Green’s not only profitable, but also a must-have in high-concept design, judging from the crowded CA Boom 4: The West Coast Independent Design Show I biked to yesterday.
Eco-options popped up in every little exhibit section of CA Boom. The prefab zone showcased green companies like LivingHomes and OMD (Office of Modern Design), for example.
New this year: A modern parenting zone, which I practically ran through but managed to snap this pic of ducduc (left), which makes its furnishings with sustainably harvested hardwoods and non-VOC lacquer paints.
I found out about Kirei boards — a panel product made of the post-harvest stalks of the Sorghum plant. These are panels are not ready-made products for the consumer, but perhaps something to keep in mind if you’re remodeling your house.
Lots of designs are consumer-ready though, and you can actually buy them in LA — for a helluva lot of cash. For example:

Plushpod offers some of the pretty stuff you see on Treehugger in its LA store. You can pick up this Signature 2.0 Cabinet, made of organic kirei board, for just a few grand.
Viesso, a green-furniture company that can custom-make — in just 3 weeks — your sofas and tables from eco-harvested wood, bamboo, and eco-fabrics and filling, has a showroom in Santa Monica. Cost of the 36″ chair (left): From $655.
So if you’re looking for eco-furniture that’s affordable, I suggest you buy secondhand –
Now, for more affordable stuff: epOxyBox and epOxyGreen, a new store in Venice offering both sustainable building and decor and furnishings, staked out a large section in the back corner of the show. Drop by and pick up everything from clothes to little cushions –
And if you hate packaging, check out the lite2go, a lil lamp whose packaging becomes the lampshade. lite2go’s made by Knoend, an eco-design company, and costs just $38 on its website.
[more pics from the show here]
