Oct 21, 2006

Eco-friendly becomes fashion friendly

By Catherine Nash

With its bright chartreuse walls and shelves piled high with beaded purses, colorful necklaces and wooden bowls, bazaar brazil resembles a chic, if not terribly unusual, boutique. But signs placed throughout the small Redwood City shop tell another story: all the products are eco-friendly designs created with sustainable natural resources.

Worldwide, more and more designers are going green. That means using organic, recycled and/or sustainably harvested materials, and avoiding unnatural dyes and pollutants. From silky sheets made of bamboo fiber to jewelry fashioned from melted-down gold, eco-friendly products are everywhere.

"Earth-friendly design started in the '70s, but there weren't lots of options," said Bonnie Dahan, author of "Garden House: Bringing the Outdoors In" and co-founder of VivaTerra, a San Rafael-based eco-living catalog. "In the last four years, it's picked up some steam. The design world is catching up with consumer demand."

According to the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic clothing and linens alone grew 44 percent last year. Jim Motavalli, editor of E/The Environmental Magazine, named personal and home fashion as some of the fastest-growing-niches in the green industry. "It's growing all the time, and it's going mainstream in a big way," he said.

Brazilian Mara Sallai opened bazaar brazil with partner and compatriot Bedy Yang in April. Though everything is eco-friendly, Sallai and Yang buy only what catches their eye. Even the most discriminating fashionistas would love the oversized "leather" purses that use natural latex from the rubber tree. Some styles are mixed with tweedy gray hemp, while others are lined in floral-patterned, organic cotton.

"It's like a gallery and a museum," said Mary Graczyk, a Redwood City resident who came in to buy a birthday gift for her husband and left with a slatted box made from the buriti tree. Like several of bazaar brazil's items, the box recently won an award for its earth-first design principles.

Sallai, a former television journalist, became interested in eco-friendly products a few years ago. She started selling body care products at the farmers market, but people were more interested in the recycled cardboard bowls she used to display her wares.

"My boyfriend said, 'Maybe you're trying to sell the wrong thing.' So we started looking for products that were creative and handmade," said Sallai.

While bazaar brazil focuses exclusively on Brazilian artisans, VivaTerra scours the globe to find green products that are esthetically pleasing. "You can surround yourself with beautiful products that are in harmony with nature, and not sacrifice a sense of style," said Dahan.

They sell naturally dyed Zulugrass jewelry from Kenya and scarves fashioned from the fabric scraps of Indian saris. There are also items for the home, like recycled glassware and reclaimed wood bowls. Along with innovative fabrics, recycled glass and sustainable wood are big industry trends right now.

Jewelry is another burgeoning sector of the green market. "A lot of it is being made from recycled materials or old jewelry," said Motavalli. He attributes this trend in part to a desire to avoid conflict diamonds, which have been used to fund bloody battles in places like Sierra Leone. "Instead of newly mined diamonds, you can use bottle caps."

At bazaar brazil, seeds collected from the Amazon rain forest floor are strung together in colorful necklaces. "Mateiros (foresters) recognize the seeds that fall on the floor that will not germinate. They don't affect the circle of life," Yang explained. The strands incorporate cream-colored acai and vibrant red tento seeds as well as jarina, a shiny stone popular in Brazil for its resemblance to ivory.

Eco-friendly design often goes hand in hand with other social values. "We try wherever possible to support fair trade. There is more humanity to an artisan-made product," said Dahan.

Most of bazaar brazil's crafts are made by disadvantaged Brazilians. "We get this directly from the people who do the job. There's no middleman," said Sallai, pointing to purses made of golden grass from the village of Jalapao. The impoverished villagers have been able to support themselves by using a previously unutilized natural resource.

Young girls at risk for prostitution crochet turtles, starfish and hearts for whimsical mobiles, while youth and adults with Down syndrome create coasters, placemats and trays from multicolored vines. "It's hard for them to be economically independent. This gives them financial independence and confidence," said Yang.