My visit to Ecobuild 2011

This was my third or fourth visit to Ecobuild, and I must admit I had to push myself to go. First of all, it was cold outside, a freezing wind, but more than that I had heard from twitter friends that there was so much green washing going on out there, that I was sighing in despair, reading them... Anyway, I had to go and I went!

Ecobuild, the name of such a show raises your expectations as you think you are going to see truly green, eco-friendly, environmentally responsible products... But I am not sure this is what I have seen there for the last few years. Of course, you can argue that I am a difficult customer and that always ask many questions, that one might call challenging, or say that I am going too far into the environmental philosophy. But, this is me and I like to make sure that I fully understand why and how a product is really, or not eco-friendly.

This first photograph was taken today at Ecobuild, and is far from summarizing the whole show.

One of the first things I stopped to look at were not all the solar panels that are taking a lot of space in the show, nor the different boiler and other energy efficient devices, but the green roofs and green walls.

I have to admit that I love the green roofs and other green walls that can be installed inside or outside the house. They both are hopefully going to take a bigger place in our landscape and interiors, and help us breathing better. All sorts of plants can be used in a very pretty way.

The passive house were also present at the show, which was a very good thing to see, as until recently the concept of passive house wasn't very well know in this country, even though well experienced in Germany and even France.

This model was at the Passivhaus design solution stand. Lovely house!

Other interesting objects were at Ecobuild, including this bicycle holder, or shall I say this bicycle stand where you can safely attach your bicycle, which leaves you to hope that the bike will still be there when you come back. Very interesting stand, I

must say, and probably a good use of plastic... It is said to be made of recycled material and to be recyclable as well. (www.cyclepods.com)

Now, I have a question: look at the following photo and try to guess what it is. Don't cheat!!

Did you guess? No. So look at the following one, it is the same thing.

Yes, I know, difficult. It took me a little while to understand what I had in front of me.

Yes, radiators! Funky, aren't they?! Yes, they are very nice and I can see how we can use them easily, instead of the old boring radiators that we have to hide behind a casing. Now my question, is why do they show such a design radiator to a show called EcoBuild... I am not sure. Well, we forgive them, just because the radiators are unusual and beautiful. (www.jaga.co.uk)

As you have understood, when I go to Ecobuild I am looking for the little gems that are hiding in the middle of the big green washing fair... and it is not an easy task. But I have found another interesting object, made in Latvia. You can say (and I hear you from here) that this is not locally sourced, I agree, but I loved this chair. It is made from an ancient model that was made more than 150 years ago, and is all in wood and plywood for the details on the seat. To go with the chair there was that lovely quilt made out of wool contained in a linen cover. It was light and very warm, a very comfortable and soothing warmth. (www.formatika.lv)

And I want to finish with two interesting product. One is made of recycled plastic and the other of coffee ground. Let's start with the plastic one. These sheets more or less rigid are made of recycled plastic. Some are made of wellington boots, other of household bottled, cds... They all have a story, which makes them all even more interesting.

I specially was attracted by the one featured on the following photo, made of car headlamps. It makes a lovely translucent material in which another waste was added: broken £10 note that were going to be burnt. So you can see (pieces of) the head of the queen here and there... (www.smile-plastics.co.uk)

This table is made of coffee ground, gathered from local cafes. You can use the coffee sheets in different way and have your very special coffee table made. (www.re-worked.co.uk)

This show is far too big to talk about it all, you probably need the full three days to have a complete visit. I have only talked about products that I found a bit different and liked, and I hope you have enjoyed my visit as well!


Emmanuelle Lemoine