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

Elemental Threads: Sweet Bags for Type A's (Design It Yourself!)

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by Starre Vartan · 03/22/09

Emily Worden

I’ve known the lovely and talented Emily Worden (that’s her, above!) for years now; she is one of the super-progressive, fabulously positive and creative women I have met while living in southern Connecticut. Not only is she a music-loving ecofashionista who has long made her own (damn cool) clothes and sister of environmental lawyer, Jessica Worden, but she throws incredibly parties with said sister (I’m proud to have attended Wordenstocks in both ’04 AND ’06).

Oh, and she’s the ecopreneur behind Elemental Threads, where you can design your own bag! I have a pouch already, and am trying to decide what larger bag would stand me in good stead for all the travelling I do.

The blank bag choices

It works like this: you pick out a bag style from those above, then choose your fabric, from the extremely HUGE collection Emily has available on her site. There are so many choices, and there are organic cotton (I got one of those) and bamboo options to choose from, as well as some vintage and conventional fabrics.

Pretty bags!!!

But that’s not all! LOL. You ALSO get to pick your zipper color and inside lining color- which is where the Type A in me gets really happy, because you can get exactly what you want! How often does that happen these days? LOVE IT!

The Round Wristlette

The Large Tote

The Ring Pouch

Emily and a local seamstress handcraft each bag from Emily’s homebase in Connecticut, so they’re certainly fair-trade (unless Emily works herself too hard!) and American-made.

Emily also makes these Glass Bead necklaces which I have one of, in a black and white pattern. I get tons of compliments on it every time I wear it!

And you can even offset your purchase with eThread’s offset program. Emily told me:

eThreads will be offering customers the option to purchase carbon offsets to reduce the CO2 emissions produced with each order. The concept is very neat, customers can choose between one of
eight different projects and they see how much CO2 pounds their donation will buy. It is a new web application called ShopGreen, which is produced by GreenWorld, a business seeking to work with other
businesses by reducing their carbon footprint.

Some of Emily’s designer creations: these are already made and aren’t part of the design-yourself bags above, and sure are gorgeous!

accessories, American made, bags, Handmade, necklaces, Organic

Goin' Nuts for the Palma Collection

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by Summer Rayne Oakes · 02/02/07

The Palma Collection is completely on par with my sense of style: artisanal, vibrantly exotic and steeped with a raw edge.

Palma’s vivid collection of jewelry is made from the “vegetable ivory” of the fruit or the nut of the Tagua tree (Phytelephas macrocarpa). When I received my pieces in the mail, I was surprised to see how lightweight the jewelry was. All pieces are handcrafted in Colombia by native artisans. The nut is harvested seasonally, only after it falls off the tree. Once the nuts reach the artisan crafter, they are polished until they get that clean and shiny look. Then, the nuts are cut with extreme care in order to give them different forms, and they are French-dyed into various vivid colors.

Visit palmacollection.com and view the video to find out how the necklaces are made.

car, fall, farm, fruit, Jewelry, necklaces, style, video

Green Karat

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by Starre Vartan · 12/17/06

Some of Green Karat’s designs

We know diamonds are not a girl’s best friend and we’ve seen environmentally friendly jewelry, like Kiersten Muenster’s , and Gwen Davis’ gorgeous creations. But what if you’re looking for something with more traditional style? Green Karat’s recycled gold jewelry looks the same as non-recycled rings and earrings, but bypasses the need for poisonous mines and toxic refining practices typical of traditional gold extraction.

Gold mining not only involves ripping into the Earth and displacing millions of pounds of earth (see image below) but multinational mining corporations have polluted local environments both in the United States and internationally with cyanide, mercury and other toxic chemicals (called mine ‘tailings’). I’ve seen some of this destruction first hand when I was a geology student in Montana, and I wish I still had my photos of yellow rivers running from mines into clear mountain streams. Yes, this kind of pollution still goes on, and what’s more, it’s allowed.

This is what a gold mine looks like. Image by Ashley Gilbertson for the New York Times.

Gold is both versatile and malleable, so Green Karat is able to form entirely unique pieces of jewelry from gold that has been melted down from older pieces. They estimate that “there is enough gold above ground (already mined) to satisfy all demands of the jewelry industry for the next 50 years. Much of it sits in bank vaults and in the form of old and unused jewelry”. Green Karat not only provides standards for each piece of jewelry available, but they operate under a philosophy that supports fair trade and ecological (artisanal) mining practices. Most importantly, they have awesome rings, bracelets and necklaces, and they can custom make just about any design you want. They specialize in creating commitment and wedding bands and will work with customers to design unique pieces.

corporations, design, eating, Eco-Chick, Fair Trade, Home, Jewelry, local, local environment, necklaces, New York Times, Pollution, recycle, recycled, style, wedding