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 by aleida, on March 25th, 2010 
Our recent trip to Florida proved the perfect opportunity to visit the showroom of Matrix Z, LLC. and meet the artist behind the company. Based in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Matrix Z was founded in 2001 by Barbara Zigann with the intent to create a sustainable alternative to quarried natural stone. Since then she has developed three lines, one a jewelry collection, with strong usage of recycled material.
The current collections are:
- SeaStone: tiles made from a proprietary cementitious mixture that incorporates 70% to 75% recycled content.
- SeaTile: tiles and laminates made from oyster and abalone shells recovered from the waste byproducts of the fishing industry.
- SeaGems: iridescent jewelry and craft assemblies using the same fishing industry byproducts.
For our purposes, we were most interested in the SeaStone collection. At first glance, it is easy to look at the tiles and think that they were mined. Their color is so natural, and the variation from tile to tile so evident, that it makes perfect sense to believe they are a completely nature-made creation. But they are not. Even though during our visit we were not able to tour the manufacturing facility, it lies within miles of the showroom, and it is the place where all of these materials are created.
Read more on tour: Matrix Z 
by kevin, on March 24th, 2010 
During our time in Phoenix AZ for the 2009 Greenbuild Expo we spent some time with Kirei USA Marketing Coordinator Teresa Cooney. Our conversation with her became one of our first in the stories of sustainability series (posted here). Back in January we did a day trip to San Diego for a US Green Building Council San Diego chapter GreenMeet event and were able to spend some time with Kirei USA founder and CEO John Stein at his Solana Beach office. One thing that strikes you right away when arriving is how casual and laid back the entire neighborhood is. Probably in part due to the proximity to the ocean, but Kirei USA is located in an interesting warehouse building on the edge of town filled with artists and other cutting edge businesses. It has a very alternative lifestyle communal vibe to it.
Enter the front door at John’s office and you are immediately met with the tools from one of his competing passions – surfing. Immediately to the left is a rack of wet suits and boards ready to be used at a moments notice. In fact, John tells us that it’s not uncommon for he or someone else at the office to go surfing every day. The space is much smaller than we we expect, and we’re told that’s a common reaction. Although Kirei Board has become a very visible player in the sustainable building materials market, it doesn’t require a huge staff to maintain the operation. John and his crew are actually a small team who occupy the mezzanine while a friend who owns Empowered Energy Solutions uses the ground floor of their warehouse space. The office layout is very casual, with few walls, it’s open, primarily lit with daylight from a number of well placed skylights, and samples are everywhere you look.
Read more on tour: Kirei USA
by aleida, on March 22nd, 2010
Our tour of Vetrazzo’s Richmond, CA manufacturing facility (reviewed here) introduced us to more than just a fascinating industrial process. We also learned the story behind the product from Karen Righthand, VP of Marketing, and John Sabol, VP of Manufacturing.
It all started in the mid-90s on the campus of the [...]
by aleida, on March 19th, 2010
It is rare that we have the opportunity to travel to Florida, so when we were there late last month, we took advantage of our short time in Miami and reached out to Jennifer Ryan at Coverings Etc for a tour of the company’s facilities and showroom. We have long known about [...]
by aleida, on March 17th, 2010
Two-hundred years ago, about 80% of the U.S. population lived and worked on farms. Today, that same percentage of the population lives in cities. The urbanization process left a large number of farmhouses, barns, and other rural structures abandoned to the elements, and for at least the last four decades, there has [...]
by aleida, on March 11th, 2010
At the Los Angeles edition of Go Green Expo in late January, we learned of a Japanese wall covering just recently launched in the United States. Not long thereafter, Kevin and I were welcomed into the Orange, CA offices of Shikoku International Corp., the company that designed and still produces the product, [...]
by kevin, on March 8th, 2010
Our eighth class was our second field trip, this time to the Santa Monica showroom of Steelcase. My first experience with Steelcase dates back only five years. I was attending the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) Interiors 05 conference in Nashville TN and Steelcase was offering attendees a special deal on [...]
by kevin, on March 3rd, 2010
US Biobased Product Companies
On October 8 2009 President Obama issued Executive Order 13514 – Federal leadership In Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. The order sets new policy for the United States which requires all Federal agencies to “increase energy efficiency; measure, report, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from direct and [...]
by kevin, on February 22nd, 2010
The majority of our work is for national chains. It’s rare that we design a project in our home town of Los Angeles. That can be pretty exciting, but it can also keep you separated from your local community. That became glaringly obvious to me when I recently discovered a retail venue in my [...]
by kevin, on February 21st, 2010
For our seventh class, I again turned over lecture duties to the students. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the students will do three profile projects – one about materials and/or resources, one about companies and/or people, and one about certifications and/or labels. Last week they selected a company or person [...]
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