I am always energized by the bi-annual Javits Center show that features a staggering array of products for the home, lifestyle and gift. My favorite floor includes the global handmade objects that attest to creativity, cultural diversity, passion and pride. One of my favorite booths this year showcased these marvelous solar lights that, seriously, can change the world. And they are beautifully designed.
The majority of the world needs to have light, which is one of the most basic and fundamental human needs. It is still astounding that 1.6 billion people today do not have access to safe and sustainable light and rely on kerosene to light their world at night. The absence of light for the majority of the world’s population has had catastrophic ramifications on our local and global environment, and so we are all interconnected through light and, also, though the absence of it.
The SolarPuff is a little lantern with a HUGE impact invented by Alice Min Soo Chun. It is a patented solar flatpack + origami expandable lantern designed with high performance fabric material that is specifically engineered for durability, flexibility and adaptability. It is waterproof, and it is the lightest solar lantern on the market.
http://www.solight-design.com/
Since 2007, when fashion designer and philanthropist Donna Karan founded the Urban Zen Foundation, an inspiringly beautiful holiday market appears at 705 Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan. Each year, Karan creates a marketplace that combines humanitarianism with consumerism, promoting shopping with a purpose. The Foundation is dedicated to three initiatives: preservation of culture (past); bringing mind, body and spirit to healthcare (present); education (future.) The opening last night featured more than 40 artisans from countries as diverse as Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, India, South Africa and Mexico, artisans that exhibit at the International Folk Art Market in the Southwest each summer. The space is the perfect venue in which to display fabrics and objects, photographs and fashion in such a way that they - and you - feel instantly at home.
Of particular beauty were the feather light shrugs, coats and jackets of Farzana Sharshenbieva from Kyrgyzstan; the magnificently, finely tie dyed bandhani silk scarves of Gujarati Abduljabbar Khatri; the sensuous Zulu pots of Jabulile Nala whose mother is considered a national treasure. I adored the heavy, indigo dyed raw cotton jackets of Laotian Boukhong Signavong that greet you as you enter this magical space.
There is nothing more healing, nothing more inspiring, nothing more warming than to be in the presence of passionate artisans who draw beauty from their souls to share it with others. It was hard to leave Urban Zen last night, so hard, in fact, that I shall return tomorrow."
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