Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Jewelry by Pippa Small: Impactful and Joyous (in More Ways than Just Aesthetically)

I’m loving London-based jeweler Pippa Small‘s oversized, colorful jewelry. After working under Tom Ford at Gucci and Phoebe Philo at Chloe, she has a fantastic design eye for what’s going to work with a dressed down frock, smart denims and a white tee, or even with a more polished jacket-and-skirt ensemble.

Smalls’ new online shop means that her designs are now easily available to anyone with an Internet connection, though her jewelry is available at all sorts of boutiques and is featured on net-a-porter too.

And the designer doesn’t just have an eye for style, she works with what is the world’s 1st registered Fairtrade gold mine in Bolivia, and partnered with Afghanistan-based charity Turtle Mountain, which is working to regenerate the country’s traditional arts. She also produced a collection with the Fairtrade company MADE based in Kibera, a slum area in Nairobi.

Read more about these various projects here.

“Pippa believes the art of jewellery making can enhance life and help alleviate poverty and protect precious traditions, helping to grow the confidence of crafts people around the world and reverse the tradition of exploitation associated with the gem industry over the centuries. Her jewellery is collected and coveted by many who appreciate the rough organic, hand made feel of the jewellery.”

How I Wear Eco Fashion: Greenest New Yorker Kaity Tsui

On the heels of apparel giant H&M stating, “There aren’t any specific trends anymore. It’s more just personal style and how you put it together,” I contacted a number of my friends and colleagues about contributing to this new column on Eco Chick, “How I Wear Eco Fashion.” The response has been enthusiastic, so look for weekly installations of how women from all walks of life (some of them working in the green sphere, and some of them not, but all of them with a conscience about their impact on the planet) find and wear eco fashion.

First up is Kaity Tsui, AKA The Greenest New Yorker. Kaity told me of the dress pictured above, “I bought this black dress at Housing Works (Upper West Side)* for a really good price. Here I’m wearing it at a friend’s wedding, so it’s appropriate at more formal settings.” Kaity is still a fresh-faced young lady with great skin, so she doesn’t use a ton of makeup; here she sports some Burt’s Bees lipbalm (one of my faves too!), which is available everywhere, and a bit of Bare Minerals/Escentuals for sparkle.
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Cambodia’s 2 Wheels 4 School: Art for Bikes!

Now that you’ve thought about how you are going to improve your own life in 2011, what about those that have so much less than most of us?

In Cambodia, schools are few and far-between. One of the biggest impediments to children making their way to class is distance. And what’s a fast, low-cost (and for most kids, fun) way for kids to get to homeroom? A bike of course!

When Richard and Michelle visited Cambodia and noticed this problem, they decided to take action! The put together the site “2 Wheels 4 School” as a way to raise money for bikes:

In many instances, having a bike to go those extra miles can mean their entire education. But in many more instances, a family cannot afford the $30 it takes to buy one. Enter the opportunity to do something good. We’ve posted some of the photos from the trip. If you like one, buy it for $30. We’ll send you a nice print, any size you’d like (under 13″x19″). And we’ll use your money—all of it—to buy a bicycle for a Cambodian child to attend school.

Check out the site; there are a number of prints, you can simply make a donation, or you can purchase the gorgeous painting of the Cambodian flag, above! Painted by Ariel Shallit (the man behind the header painting, above, for Eco Chick), the full purchase price will go to the charity. And you’ll have something graphic and dynamic to hang on your wall.
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The Working Proof: Art plus (+) Charity equals (=) Positivity (+)

The Working Proof team of printmakers is proof positive that the 3 Cs of creativity, charity, and community can be powerfully combined through art. Selling limited-edition prints to benefit an array of charities, The Working Proof offers an affordable opportunity to delight in art in service to a charitable mission.

Each artwork is a limited-edition print designed and signed by an artist who has dedicated a percentage of sale proceeds to a designated charity of his or her choice.

Here at Eco Chick, I have selected a few prints carried by The Working Proof that benefit some amazing animal refuge and environmental protection organizations….what could be better than supporting artists and supporting groups that work so hard to keep our world gorgeous, diverse and healthy!

TOMS Wedges: Best Green Shoes for Summer, 2010!

TOMS wedges are available for $69 on their site, for any of the styles offered.

As originally reported by Emma Grady at Treehugger, TOMS, the company that donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair that we buy, is now offering these fantastic wedges in their signature style (but taller!).

Besides doing what shoes do (protect the feet from damage and disease), as it says on the TOMS site, “Many times children can’t attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don’t have shoes, they don’t go to school. If they don’t receive an education, they don’t have the opportunity to realize their potential.” See? EVERYthing matters.

Honestly, these shoes are so damn cute and fit with my style so perfectly, I would consider getting them regardless of the good they do. I’m thinking the red and white stripe….