Holy Smokes, I forgot today was the first day of Spring! That right no more old man winter.
And what a crummy winter it has been here in So.Cal. Sure we are a bit spoiled with the constant 70 degree winter days and hanging out on the beach in January... :) By the way, it's dreary and in the low 60's today incase that makes anybody feel better
What I'm talking about is surf related. The winter of 2008-2009 has to go down as one of the smallest and lamest winters in recent memory. In fact, there were only a couple of decent swells this winter around Thanksgiving time and then again in early February. Neither of which produced anything near the "adrenaline pumping / scary range"
So here's to Spring 2009, may the southern hemisphere start to fire up to send us some great south swell and may the water warm up so we can get out of those funny rubber suits we surfers wear when the water is cold!
Spring has Sprung my friends, shed your hoodies and sweaters, break out the flip flops, tend to your gardens and start working on your tan! Summer is right around the corner...
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Gardens of Babylon and Urban Patio in Nashville
One of our best specialty retailers Deb from Urban Patio in Nashville Tennessee sent over these shots from the Nashville Home and Garden show last weekend. Urban Patio partnered with The Gardens of Babylon (also from Nashville) to create this amazing display of vertical gardening and featured the Maku Furniture lounge chair and Maku side table. Combined they won the American Horticulture Society Environmental Award for the show!
Congrats to Deb and crew, keep up the rocking job!
Congrats to Deb and crew, keep up the rocking job!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Pick up 3, and a difference you will see....
I've been meaning to talk about this Super Grom named Cobi Emery from nearby Del Mar. 2 years ago when Cobi was 10 he started Pick up 3 as a way to bring increased attention to pollution on the local San Diego beaches.
Now at 12 years old and a couple of years into his project he has made such a tremendous difference. Just think what can be done if we all took the same passion, verve, and stoke that young Cobi has...
A big High 5 Cobi and I'd be happy to share a wave with you any day! Keep up the great work!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Green Beer, Green and More, Green Living, and my Great Grandma (2009 edition)
Happy St. Patricks day to all!
March 17th is a special day for me as it is my great grandmothers birthday. All though she passed some years back today she would be 111, born in 1898.
Nana was a great woman who grew up during the great depression and dustbowl days of the early 1900's. No matter what, she always had a great outlook because she had seen so much and been through so much.
I think there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn from yesteryear to now. Certainly the economic conditions are an easy one. As well as the drought many western states are seeing right now.
But also, there was this little thing going on back then called The Industrial Revolution. Although it was near the end if not the end of the Industrial revolution by the late 1800's and as the great depression began to take hold. People looked back to the ways they had lived prior to Industry and the technology taking over.
More specifically, people looked back to their environment and started to realize the damage and destruction that had taken place on the precious natural resources of our country.
The result? The birth of the environmental movement.
Early on in 1848, Henry David Thoreau published his book Walden. As you may recall, it told of Thoreau's two-year living experiment in the woods near Walden Pond. Shortly after, John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892. Two decades later William Hornaday published "Our Vanishing Wildlife" in 1913. Prompted by the incredible decimation of the American Buffalo this book was truly one of the first to shed light on the subject and the loss of certain species throughout the plains of America West.
So what am I getting at here? You can look at history and say that some incredible things spurred out of the great depressions(despite incredible hardships of many) and the post industrial revolution era's.
I believe this is much like the "Green Movement" of current. When masses of people are challenged, great things happen. The increased focus on renewable energies such as Solar Power, Fossil Fuel alternatives such as Bio Diesel. And although as members of this great country we don't individually have a lot of disposable income right now to spend on "greening" our lives. The eco friendly movement carries on and companies at all levels are working to come up with ways to make great products that improve not only our lives but more importantly our environment!
So on this day, as my great grandma would say, remember good things are happening and everything will be ok! (Thanks Nana!)
Before we countdown the top 10 ways to green your life, I'd like to welcome Greenandmore.com to the Maku furniture family. The Green and more crew has tons of great ways to green your life!
So lets get to the countdown of the top 10 ways to Green your life (inexpesively)
10. Replace your lightbulbs with newer ones that use less energy and last longer.
9. Look at your watering habits throughout your yard. Is water running off or are sprinklers hitting the sidewalk or street? Believe it or not the majority of home water consumption is spent on the lawn... Check those sprinklers - save water and save money!
8. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle those cans and plastics so they are reintroduced back into the supply chain. This does lower the cost on goods as recycled technology continues to improve.
7. Use only the lights you need to in your house or office. If you aren't in the room, turn em' off or better yet get your company to buy these.
6. Plant a tree!
5. Switch to eco friendly soaps and personal care products
4. Unplug your life - Americans pay $1 billion a year to power our televisions and VCRs while they're turned off.
3.Get rid of Junk mail - Get off those catalog lists and the countless catalogs you look at once and then pitch. Instead Get on line and use the World Wide Web to reduce deforestation. Heck isn't that why Al Gore invented the internet...(hahaha)
2. Reusable Bags
and for the number 1 way to green your life, feel better, and get in shape (Drum roll please!)
*** Park the car and ride your bike to work 1 day a week. As spring approaches it's a great way to reduce emissions and get back in shape for summer!***
I'm off to enjoy a beer and a shot of Irish whiskey in honor of my great grandma. So today on this wonderful St. Paddy's day 2009 I leave you with this limerick of limericks:
"The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical!"
March 17th is a special day for me as it is my great grandmothers birthday. All though she passed some years back today she would be 111, born in 1898.
Nana was a great woman who grew up during the great depression and dustbowl days of the early 1900's. No matter what, she always had a great outlook because she had seen so much and been through so much.
I think there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn from yesteryear to now. Certainly the economic conditions are an easy one. As well as the drought many western states are seeing right now.
But also, there was this little thing going on back then called The Industrial Revolution. Although it was near the end if not the end of the Industrial revolution by the late 1800's and as the great depression began to take hold. People looked back to the ways they had lived prior to Industry and the technology taking over.
More specifically, people looked back to their environment and started to realize the damage and destruction that had taken place on the precious natural resources of our country.
The result? The birth of the environmental movement.
Early on in 1848, Henry David Thoreau published his book Walden. As you may recall, it told of Thoreau's two-year living experiment in the woods near Walden Pond. Shortly after, John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892. Two decades later William Hornaday published "Our Vanishing Wildlife" in 1913. Prompted by the incredible decimation of the American Buffalo this book was truly one of the first to shed light on the subject and the loss of certain species throughout the plains of America West.
So what am I getting at here? You can look at history and say that some incredible things spurred out of the great depressions(despite incredible hardships of many) and the post industrial revolution era's.
I believe this is much like the "Green Movement" of current. When masses of people are challenged, great things happen. The increased focus on renewable energies such as Solar Power, Fossil Fuel alternatives such as Bio Diesel. And although as members of this great country we don't individually have a lot of disposable income right now to spend on "greening" our lives. The eco friendly movement carries on and companies at all levels are working to come up with ways to make great products that improve not only our lives but more importantly our environment!
So on this day, as my great grandma would say, remember good things are happening and everything will be ok! (Thanks Nana!)
Before we countdown the top 10 ways to green your life, I'd like to welcome Greenandmore.com to the Maku furniture family. The Green and more crew has tons of great ways to green your life!
So lets get to the countdown of the top 10 ways to Green your life (inexpesively)
10. Replace your lightbulbs with newer ones that use less energy and last longer.
9. Look at your watering habits throughout your yard. Is water running off or are sprinklers hitting the sidewalk or street? Believe it or not the majority of home water consumption is spent on the lawn... Check those sprinklers - save water and save money!
8. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle those cans and plastics so they are reintroduced back into the supply chain. This does lower the cost on goods as recycled technology continues to improve.
7. Use only the lights you need to in your house or office. If you aren't in the room, turn em' off or better yet get your company to buy these.
6. Plant a tree!
5. Switch to eco friendly soaps and personal care products
4. Unplug your life - Americans pay $1 billion a year to power our televisions and VCRs while they're turned off.
3.Get rid of Junk mail - Get off those catalog lists and the countless catalogs you look at once and then pitch. Instead Get on line and use the World Wide Web to reduce deforestation. Heck isn't that why Al Gore invented the internet...(hahaha)
2. Reusable Bags
and for the number 1 way to green your life, feel better, and get in shape (Drum roll please!)
*** Park the car and ride your bike to work 1 day a week. As spring approaches it's a great way to reduce emissions and get back in shape for summer!***
I'm off to enjoy a beer and a shot of Irish whiskey in honor of my great grandma. So today on this wonderful St. Paddy's day 2009 I leave you with this limerick of limericks:
"The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical!"
Monday, March 9, 2009
Plastiki
From JUNK to PLASTIKI, the voyages of these courageous captains in an effort to raise awareness on plastic in our oceans is nothing short of spectacular!
I've made a few posts in the past about JUNK's travels across the pacific from So.Cal to Hawaii. Now David de Rothschild is going to sail a boat made entirely of plastic bottles with a P.E.T. outer shell 12000 nautical miles from San Francisco all the way to Australia! The voyage is taking inspiration from Thor Heyerdal's 1947 expedition - Kontiki.
PLASTIKI is set to sail in April of this year!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Rise Above Plastics
Check it out, Rise Above Plastics is a site all about the awareness of the effects plastic has on our lives. Since Rise Above Plastics luanched thier website over 11 BILLION plastic bottles have ended up in landfills... YIKES!You've probably read here in the past about the North Pacific Gyre and the Blob of plastic floating in the Pacific that is 2 times bigger than Texas.
Rise Above Plastics is supported by everybody from the Surfrider Foundation and Jack Johnson (who we really dig!) to the Algalita Foundation, Heal the Bay, Junkraft, and a whole bunch of other really cool people.
How are you going to reduce your plastic usage? A couple of easy ways are to get your own reusable bags for those trips to the grocer and a cool Sigg Water bottle!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Maku Furniture featured on The Alternative Consumer
One of our favorite sites The Alternative Consumer featured a few Maku Furniture pieces on their site over the weekend. The Maku Sectional, Maku Lounge Chair, and Maku Coffee table were all pictured in a great little blurb about how we use 100% reclaimed wood in our furniture. And by the way that's Pro Surfer and Maku Lifestyle Ambassador Rizal Tanjung chilling on the lounge chair pictured.
Thanks for the support A.C. crew!
Click here to check it out!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Structured Green - The Creative Gale, Savannah
Mike and crew are hosting in their store a cool entrepreneurial support event with The Creative Gale. So if your in Savannah, an entrepreneur, or just want to meet some very cool people check it out!
The Creative Gale, this Thursday March 5 at 3:00pm, will be held at the wonderful Structured Green!
A great group of speakers will be coming:
Jamie Wolf – The Creative Coast Alliance
Chris Miller – illuminomics
Nathan Belzer — Belzer Law
Brian OliverSmith — Urban Planet Mobile
Blaz Ruzic -Structured Green
Ray Wenig - Ariel Savannah Angel Partners
We're excited to meet all of the talented, connected people who are attending.Anyone can attend this Entrepreneurial Support Infrastructure event. Just register online at this link: http://creativegale.net/savannah
Butts at the Beach
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people throw their cigarette butts out the window. Be it on the highway, in a neighborhood and especially on the beach.
Cigarette butts are the #1 item found in urban run off pollution throughout Southern California. If you smoke, hold on to your butts. If you don't smoke, even better!
As a member of 1% For the Planet we donate a portion of our total sales to our friends at The Surfrider Foundation. They just came out with a cool little PSA on you tube about cigarette butts.
Cigarette butts are the #1 item found in urban run off pollution throughout Southern California. If you smoke, hold on to your butts. If you don't smoke, even better!
As a member of 1% For the Planet we donate a portion of our total sales to our friends at The Surfrider Foundation. They just came out with a cool little PSA on you tube about cigarette butts.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Labyrinth of the Sand People.
One of the things I love about living near the beach is that sometimes you still see some "funky" stuff despite the commercialization that is now Southern California. It's nice to know that North County still seems to have a bit of that "funk" especially in Leucadia.
On the occasional low tide afternoons through out the year and particularly as we enter the vernal equinox I'll see the sand people creating their "sand art". Not sandcastles mind you but very cool and intricate designs in the sand.
It turns out this particular "labyrinth" is designed to bring peace and tranquility to those enjoying it. It was also built in celebration of one of the sand people's birthdays. The results were funky crystals, the beat of drums, and dancing through the labyrinth.
Good to see people going to the beat of their own drum still, Keep it funky Leucadia!
(sorry for the poor photo quality, I took these with my iphone since I didn't have my camera with me...)
On the occasional low tide afternoons through out the year and particularly as we enter the vernal equinox I'll see the sand people creating their "sand art". Not sandcastles mind you but very cool and intricate designs in the sand.
It turns out this particular "labyrinth" is designed to bring peace and tranquility to those enjoying it. It was also built in celebration of one of the sand people's birthdays. The results were funky crystals, the beat of drums, and dancing through the labyrinth.
Good to see people going to the beat of their own drum still, Keep it funky Leucadia!
(sorry for the poor photo quality, I took these with my iphone since I didn't have my camera with me...)
Friday, February 27, 2009
Even more Custom love... - Vernare
Check out this rad little custom dining table that just arrived for our top retail partner in LA - Vernare. As with all Maku Furniture pieces this table and chairs is made from 100% reclaimed / repurposed wood. Meaning no live trees are cut down to make our furniture. The wood we use comes from buildings that are being renovated or torn down. Leaving more trees to clean the air and less junk in landfills. sounds like a win win!
We shot these photos in the garden right outside their showroom in the heart of west hollywood just off Melrose. It's such a cool little tranquil getaway that you would never know you are smack in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world...
We shot these photos in the garden right outside their showroom in the heart of west hollywood just off Melrose. It's such a cool little tranquil getaway that you would never know you are smack in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world...
Monday, February 23, 2009
Evo Lofts L.A. - More Custom pieces...?
As you may have read at the end of last summer, we did a number of custom table tops for the Evo Lofts in downtown L.A. The Evo Lofts are the premier Eco friendly lofts in So.Cal with not only amazing views and archictecture but they also have LEED Silver certification.
From time to time I like to analyze the metrics of our little furniture project to see who is checking us out and looking at the Maku Furniture website. I continue to see that a lot of you are interested in the Evo Lofts. If you are fortunate enough to live in one of these beautiful buildings and would like to compliment your space with some amazing and sustainable furniture than look no further than our DEZINE partner in LA. Dan and his crew can not only offer you a myriad of eco friendly accessories to beautify your space but they can also design anything custom than you may want for the inside or out! Click here to contact DEZINE LA!
From time to time I like to analyze the metrics of our little furniture project to see who is checking us out and looking at the Maku Furniture website. I continue to see that a lot of you are interested in the Evo Lofts. If you are fortunate enough to live in one of these beautiful buildings and would like to compliment your space with some amazing and sustainable furniture than look no further than our DEZINE partner in LA. Dan and his crew can not only offer you a myriad of eco friendly accessories to beautify your space but they can also design anything custom than you may want for the inside or out! Click here to contact DEZINE LA!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Search...
I found this cool little video from my friends at Boardistan via the LA Times. This vid truly gets to the roots of why we as surfers travel to every imaginable corner of the earth in Search of the next rush or the next great wave.
By the way, another double surf session for me today. Surfing with my buddies this morning and then my son this afternoon. What a great way to spend a Saturday!
By the way, another double surf session for me today. Surfing with my buddies this morning and then my son this afternoon. What a great way to spend a Saturday!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What? Reclaimed Wood Candle Holders by Maku...!
The ultimate accessory to your organic living space: Dinner by candlelight, aromatherapy, indoor or out, relaxing transcendence of visual fluxuations...
The Mod Pillar Candle Block and the Obelisk Candle Block are the newest additions to the Maku Collection. Just like every piece in our collection, the candle blocks are hand made of 100% re-purposed / reclaimed teak from Indonesian architecture of yesteryear...
The Mod Pillar Candle Block Set is available as pictured below or with the Maku Frangipani Carving that was found on the Maku Limited Edition Lounge chair from last season.
But wait there's more! the Maku Obelisk Candle Block pictured below is available in 3 different lengths (8", 16", 31") with or without carvings.
Check out the Maku Website to order yours today and be the first on your block to have this very cool eco-friendly accessory! By the way FREE SHIPPING on all Domestic orders!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Everything Green Oregon Expo
If you are up in the NW and happen to be in Portland this weekend, stop by the Everything Green Expo and see our good friend Dennis Rose from Eclectic Home. Dennis will be showing a bunch of very cool eco friendly furnishings for indoors and out. (including a few Maku pcs!)
Better yet, pick up an organic mattress from Eclectic Home and break it right for Valentines Day...!
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