Biophiliacs & aesthetes both will appreciate this beautifully implemented living wall at NRDC’s Washington office, via a Living Principles article by Kaid Benfield. 

Plants in living spaces boast a healthy (no pun intended) list of health & wellness benefits. Indoor air pollution, for example: plants have been proven to reduce volatile organic compounds like benzene, toluene, and xylene. NASA even uses plants for this purpose.

A University of Agriculture in Norway study indicates that indoor plants “reduce fatigue, coughs, sore throats and other cold-related illnesses by more than 30 percent, partially by increasing humidity levels and decreasing dust.” (Sixwise) In a corporate setting, Rehabilitation Literature, reports “a manufacturing company integrated plants into its office so that no employee would be more than 45 feet from greenery. The result? Company administrators said they noticed enhanced creativity and increased productivity in employees.”

Pretty awesome. The best part is that companies (like the outstandingly curated A+R) offer accessible and affordable ways to construct a personal living wall. The best part is that these systems are modular and can conform to virtually any wall size, indoor and out. Beautiful & healthy — what more could you ask for? 

Shop here.

Flexible molded LEDs and magnets? Color insulating coating? Sound damping paint? Shape memory polymer?

If you are a creative who enjoys working with your hands and creating, Inventables just might be your next favorite online shop.

(The pictured product is, of course, modeling silicone - sugru, a modeling clay that cures to a tough flexible silicone when exposed to the air.)

“My motto,” he says, “is ‘help to self-help.’ You have to have a dream, start small, and believe.” - Diébédo Francis Kéré, African-born architect Francis Kéré gets big results by mixing a little mud with a lot of heart

I love two things about design, good design, specifically.

1. Seeing how designers (regardless of discipline) provide practical solutions to problems without resorting to frippery. This is design with integrity. 
2. How designers use design to add viable value to [their] communities (socially and ecologically, and in every other way possible), proving the relevance and importance of design on a global scale.

The above photo and quote, are snippets from an incredible Fast Company magazine article about design from Diébédo Francis Kéré that accomplishes everything “good” design embodies.