption and waste can be very stressful. So this holiday gift guide focuses on fewer, more meaningful gifts, as well as some more enjoyable ways to shop for them.

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Mette Aamodt: Hey folks, welcome to the Aamodt/Plumb YouTube channel where we give you tips and advice for creating a Slow Home that is Good, Clean and Fair. If you are a conscious consumer, minimalist, or practice slow living, then the holidays can be a particularly challenging time. A lot of the consumption and waste can get in the way of what we’re really celebrating, but we have got a special holiday gift guide for you with 18 ethical, sustainable, slow and minimalist ideas for everyone on your list, as well as some of my tips for slowing down this holiday season. I am Mette Aamodt, co-founder of Aamodt/Plumb Architecture, Interiors and Construction and we design Slow Homes for our clients every day.

Since my diagnosis with MS in 2002 I have been a proponent of slow living. I love the holiday season for the ‘hygge’ – more on that in my next video – but I also tend to get stressed out with all of the extra things to do, like shopping. So this holiday gift guide is going to focus on fewer, more meaningful gifts as well as some more enjoyable ways to shop for them.

Ethical Gift Idea: Haitian Hex Plates by Gift of Hope Haiti

Ethical Gifts

1. I found this bowl set at a Haitian crafts fair. It was actually sponsored by the Vassar Haiti Project, and it’s a beautiful set of bowls and it really reminds me of mid century modern stuff: handmade, carved out of mahogany. I found this site called Gift of Hope Haiti, which is a nonprofit organization that works with local artisans in Haiti to produce these beautiful home goods. This one I’m featuring is a hand card set of mahogany plates in a hex shape that I think are just gorgeous.

Ethical Gift Idea: Macrame bag by Gift of Hope Haiti

2. Gift of Hope Haiti also had this amazing macrame handbag with a mahogany handle, and macrame is super popular right now so I just thought this was adorable.

Alpaca throw from Peru by Serve Haiti

3. When looking for the Haitian bowls I also came across serrv.org, which is a nonprofit that partners with Haitian artisans as well as artisans from all across the world. This is a gorgeous alpaca striped throw from Peru.

Ethical Gift Idea: Palm nesting baskets by Kazi

4. This is a set of fair trade nesting baskets woven from natural materials in Uganda. The set is only $72 and I had mentioned in a previous video that finding ethically made baskets for storing stuff at home is really expensive. So I was really excited to find these.

Kazi’s website

Kazi was founded to create beautiful products to alleviate poverty all across rural Africa, and I got super giddy when I saw their website and this cover page because I love how it ties together a global aesthetic with a kind of minimalist Scandinavian vibe. All of their goods are Fair Trade, ethically made and made with local natural materials. That is, local to the artisans in Africa.

Sustainable Gifts

The next category is sustainable gifts, although I have to mention that almost all of these products are ethical, sustainable, minimalist and slow all at once. I put them into categories just to organize the list, but once you dig into the details you’ll find that they checked a lot of the boxes.

Sustainable Gift Idea: Bee’s Wrap for sustainable food storage

5. These are at the top of Sam Roller’s list, from our office. They are bees wax coated organic cotton cloths that you can use instead of plastic wrap to store your food, wrap up sandwiches, apple slices, things like that for your lunch. This is great because plastic wrap is one of those things that is really, really hard to do without if you’re trying to reduce the amount of plastic in your life.

Now, I did have a set of these at home and I have to admit that I didn’t properly prepare everyone in the household for how these should be cared for and so they got thrown in the washing machine, which removed all of the wax coating and rendered them fairly useless. So it does take a little bit of care and a little bit of learning to figure out how to use them, but I think that once you do, you’ll find that they’re super, super cool.

Sustainable Gift Ideas: August Sage’s Linen Napkins

6. Sarah Lueck suggested reusable cloth napkins to reduce the amount of waste with paper towels and paper napkins. These from August Sage are made of linen, which is one of the most hard-wearing natural materials. They are ethically made in a Fair Trade environment by artisan women in India. I personally don’t like to iron my linen napkins, I like the crumbly casual look and these napkins just get softer and softer over time with use.

Sustainable Gift Ideas: The Citizenry’s Farah Towels

7. One of my suggestions is Hammam style towels. These are thin cotton towels that are quick drying either on the line or in your dryer, much, much faster than terrycloth towels and they look a lot cuter hanging in your bathroom. I have been switching my towels over to these and I’ve been really, really happy with them. These particular ones are from The Citizenry and our handmade in Morocco in a Fair Trade environment.

Before we get into our slow and minimalist ideas, I have a quick question for you: which of these four categories best describes you? Ethical, sustainable, slow, or minimalist? Type that word into the comments below.

I love this time of year because I get lots of reminders of my Norwegian heritage: the darkness, cozy sweaters, candle lights and Christmas decorations all bring out hygge get for me. My next video is going to be all about hygge, slowing down the Scandinavian way, so look out for that on our channel.

Speaking of slowing down, how can we find ways to slow down during the rush of holiday shopping? Next up, I am going to talk about what I plan to do to reduce my stress and improve my enjoyment of holiday shopping this season.

Slow Gifts

8. My first suggestion is not exactly a gift idea, but it’s a way to shop for holiday gifts that I think is less stressful and more enjoyable. I love that my town has lots of little shops, but I know that they struggle. So this year I’m going to avoid the mall and online shopping, and shop local.

9. Shop vintage. I talk a lot about how shopping for pre-owned furniture is really eco-friendly option in this video, so check out more information there.

Slow Gift Idea: Plants from your local nursery

10. Grace Mathieson suggested buying plants from your local nursery. Studies have shown that taking care of plants and pets reduces your overall stress. Plants in particular improve your indoor air quality.

Slow Gift Idea: French press by August Sage

11. The next couple of gift ideas are from August Sage, whose tagline is “modern meets heritage”. I just love that because I think that that is a quintessentially slow concept. Taking old ideas and making them new again. The first item from them is this ceramic French press, which is a classic design made of durable materials, no plastic to be found. And what I’ve heard is among people who really appreciate coffee, French press is the best way to make it.

Slow Gift Idea: August Sage’s Handmade Ceramics

12. The second item from August Sage is this set of hand thrown cups and utensil holders and bowls. Each piece is unique and I love that you can see a band of the raw clay on the bottom of each piece, and a faint line where the glaze meets the ceramic.

Slow Gift Idea: Imperial Yarn Blanket

13. This old school wool blanket is another suggestion from Sarah Lueck. It’s made in the US of all natural wool from a small US company that owns its own sheep and processes the wool without any harsh chemicals.

Slow Gift Idea: Made Trade Wool Booties

14. Another wool product that comes from Made Trade are these handmade wool booties in adult sizes. They’re handmade in Patagonia, not in a factory. They’re made by individual artisans in their homes. I’ve been looking a pair of slippers that doesn’t have foam and plastic in it, and when my felt ones wear out, this is what I’m going to get next.

15. Next up is minimalist gift ideas. David Ascher suggests gift certificates to a local woodworking, ceramics or glass blowing class. This is the “teach a person to fish and feed them for life” approach. This falls into the minimalist category because it prioritizes experience over things.

Slow Gift Idea: Donate a goat through the Gift of Hope Haiti

16. This gift is for the person who really has everything or doesn’t want anything. And this I found at Gift of Hope Haiti. In Haiti, a goat is a very valuable commodity because you can breed them and you can support your family for a long time. So for $60 you will get a picture of this adorable goat and know that you have helped a family in need.

Slow Gift Idea: Nisolo weekender bag

17. This is the only bag you’re ever going to need. And if you’re a minimalist, I challenge you to fit all of your possessions into this bag. This is made by a Nisolo and it is ethically made in Mexico. It’s a waxed canvas bag with leather straps.

18. Even minimalists need some practical stuff, like a dish scrubber. So if you’re going to have one, you might as well get one that sparks joy, like these Japanese handmade scrub brushes. These are from Territory design and are sold individually so you can pick up whichever one suits you best.

I’ve just given you our holiday gift guide with 18 gift ideas that are ethical, sustainable, slow, and minimalist. I’m sure you’re going to be able to find something that you love. I have also shared my number one tip for reducing stress while holiday shopping this year, and that is to avoid them all, bundle up in a cozy sweater and scarf, and take a walk down main street, of course, sitting down for a coffee to warm up along the way. Please subscribe to our channel, give the video a thumbs up if you liked it, and share it with someone who you think might find it valuable. Next video will be all about hygge and slowing down the Scandinavian way, so I’ll see you there.

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In this second installment of the ‘mini-series’ on eco friendly furniture, Mette Aamodt and Sarah Lueck take a deep dive into artisan furniture: what it is, the pros and cons and whether or not it’s an eco friendly option. They’re also going to show you some of their favorite furniture makers and hopefully inspire you when you’re creating your Slow Home.

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Read The Transcript:

Mette Aamodt: Hey folks, welcome to the Aamodt/Plumb YouTube channel where we give you tips and advice for creating a Slow Home that is Good, Clean, and Fair. If you’re at that stage in life where you’re ready to upgrade your furniture in terms of quality and sustainability, then you need to know about artisan furniture. Stay tuned and watch this episode where we tell you everything you need to know.

Today we’re going to talk about artisan furniture, what it is, the pros and cons of investing in high quality, handmade furniture, and whether or not it’s an eco-friendly option. We’re also going to tell you some of our favorite makers and hopefully inspire you when you’re creating your Slow Home.

I’m Mette Aamodt, co-founder of Aamodt/Plumb Architecture, Interiors and Construction, and I’m here with Interiors Associate Sarah Lueck, and we design eco-friendly Slow Homes every day for our clients. Hit the subscribe button and the notification bell right now so you don’t miss any of the videos we’re going to put out.

Woven Bench. Photo Courtesy of Heide Martin.

Now let’s get right into the topic. First off, what is artisan furniture?

Sarah Lueck: These are the future heirlooms made by skilled craftspeople. They are durable, well made, and often timeless.

MA: Why is artisan furniture eco-friendly?

SL: These pieces are the opposite of disposable furniture. They’re meant to last generations surpassing trends and fast fashion. These pieces come from small businesses who produce limited runs, often using sustainable materials and zero waste production methods.

MA: What are the pros of investing in artisan furniture?

At the shop. Photo Courtesy of Sawkille.

SL: As we’ve mentioned, the overall quality of each piece is much higher than mass produced furniture. Each piece is handmade and therefore unique. You can typically work with craftspeople to customize a piece to your needs, whether you need a longer table or a different species of wood. And it goes without saying supporting local artisans is always a good thing.

MA: What are the cons with artisan furniture?

SL: These pieces can often be more expensive than mass produced pieces. They can also take longer to make. However, there are many pieces from places like Crate and Barrel that are just as expensive and take just as long to make.

MA: I’m going to take a little pause here to tell you that this video is part of a miniseries on how to source eco-friendly furniture for your Slow Home. The first video in this series gave you an overview of the goals and strategies for finding eco friendly furniture. If you like this video on artisan furniture, you’re going to love Sarah’s visit to Field and Supply, the New York Maker Fair highlighting so many amazing craftspeople.

MA: Quick question, do you plan to upgrade your furniture in the near future or are you IKEA 4 EVA? If you plan on upgrading, put the word UPGRADE in the comments below. Sarah, what are some examples of artisan furniture makers that our viewers across the country can find?

Windsor Chair with a snake back. Photo Courtesy of O and G.

SL: There’s O and G Studio from Rhode Island, which makes modern versions of classic New England furniture. They’re also experimenting with bright colors and anthropomorphic shapes like this awesome Windsor chair with a snake back.

This is Sawkille, a Hudson Valley studio that draws on history to create fresh new designs. I love their studio culture where they have a daily communal home cooked lunch.

Heide Martin, who’s a Maine-based artisan, and she creates clean Scandinavian meets Shaker pieces. Her workshop also offers shared space for other craftspeople in the area.

MA: We hope this video has inspired you with all of the amazing artisan furniture makers, keeping craft alive and making pieces that will last for generations. Please subscribe to our channel and give this a thumbs up if you liked it and please share with someone who you think might find it valuable.

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Links Mentioned In The Video:

O and G Studio- https://www.oandgstudio.com/
Sawkille- https://www.sawkille.com/
Heide Martin- http://www.heidemartin.com/

The post Investing In Artisan Furniture For Your Slow Home appeared first on Aamodt / Plumb.

In this video, Mette and Sarah will teach you 3 eco friendly goals to keep in mind and four strategies for sourcing eco friendly furniture from best to worst. They’ll also give you a few additional suggestions for what to look for if you prefer new furniture.

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Mette Aamodt: Hey folks, welcome to the Aamodt / Plumb channel where we give you tips and advice for creating a Slow Home that is good, clean, and fair. If you are a conscious consumer and want to know how to shop for eco friendly furniture that is good for people and the planet, then keep watching.

In this video you are going to learn three goals to keep in mind when shopping for eco friendly furniture, four sources from best to worst, and additional things to consider when shopping for new furniture. I’m Mette Aamodt, co-founder of Aamodt / Plumb Architecture, Interiors, and Construction. And I’m here with Interiors Associate Sarah Lueck and we design and build eco friendly, Slow Homes for our clients every day. When it comes to eco friendly furniture, we have three goals.

1. Reduce waste and new production. Basically, buy less new stuff to reduce pollution, save raw materials, and divert stuff from landfills.
2. When choosing new, aim for things that are made sustainably, will last a long time, and will be healthy for your indoor environment.
3. Support local economies, small crafts people, and ethical manufacturers that pay a living wage and create safe working conditions.

Now that we have defined our goals, let’s get into the four strategies for sourcing eco-friendly furniture. The best option is restore and repurpose old furniture.

Sarah Lueck: Restoring is essentially bringing a piece of furniture back to its original condition. And you can either do that yourself as a DIY’er or you can hire a professional. If you want to repurpose, there are a number of ways to take one piece of furniture and change it into a new thing for a new use. Again, that’s something that you can either DIY or you can hire a professional furniture designer or contractor to help you.

MA: The second option is reusing old furniture that does not need to be fixed up. So think antiques, vintage, or pre-owned used furniture.

SL: There’s some great sources locally in your area. Craigslist is amazing for furniture, either antique or just pre-owned. There are also antique stores or consignment shops that have usually a really great turnover, so it’s great to keep checking those. Regionally, there are antique fairs, typically in most metropolitan areas that you can search for online. And then nationally, there are places like Chairish and 1stdibs that are excellent sources for either pre-owned or vintage or antique furniture.

MA: What do you think about flea markets and garage sales?

SL: Those are awesome. If you have the time to go see those, be the first one there.

MA: So those two options were both reusing old furniture. Let’s take a little pause for right now because I want to tell you that we’re actually producing a mini series on sourcing eco friendly furniture. This one is the general overview of all the sources and goals. And in the upcoming videos, we’re going to take a deep dive into each one of these sources. So for example, our next video will be all about artisan furniture. Then there will be more about repurposed furniture, sustainable sources, et cetera.

Now let’s keep going with our list. Maybe vintage is not really your thing and you really prefer to buy new furniture. Let’s talk about some sources for that.

Photo Courtesy of FN Furniture. Photo: Patrick Farrell

For new eco friendly furniture, our first suggestion is to look for small shops.

SL: I think starting locally or regionally is the way to go. We like FN Furniture in New York. We just found them, and they practice zero waste in their fabrication of their new furniture. They CNC pieces out of a single sheet of plywood with zero scrap material and we think that’s really cool.

Nationally there are small shops out there. Schoolhouse is one that we’ve loved for years. They started small, just making lighting, and now they’ve expanded to include furniture and home accessories.

Then internationally, for example, there is Goodee, a Canadian collective, who sources sustainable furniture and home accessories from around the world.

MA: The fourth source is new furniture from large retailers. Now this is still a good option if you are careful about who you buy from.

SL: For example, if you are local to Boston like us, Circle Furniture is a family-run furniture company that’s been in the area for over 70 years. But if you were in, say for example, North Carolina, the large furniture company, Lee Industries would be local to you.

Nationally we are seeing many household names aligning themselves with sustainable furniture practices. For example, West Elm has a number of eco-friendly and ethical-sourced furniture lines. There is also Blu Dot and Room & Board, who are both US companies. They manufacture in the US and they use clean and sustainable materials and methods.

For international companies, we love IKEA for their holistic approach to sustainability. They use sustainably sourced raw materials whenever possible. They have a goal of zero waste factories and stores and they get back to their communities.

Photo Courtesy of Goodee

MA: So when you’re buying new, there are other factors we want you to consider. If you’re not going off of these recommendations, you want to look for sustainably harvested materials, ethically and sustainably run fabrication processes, ethical employee wage and work conditions, quality and durable construction – in other words, something that’s not disposable – materials that are biodegradable or recyclable, and materials void of toxic chemicals that are bad for your indoor air quality and also for the environment.

Now you have learned three goals to keep in mind when buying eco-friendly furniture for your Slow Home, four sources for that furniture, as well as additional tips to bear mind when you’re buying new.

Please subscribe to our channel. Give this video a thumbs up, or thumbs down, if you found it valuable and please share it with someone who you think might find it useful.

Join us in the next videos in this series, where we take a deep dive into each one of these sources. See you next time.

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Links Mentioned In Video

Goodee: https://www.goodeeworld.com/pages/our-story
FN Furniture: https://www.fnfurniture.com/
Schoolhouse: https://www.schoolhouse.com/pages/about-us

The post How To Source Eco Friendly Furniture For Your Slow Home appeared first on Aamodt / Plumb.

We love events like these for several reasons. One, many of the artisans use natural and local materials. Two, you’ll be supporting small, local businesses. Third, these pieces are unique and beautiful, easily becoming a cherished heirloom for your family. And finally, you have an opportunity to know the local craftsmen better.

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Read The Transcript:

Sarah Lueck: We’re here at Field + Supply, billed as a modern makers craft fair, to take a look at artisan furniture. This is a three day event showcasing handcrafted furniture along with a growing representation of home accessories, clothing, food, and gifts. It’s held at Hutton Brick Yard in Kingston, New York, a former brick manufacturer that supplied New York City with brick for over a hundred years. You can still see large stacks of bricks in the old kiln buildings and in brick gabions that line the paths.

I’m going to highlight a few of the things I saw during my whirlwind few hours there. One thing to note is that it feels like Brooklyn in the country. Both attendees and vendors are mostly from New York City or the Hudson region, but not all, which means of course there were lots of great dog and fashion sightings.

Photo Courtesy of Michael Robbins

First step is Michael Robbins, a New York furniture designer who has a strong sense of proportion and detail. Think glam shaker, but in the best way. I love this stone topped coffee table and his hardware. He effortlessly mixes materials and pieces like this brass, wood and upholstered day bed, and his take on a shaker peg rail is begging to be put in an entry hall for all those fall jackets.

Next up is a long time favorite of mine, Sawkille, a Kingston-based husband and wife team who draw on a deep knowledge of historical methods to create timeless pieces that feel crush. Case in point is this amazing metal and mother of pearl inlaid table.

Photo Courtesy of Andrew Finnigan

One thing there was no shortage of here was stools. I liked these by Andrew Finnegan with their nicely proportioned turned legs and fee. Another Hudson Valley furniture maker, his wood-turning skills are evident in most all of his pieces. Note that you can customize the finish and size of most everything you see here, even if not advertised.

There were some nice material examples in the Heide Martin booth, a Maine-based furniture maker, such as this peg rail hung cabinet.

AWN, short for Accordance With Nature, is a personal favorite of mine because of their intricate, sometimes idiosyncratic details. I really want one of these shelves.

Let’s take a break for a second from furniture and look at a few of the other vendors that caught my eye. The company Found My Animal had baby goats, so of course I had to stop there. Turns out a percentage of sales from their handmade pet leashes support animal welfare initiatives and promote adoption over purchase practices.

Photo Courtesy of Tantuvi

This is Tantuvi, which is Sanskrit for weaver, and it’s a collection of colorful abstract rugs designed in New York and woven in India via a co-op whose goal is to train more women in the art of weaving, giving them an income that will increase their stability and independence in what is largely still a male-dominated society. I love the mission and the strong compositions of the rugs.

I had to show a ceramics booth, and this artist, Raina Lee, was refreshingly out of place among the muted earth tones of a lot of the other booths. She makes her own highly textured glazes like this one named Creamsicle, and her dreamy LA Treehouse showroom was just featured in the New York Times.

Now back to furniture. Dzierlenga had a beautiful yet unmanned booth. The best was this credenza made from one of my all time favorite woods, spalted maple, which is actually any type of maple that has been allowed to begin to decay, then dried to stop further decay. The results are these beautiful black lines in the grain. To me, it looks like a drawing of wood overlaid with the actual wood. You see it in turned bowls a lot, but this is a gorgeous example of how it can elevate furniture, too.

Peg Woodworking was another favorite. Her mix of metal and bright powder coated colors, woven seats, and curved wood forms really stood out. Based in New York City, she has sculpture background that shows in the material experimentation and strong lines.

Photo Courtesy of Jack Rabbit Studio

Last but not least is JackRabbit Studio, whose chunky sculptural chairs were almost good enough to eat. Miller the owner said he made these for this weekend and I’m really hoping to see more work like this from him in the future.

That’s it for me here at Field + Supply. The artisans featured here all make their own products in the US, many using local materials and running small businesses with employees. This event has been a great way to get to know some of them a little better. We love incorporating furniture in our projects crafted by makers like these. They bring a unique perspective to their work and create finished pieces that are true heirlooms.

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Links Mentioned In Video:

Event: http://www.fieldandsupply.com/
Michael Robbins: http://www.mchlrbbns.com/
Sawkille: https://www.sawkille.com/
Andrew Finnigan: https://www.andrewfinniganwoodturning.com/
Heide Martin: http://www.heidemartin.com/
AWN: http://www.accordancewithnature.com/
Found My Animal: https://www.foundmyanimal.com/
Tantuvi: https://tantuvistudio.com/
Raina Lee: https://rainajlee.com/
How A Ceramist Transformed A Los Angeles Treehouse: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/t-magazine/how-a-ceramist-transformed-a-los-angeles-treehouse.html
Dzierlenga: http://www.dzierlenga.com/
Peg Woodworking: http://www.pegwoodworking.com/
Jack Rabbit Studio: https://www.jackrabbit.studio/new-page-1

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READ THE TRANSCRIPT:

Mette Aamodt: Hey, folks. Welcome to the Aamodt / Plumb YouTube channel, where we give you tips and advice on creating a Slow Home that is good, clean, and fair. I’m Mette Aamodt, co-founder of Aamodt / Plumb: Architecture, Interiors & Construction, and I’ll be your host. Today I’m going to share with you my tips on finding eco friendly storage bins, as alternatives to plastic bins, that are cheap and sometimes free, for your Slow Home.

If you’re like me, then you’re on a mission to reduce the amount of plastic in your home. Why? Because plastic can leach into the food that you eat, it can off gas into the air that you breathe, and it’s generally terrible for the environment. It’s also not very beautiful and I prefer to surround myself with things that are made of natural materials, because it’s been shown that natural materials and a connection to nature really calms the mind and the body, and that’s really important for a Slow Home.

I have taken some strides to replace my plastic food storage containers and even those plastic kids’ cups and bowls with glass jars like these, and I use these small Pyrex bowls that the kids love. They’re not fragile at all and I get them at my local hardware store. I also have some Pyrex containers like this. They do have plastic lids, and I haven’t figured out how to avoid that yet. If you have any advice, please let me know.

We also have a lot of wood toys – some pretty cool ones. These are called American Bricks. These were Andrew’s father’s toys when he was a little kid and he saved them. They’re kind of like wooden LEGOs and you can make all sorts of things with them. But we were storing them in plastic bins. Now, don’t get me wrong, plastic bins are eternally useful and I’m not going to throw them away. I just made a promise to myself that I would not buy any new ones and I would phase out the old ones. I’m going to donate them or sell them at yard sales or something like that. They definitely shouldn’t go into landfills.

But what am I going to use as an alternative? Now, I could go out and buy ethically-made artisanal woven baskets from local artisans, but those tend to run a couple of hundred dollars each and I’m on a budget. So what I’m going to do today is show you some tips that I use for replacing my plastic storage bins with eco friendly storage bins.

1. Goodwill

Tip number one, Goodwill baskets. A couple of weeks ago I went to the Goodwill and I just looked for baskets. I found these two, a dollar apiece. Interesting shapes, not the most beautiful baskets in the world, but they’re going to do the job. These hold diapers and these hold toys, and if it turns out I can’t find a place for them, I’m just going to donate them again.

2. Found Objects

Tip number two, found objects. Now, occasionally things come in the mail and sometimes it’s in really nice packaging. There was a flower arrangement in this one. This is a nice cardboard box, it doesn’t have any markings or stickers on it. I use things like this to organize my pantry cabinets. I’ll show you a picture of that (below). Some fancy chocolates came in this one. It had a ribbon and a wax seal, which I took off and sanded, but this is the kind of little storage container that my kids love to hide little treasures in.

Use found objects as eco friendly storage bins, like this cardboard box I use to organize my pantry, instead of plastic.

Then the best thing I’ve found so far – and you need to keep your eyes open because these treasures are all around you – someone was throwing away this crate. It was right outside of our office and it was out in the trash. Now, at something like the Brimfield Antiques Fair, you would probably pay $30 or $40 for one of these. It was free!

3. Wine Crates

Tip number three, wine crates. Okay, I have been looking for these for a while. I was even on Etsy and willing to pay $13 for one of these crates until I realized the shipping was going to be $20. That was a nonstarter for me. So the next time I went into my local wine store and I was buying some wine for myself, I just asked them. I said, “Do you have any of these wood crates that you’re going to throw away?” And they said, “Yeah, how many do you want?” I had to hold myself back from saying 15 or more, so I just said two to three, and he said sure. So I’m thinking to myself, okay, every time I go and buy wine, I’m going to ask for a couple of these crates. They were just in their basement, they were probably going to go into a landfill.

Wine crates sometimes have beautiful markings on them, making them a great eco friendly storage bin.

These are beautiful. They’re completely solid. They would be great as toy bins. I use them to store old papers, even in my closet to organize my sweaters. They are solid wood. They already served their purpose. I had to pull out a few staples and sand a few edges, but that’s about it. These all came from Europe, so the fancy wines get shipped in these. They sometimes have beautiful markings on them. They can serve as great large storage bins in your house, and these were completely free.

Now, I’ve given you three tips. We’ve got so far a total of eight bins and baskets for a total cost of $2.

4. Vintage Baskets

My next tip, tip number four, is for if you want to do a little splurge. What I like to do is first off go to Etsy. This is a beautiful woven basket at Etsy. This is the kind of piece, I think I paid $20 for this, that you would have out on your coffee table. It’s a really nice basket. Put remotes in it or a little flower arrangement or whatever. You can figure out a ton of uses for this beautiful basket. So that was kind of a splurge for me, but I think it was worth it.

Then this one I found at a vintage mid-century modern furniture store. Now, this really wasn’t their style. You can see this as a lot more traditional. But it’s a beautifully woven basket with a lot of detail. If you know baskets, which I don’t really, you will recognize that at an antique store this might go for $100 or $150. But because this wasn’t really their bag at the mid-century modern place, I got it for $30. Took it home, cleaned it up a little bit, and now it’s one of the nicer baskets that I have.

Okay, so I’ve showed you 10 bins and baskets for a total cost of $52. Now, I think that’s pretty comparable to the plastic and it’s a whole lot more beautiful.

Now, even though all these bins and baskets are very different, very eclectic, they’re all made of natural materials: straw, wood, etc. Therefore, they all have similar tones and so they really go well together even though they’re completely different styles. They would look really good on just some basic white shelves.

What tips do you have for finding eco friendly storage bins? If you have any answers or any more questions, please put it in the comments below. Please like this video if you enjoyed hearing about this and these great tips, and subscribe to my channel so you always get updated on new videos I put out. Thanks for watching.

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Read The Transcript:

Mette Aamodt: Hey folks, welcome to the Aamodt/Plumb YouTube channel. We’re starting a new series on Slow Homes where we give you tips and advice for creating a home that is good, clean and fair. I’m Mette Aamodt, co-founder of Aamodt/Plumb Architecture, Interiors and Construction and I’ll be your host.

Today I have to share some breaking news with you. It’s an update to a previous video that we did on eco-friendly, ethical and beautiful countertops and I need to share some bad news that I just discovered. The day we finished editing that video, David Ascher from our office sent me an article, actually a podcast, from NPR talking about the dangers of engineered stone. And we mentioned engineered stone in our other video as something to avoid and we were primarily focused on the plastic resin binder, which we thought was just yuck in and of itself and turns out it can chip off if you’re cutting on the countertop.

But engineered stone is made up of 10% binder and 90% silica. And silica it turns out is extremely dangerous to work with. So the workers that are fabricating the countertops, that are cutting them, grinding them, polishing them, a new report just came out by the CDC that found 18 cases of silicosis in California, Colorado, Texas and Washington. I’ll explain what silicosis is in a minute.
Silica is a naturally occurring material and it comes in two forms, crystalline and non-crystalline silica. Crystalline silica is found in beach sand, granite, quartz and gravel. Beach sand is not dangerous. Don’t worry about going to the beach. The particles are too big to be inhaled. But fine dust, silica, the kind that’s produced from cutting and grinding stone is extremely harmful. The other type of non-crystalline silica that’s found in glass and silicone is much less harmful.

A new report just came out by the CDC that found 18 cases of silicosis in California, Colorado, Texas and Washington.

So the issue is that when you’re processing stone, you’re cutting, grinding, polishing it, it makes a ton of dust. Dust goes everywhere. Let me read you one quote from one of the sick workers. “If you go into the bathroom, it’s dust. When we go to take lunch on the tables, it’s dust. Your nose, your ears, your hair, all of your body, your clothes, everything. When you walk out of the shop you can see your steps on the floor because of the dust.”

So the problem is that this fine dust full of silica gets embedded deep within the lungs and when it does scar tissue forms around it, hardening the lungs. This is what’s called silicosis. And there’s no remedy for it and eventually it will cause a lot of respiratory issues and in some cases death. And the only way to cure it is a complete lung transplant. Prevention basically comes down to dust control and OSHA does require dust control for any processes that create silica dust.

Our site superintendent, Sean Cowing, he is certified in silica compliance and recommends that everyone who’s working with the material gets this certification as well. The problem is that OSHA doesn’t have the manpower or the mandate to go and check. And apparently there is something like 8,000 stone fabrication shops in the US. Most of them are small and probably most of them aren’t even aware of the dangers of silica. And even if they were managing the dust is a huge undertaking.
So the article references one shop that was very responsible and they were already using a wet cut method. That’s when they spray water on the stone as they’re cutting it to to grab the dust so that it settles down rather than just staying airborne. The dry cutting process puts a lot more dust into the air. So they were already doing that, but they still found that their silica, their airborne silica levels were too high. So then they started cleaning the shop floor every morning, because they noticed there was a fine white dust every morning when they came in. So that was after the nighttime and everything had settled. They started cleaning the floor every day with a kind of Zamboni machine. But even that wasn’t enough. And then finally they installed an all new air handling system and then the levels of silica, airborne silica were imperceptible.

This is what OSHA Silica Compliance Awareness Training certification looks like.

But I don’t know if most small businesses are going to go through the trouble to do all of that. And the ones that do are probably inviting OSHA in to do an inspection of voluntary compliance and that’s great. You can look for companies that have done that, but again, the majority are not going to have either the resources or the wherewithal to do that.

Now, the US is not the only place having this problem. There are also problems noted and clusters of silicosis in Australia, Israel, Spain, and Italy. But imports of engineered stone have increased from 2010 to 2018 by 800%. So I’m sure we’re going to be seeing a lot more of this in the news.
Please share this video widely so other people can be aware of the dangers of engineered stone. It’s not dangerous to the homeowner themselves, but it’s very dangerous to the workers and as part of our commitment to creating homes that are good, clean, and fair, we highly recommend not choosing engineered stone for your kitchen countertops.

Now, don’t worry if you already have engineered stone in your house. We didn’t know this either. Okay. This is breaking news and it just came out, CDC report ,the NPR article. So we didn’t know. We thought it was the plastic that was the problem, but it’s the silica. And now that we know we need to let other people know. So please share this video and please also subscribe to our channel to get other tips and advice as well as other breaking news to help you create a home, a slow home that is good, clean and fair. Thanks.

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Here are the links mentioned:

Workers Are Falling Ill, Even Dying, After Making Kitchen Countertops: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/02/766028237/workers-are-falling-ill-even-dying-after-making-kitchen-countertops

Severe Silicosis in Engineered Stone Fabrication Workers — California, Colorado, Texas, and Washington, 2017–2019: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6838a1.htm

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Read the Transcript:

Mette Aamodt: Hey folks, welcome to the Aamodt/Plumb YouTube channel. This is our new series on Slow Homes where we give you tips and advice for creating a home that is good, clean, and fair. If you’re new to our channel, hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss any of the videos that we put out.

I’m Mette Aamodt, co-founder of Aamodt/Plumb Architecture, Interiors, and Construction. Today I’m going to be showing you six non toxic and mostly ethical building materials that you can buy at Home Depot. Home Depot has not sponsored this video, nor have any of the products that I’m going to show you.

(Here you can see a guy trying to fit that insulation into a teeny tiny car.)

Now, let me start by saying that I don’t really like Home Depot or Lowe’s. These stores are really geared towards DIY homeowners. Maybe someone like that guy. The biggest thing Home Depot has going for it is convenience, and it’s kind of like the big grocery store. So gone are the days where we had a butcher, a baker and a greengrocer. Now what most of us have is, in this area it’s called Star Market or A&P or whatever.

Our site supervisors and sub contractors really prefer not to buy their materials at Home Depot and avoid it if they can. Instead, they like to go to the local lumber yard, tractor supply, electrical and plumbing supply stores. Oh, and the local hardware store. I love going to the local hardware store. I love walking up and down the aisles and browsing for things. I’ll save that for another video though. This video is for those of you who don’t have access to a local hardware store or a local lumberyard.

Now, let’s go shopping.

FSC CERTIFIED PLYWOOD

Okay. The first item one our list of non toxic materials is FSC certified plywood. I looked it up online and Home Depot has Columbia Forest Products plywood. Now I just have to find it. It took me a long time to find this one. Here’s the tag, says FSC on it right there, but there isn’t really any other proof. It used to say it on the edge of the board, but here I can find it on a sticker.

So what’s good about this plywood is that it is FSC certified. You do have to specify that though if you’re ordering it. Not all Columbia Forest Products plywood is FSC certified. It does have formaldehyde free soy-based adhesive, so that’s another thing that’s great and it comes from North America. What’s bad about it is that, as you can see, it’s totally mangled. It is seriously trashed, and it’s going to be super difficult to find any pieces that are worth using. It’s also pretty expensive, $46 a sheet compared to the other ones here, the cheap ones that are like $20 a sheet. It’s not really selling itself here with the presentation and so forth. You have to really want it. So you can get it at Home Depot, but I recommend you inspect every single sheet.

The second product is cellulose insulation. Home Depot carries this one called Green Fiber. Cellulose insulation is a plant-based insulation. It’s made of paper, usually recycled paper. This one says 85% recycled content, so it’s a renewable resource. It’s a very low toxicity. I’m not going to call it non-toxic, but I’m not afraid to touch it with my hands. It’s soft. Doesn’t smell any worse than anything else in this aisle that’s really stinky because there’s a lot of foam. They use boric acid as a fire retardant. Now, that is a bit controversial. Again, it is low toxicity, but not no toxicity. It’s much less toxic than the majority of other insulation options out there. In a dense packed application, it can perform just as well as many of the other more toxic options.

This one is made in the USA, which I’m using as a proxy for being ethical. Now, the reason for that is that at least we have laws in the US protecting workers, so in this video, when I say ethical, what I mean is it’s made in the US.

CEDAR SHINGLES

Now, here’s a product that’s been around for thousands of years. How do you like that for a track record? These are cedar shingles. This is the best one Home Depot carries. It’s their premium red cedar used for interior and exterior, made in Canada. This is the most expensive one that they have here. You can see $185. This is just beautiful, pure cedar. Smells great. Just want to keep smelling it.

They have a couple of other products around here and this one looks pretty good. This says WASKA. These are factory coated cedar shingles. Now, on the bottom right it says 100% green choice, natural insulator, noise reducer, anti-termite, renewable, nontoxic. Yup, I agree with that. These say they are sourced from FSC certified forests and naturally self-preserving without harsh chemicals. Product of Canada. Now, these have been pre-finished. When I smell these, it doesn’t quite smell as good as the plain cedar ones. So cedar shingles are a completely non toxic material as long as you don’t stain or paint them, and you really don’t need to stain or paint them. This is really just an aesthetic effect. Depending on what the stain is that you use, there may be some level of volatile organic compounds.

Now this box of shingles is a $110. That tells me it’s a pretty high quality item, compared to what we’re going to see over here, which are at $49 a bundle and $65 a bundle. I don’t know if these are the same thing or not, but I’m looking at this. You see that black stuff on there? That is black mold. Now, I don’t think this is a problem of the cedar shingle itself, but in the way that it’s been handled and transported and stored, probably by Home Depot. So you see those expensive ones over there in the nice boxes? That box was a little crushed, but those boxes look pretty good. Those are pretty good, stored in cardboard, which is breathable, as opposed to these stored in plastic, which is not breathable and probably led to the mold problem, so stay away.

DALTILE

Next on our list of non toxic materials is Daltile. Home Depot does carry Daltile, although I’m seeing that their selection is very limited and they don’t have the nice ones that we like. They just have some ugly ones that I will show you in a minute. Daltile is an American company and all of their products are made in the US. We use Daltile all the time in our projects. They have some beautiful options, not necessarily the ones that they have here, but they have a basic 3 x 6 subway tile and another one called Rittenhouse Square that’s a 2 x 4 subway tile that’s really nice.

Ceramic and porcelain tile are all natural. They are made from clay. They are naturally non toxic, and Daltile has a cool promo video that I’ll link down below that talks about a lot of the same issues that we’re concerned about with Slow Homes.

Daltile is already super affordable, and with tariffs on the import of Chinese tile – porcelain and ceramic tile – at 130%, there’s never been a better time to buy American-made Daltile. Now, I’m just going to jump on my computer and show you the ones that we were recommending. Home Depot does carry online the Daltile Rittenhouse Square. It comes in a ceramic. The tile itself is 2″ x 4″, and it comes on a 12 x 12 inch mosaic. I also happen to have a sample of it right here in my office so I wanted to show you. It comes in matte and glossy. This is a glossy one.

NATURAL CORK

The next non toxic material I’m looking for is natural cork. I had to ask someone to help me and this is what the guy directed me towards, ‘Eco Cork Foam’. I’m going to call that an oxymoron because eco and foam in my book never go together. This is actually a super thin layer… No, wait a minute. I don’t think there’s any real cork on this whatsoever. If there is, it’s a microscopically thin layer. The rest is just foam, so I’m going to jump on my computer again and show you that Home Depot does actually carry 100% natural foam – oops! yeah, they carry a lot of foam! – 100% natural cork. You are going to have to order it online.

This is the all natural cork that I was looking for in the store. It comes from Portugal, which is obviously not in the US, but it is in the EU, and they do have strict labor laws there as well. It comes in this half inch thickness. They have it categorized as a tile underlayment, but you could use it for all kinds of things. So this is a renewable resource, harvested from trees, and completely non toxic.

COPPER PIPE

The last of non toxic materials we are looking for is copper pipe. It is the material of choice for plumbers and has been used for our pipes, our water supply for hundreds of years, and I love that. So this one has blue text on it. It looks black to me, but that means it’s for potable water. It’s thicker, heavier, and more expensive. These over here (this is what I picked up first) this one has red text on it. That’s okay for making decorative pipe shelves. That one’s only $10.85, but the one for potable water is $15.32. These look like 4′ lengths. Both types with the blue text and the red text say made in the USA. I prefer to go with materials that have a really long track record that have been used for a really long time as opposed to the new products or the ‘wunderkind’ of building products. Remember that lead paint and asbestos were those wonderful new products at one time. And the problem is that we don’t find out until 30 years later what the impact is and if people are dying or not. So I prefer copper pipe to the alternative, which is PVC.

These days, PVC is probably the most common material used for piping because it’s the cheapest, but it is full of carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. If you want to know more about what’s so horrible with PVC, just let me know in the comments below and I will make a whole video just on that.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it folks. These are my six non toxic materials, that are mostly ethical, that you can buy at Home Depot. Now I was only able to pick up three of them in my cart here. I’ve got the insulation, the cedar shingles and the copper pipe. Everything else I’m going to have to get online or at a different location.

Do you have experience with any of these non toxic materials or do you have any suggestions of other things you can get at Home Depot that are non toxic and somewhat ethical? If so, please put it in the comments down below and don’t forget to subscribe while you’re down there. If you like this video, please let me know. I’m only just starting out on this YouTube journey and I could really use some positive reinforcement to help me keep going and making more videos like this because I think that there’s some great content here that is going to be really helpful for people to live better lives and lives that are good, clean, and fair. See you next time.

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Here are the links mentioned in the video.

FSC Certified Plywood –
Columbia Forest Products: https://www.columbiaforestproducts.com/product/purebond-classic-core/

Cellulose Insulation –
Greenfibre: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Greenfiber-Low-Dust-Cellulose-Blown-In-Insulation-19-lbs-INS541LD/100318635?MERCH=REC-_-rv_gm_pip_rr-_-300584221-_-100318635-_-N

Cedar Shingles –
https://www.homedepot.com/p/18-in-1-P…

Daltile –
Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNlzC…
Rittenhouse Square Tile: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Daltile-Rittenhouse-Square-White-12-in-x-12-in-x-6-mm-Ceramic-Mosaic-Wall-Tile-0-8333-sq-ft-piece-010024BJMS1P2/203719337

Natural Cork –
https://www.homedepot.com/p/QEP-150-s..

Copper Pipe –
Mueller Industries: https://www.muellerindustries.com/our…
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mueller-S…

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Read the Transcript:

Mette Aamodt (MA): Hey, folks. Welcome to the Aamodt /Plumb YouTube channel. We are starting a new series on slow homes where we give you tips and advice for creating a home that is good, clean, and fair. My name is Mette Aamodt. I am co-founder of Aamodt Plumb Architecture, Interiors and Construction, and I will be your host. I’m here today with Sarah Lueck who is our Interiors Associate at Aamodt Plumb, and she’s in charge of all things interior selections and materials. Today, we’re going to talk about countertop materials. When planning a new kitchen or bathroom, countertops or one of the most important decisions. There are lots of things to consider when choosing a countertop like durability, cost and sanitation. If you’re designing a Slow Home that is good, clean and fair, you’re going to want to consider the material’s beauty, sustainability, and if it was sourced ethically. Let’s delve into some of those issues with Sarah. So, Sarah, what are some of the most popular countertops materials that you find in the showroom?

Sarah Lueck (SL): In the showroom, I see a lot of quartz composites, which is an engineered stone. There’s also a lot of imported natural stone, and there’s a lot of plastic laminates on the lower end.

MA: Why are these so popular?

SL: For the engineered quartz, it’s really about easy care. It’s not going to show any scratches or stains. It’s not going to chip, so people love that. They also love the natural stones because they’re beautiful and becomes a really gorgeous element in your kitchen, so they’ll pay a lot of money for those. For the plastic laminates, it’s also an easy care surface at a much lower price point.

MA: Do any of these options, these typical options fit into our slow homes category of beautiful, ethical and eco-friendly?

SL: Unfortunately, not. The plastic laminate is plastic. It’s formaldehyde based, it’s resin, it’s particleboard underneath. It’s horrible. I know it’s cheap, but we’ve got some other options that we’ll talk about later that are going to be better while still being affordable and low maintenance, which is great.

MA: Anything else?

SL: Engineered stone, unfortunately, it’s kind of the same story. It sounds like a real stone, but what really is happening there is the plastic matrix that those little pieces of quartz are in is horrible. It really renders the stone useless in terms of ever being able to return those materials back deeper. It can also come off when you’re cooking and cutting on the material.

MA: I didn’t know that.

SL: It’s no good. I know it looks beautiful like stone, and it performs really well, but those issues are really not worth the upside that material. So, imported stone raises a lot of questions for us. Ethical labor practices in a traceable supply chain are things we just don’t know from here. A lot of the stone that we see are coming from Brazil and India.

MA: I know that Brazil has had a lot of issues with forced labor in other sectors, in particular, the timber sector. I haven’t heard anything specifically about stone quarries in Brazil, but if you’ve heard of anything, please put it in the comments down below, so we can spread that information. India, on the other hand, who produces over half the world’s granite, has been frequently cited for abuses in their granite quarries, for abuses related to forced labor, child labor and unsafe working conditions. I’m going to put a link to a study down below on that one. I’m also going to put up a chart that shows goods most commonly produced with forced labor and child labor. The top of the list is India and Brazil, and I’m going to circle stone and timber that we referenced earlier.

SL: With imported natural stone, we also have some environmental questions. There’s strip mining, there’s issues with chemicals used getting leached to the water table. There’s the question of the carbon footprint it takes to get that stone to the U.S., so those are things that just get factored into our concerns over these imported natural stone products.

MA: That’s depressing. Is there anything we can do about this? Certainly, don’t buy granite from India or timber from Brazil, and remember that every dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of world that you want to live in. So, for our audience, is there a showroom you can go to where they can find countertop materials that are ethical, eco-friendly and beautiful?

SL: Not really, but we’ve put a list together ourselves that we can show you.

MA: The first wood butcherblock. This is the countertop material of choice in Scandinavia. Every home I went into in Norway this summer had wood countertops. It’s probably the one from Ikea that we’ll link below, which is a great, durable budget-friendly option. This image is of a typical Norwegian kitchen, and it’s from Norwegian blogger, Lil Teresa, linked down below as well. Sarah, why do we like butcherblock so much?

SL: It’s a renewable resource and especially if you get FSC certified wood as the source, it means it’s coming from a forest that’s sustainably managed, so that’s really great. It’s also an affordable option. It’s very durable, and it even has antimicrobial properties.

MA: That reminds me. There’s even a study that proves that bacteria live longer on plastic cutting boards compared to wood cutting boards. You can find that link down below. I’m going to put it there for you to read. So, what are the cons? What are the downsides of using this?

SL: A couple of the cons are you want to avoid rot. Using a drop-in sink is the way to go if you’re going to have wood around your sink area, and then maintenance is just oiling or waxing it every so often to keep the surface consistent.

MA: The next option is stainless steel.

SL: We love stainless steel. It’s an easy care material. It’s not going to stain or etch or crack the way a stone would. It’s easy to clean. It’s heat resistant. You can put a hot pot directly on the surface. You can make them to customizable shapes. You can have a custom island or an integrated sink made out of stainless steel in that island, so it’s a continuous surface, which is really cool. It’s even recyclable. At the end of its life cycle, it can return back to stainless steel in another way, which is great. It’s also a low emission product to manufacture, so those are all good things.

Now, the cons are it’s a high embodied energy material to manufacture. It’s also hard to trace the raw materials to know what the conditions are and where it’s coming from. It can also be hard to track the ethical labor practices of some of the off-the-shelf items.

MA: The stainless steel, is that something you can buy those countertops ready to go in the showroom?

SL: Usually not. If you need it to be custom to your kitchen, it is a custom product. You’d be working with a manufacturer. Actually, this sample comes from a company. We’ll give you the link to that, that does custom stainless steel countertops, and they will ship to anywhere in the country, so, that’s great. There are also off-the-shelf products that you can buy. A lot of people will get them from the restaurant supply stores. Those are actually a really affordable way of getting a stainless steel counter into your kitchen.

MA: Next on our list is U.S. sourced stone. We love stone because it is a natural material that is beautiful, durable and will last forever. Our preference is for U.S. sourced stone because it’s local, and it creates manufacturing jobs in the U.S. It also limits the amount of fossil fuel dependent transport needed for the raw material. The Natural Stone Council has created a third party certification akin to FSC certification for wood that ensures that manufacturers with this seal are producing stone in an eco-friendly and ethical way. Here are a few of our favorites. This is Danby marble from Vermont. Sarah, what’s cool about this one?

SL: We love Danby marble because it comes from one of the last U.S. marble quarries. It also has a wide degree of veining, variation in color. You can get everything from something that looks like a Carrara or Calacatta to something that’s really unique and moody and its own look.

MA: It’s also a really traditional countertop material that’s been used for hundreds of years, so we love that. Bakers really prefer it for baking because it stays very cool. Now, there are some downsides to marble, and what are those?

SL: The downside to Danby marble and really any marble is that it can stain and etch. The way that people work around this is to seal the stone. We generally try to avoid that at Aamodt / Plumb because what that’s doing is introducing a layer of plastic to the top of the countertop. We prefer to think of the stone as a living surface, and it’s going to change in patina with time and use, and we find that to be really beautiful.

MA: The next sample is soapstone.

SL: The American soapstone comes from the Alberene quarry in Virginia, and it’s a beautiful dark gray to black stone. It’s virtually non-porous, which is great. It means that it’s very hard, anti-scratch, antimicrobial. You can put a hot pot directly on the surface and it won’t do a thing. Historically, these stones were used in laboratories, and over the years, homeowners have realized that those properties work really well in their kitchens.

MA: This quarry was recently reopened due to an increased demand for soapstone because currently, the only other place soapstone comes from is Brazil. Are there any cons with soapstone?

SL: Very few. It is a more expensive stone than some other options out there, and it can also typically only be found in smaller slab sizes, which means you’re going to have more seams in your kitchen. Another material that we are really liking right now is a porcelain slab. So, this is a porcelain clay body. It’s fired to very high temperatures, which makes it an extremely strong, durable material. They’re produced in large slabs like stones, so they are cut and installed just like a stone slab would in your kitchen. It is a virtually non-porous material. It will not etch or stain. You can put a hot pot directly on it as well. It has a lot of very believable veining options out there. So, in a lot of ways, it’s very similar to a quartz composite without any of the downsides of a quartz involving additive plastics.

MA: That’s great.

SL: Unfortunately, the downside is that it is a relatively new product to the U.S., and it is also a manufactured product, so things to look out for if you’re looking at a porcelain slab are: Who is making it? Have they been doing it for a while? What are their processes? It’s going to take some digging to make sure that their product is, in fact, going to be as robust as they’re claiming. Currently, we like a product called Laminam. It’s an Italian company. We’re hoping to find a U.S. based manufacturer that’s doing similar work.

MA: Now that we’ve shown you five beautiful ethical and eco-friendly countertop materials, you tell us which one would you choose for your Slow Home. Put your answer in the comment section down below. Sarah, which one would you pick?

SL: I think I would go with a mix, the wood and the stainless. I like the juxtaposition. One’s very soft and warm, and one is sleek and cool. I think they work really well together.

MA: They do. I have always had my heart set on soapstone, and so, if money were no object, this would personally be the one that I choose. I like the fact that you can do experiments on it, such as food or chemistry experiments that we did in high school, and I like the fact that it changes in patinas over time, which I find to be very beautiful in a slow way.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

The Dark Side of Granite. Modern Slavery, Child Labour and Unsafe Work in Indian Granite Quarries — What Should Companies Do?

Hygge: Slowing Down the Scandinavian Way

Kitchen Photo, Norwegian Blogger Lill Therese

Cutting Boards of Wood and Plastic Contaminated Experimentally With Bacteria

Natural Stone Sustainability Standard

Danby Marble

Alberene Soapstone

Canadian Stone Producer Revives American Soapstone Quarry

Laminam Porcelain Slabs

SUBSCRIBE TO THE AAMODT / PLUMB YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE TO GET MORE VIDEOS ABOUT CREATING A SLOW HOME

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