Wow-alicious green gifts upcycled by Ex Libris Anonymous

Jacob Deatherage founded a clever company that saved my skin many times over a decade of holidays – letting me serve up clever gifts that are useful, affordable and green.

Espresso machine single serving coffee pods – those fairly newfangled units of specialty grinds – let you be your own barrista. Pop one in your countertop brewing unit and in seconds have a perfect cup of coffee.

Laurie recycles a Jordanian political poster into a handbag. Here’s how she does it. Voting is underway for Jordan’s Parliament. I’m not running, but I have this one in the bag! Hundreds of posters are hanging along Amman roadways; a somber assemblage of Middle Eastern manhood, mostly mustachioed. No wonder there’s tension in the lead-up […]

For those times when you can’t use electronic delivery methods and just need those paper products, eco-friendly suppliers like Flyerzone come in handy. As much as we may try to avoid the need for paper products (or find creative ways to reuse paper), sometimes you just need to get something printed on good old-fashioned paper. […]

Yesterday’s news finds new use in Tal Gur’s Daily Chair. The chair is perhaps the most culturally ubiquitous form of furniture, and so it is no wonder that so many designers try to put their own spin on it. Among local environmentally-friendly designers we have already seen Junktion’s upcycled bicycle and window shade chairs, Amir […]

She’s got the “green” ring. Guess who is the lucky man. It’s the sort of news to inspire eco-fashionistas: Natalie Portman, vegan shoe wearer, Golden-Globe winner and star of Black Swan, is wearing an engagement ring that embodies the essence of eco-friendly bling. According to reports, the custom-designed ring by Jamie Wolf is an antique […]

United Arab Emirates To Be Plastic-Free By 2013

The UAE is well on its way to rid the country of plastic bags by 2013, said Dr Rashid Ahmed bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water. Here's the 4 phase plan of how they intend to do that.

In the absence of all the trees burnt during the recent Carmel fire in Israel, a Christmas tree made from 5,480 plastic bottles stands tall in Haifa. The city of Haifa, in northern Israel, has Jewish, Christian, Baha’i and Muslim residents, and so many religious holidays are celebrated there. In honor of the upcoming Christmas […]

Eran talks about popularizing metal recycling in Israel and other Koala Recycling Solutions projects. After excitedly learning a few weeks ago that a new organization, Koala Recycling Solutions, was tackling the metal recycling issue in Israel, we decided to get in touch with its CEO, Eran Hilerowicz, to learn more. Here’s what he had to […]

Modest moms don’t need expensive new breastfeeding covers, with all the green choices available. While it’s not difficult to breastfeed modestly in public, many women in the Middle East prefer to wear a breastfeeding cover. And a range of companies will be happy to sell you a new one. But there is a greener way: […]

A simple, free cover for spices and grains bought loose in the store or market I often buy spices, grains and legumes in plastic bags at the market. But it’s hard to keep the bags closed properly, and the contents often spill out into the drawer or freezer. This wastes precious food, and leaves a […]

Koala Recycling Solutions, the only Israeli company offering collection and recycling of metal packaging from consumers, tells us what we can and should be recycling. If you’ve ever made yourself a tuna fish sandwich in Israel, you may have had some green guilt when the time came to toss out the can. Until now, the […]

Check out Merav Feiglin’s Trashlights, mosaics, and other recycled material artwork between August 25th-27th. When Tel Aviv does something, sooner or later everyone else wants to do it too. For years Tel Aviv has devoted one weekend a year to celebrating its architecture, putting on a “Houses from Within” festival. (In recent years the festival […]

Islamic wall art and greeting cards, with religious intonations in line with green values in Islam. Sakina Design‘s logo is green not only because the company creates Islamic design and green is an important color for Islam. Their logo is green because they are an environmentally conscious business… for partially religious reasons. The husband and […]

Recycled owls are a hoot. Win one in this Green Prophet giveaway. Conveying a wise message of reuse that suits their owl-like form, Inbal Weisman’s fabric owls are made exclusively out of upcycled fabric and buttons. Hoot! She sources her materials from a variety of sources, including the open trading market at Nahalal, her grandmother’s […]

Apparently if you put your mind to it, you can recycle any kind of material. This Green Prophet had never heard of recycling silver, but thankfully it is not a foreign concept to jewelry designers who use it everyday and who don’t want to let any resource go to waste. Like Lily (or Lilyja) who […]

Tel Aviv’s port (or “namal”) has in recent years become a trendy hot spot. A little too trendy. And often their trendiness does not go hand in hand with eco-friendliness. But sometimes it does, like with their (too chic and elitist for some) farmer’s market and, this month, with their Pop-Up Design Store, Rafsoda. Rafsoda […]

It’s not every day that you come across something called a “Feminist Woman Eco Art Doll” – whether you’re looking on Etsy or elsewhere. But for Dria Peterson, its creator, it is only natural. Because why wouldn’t you make new things out of recycled and vintage fabrics, and reclaimed handspun sheep’s wool? Oh, and did […]

You’ve selected your gift (which is hopefully local, handmade, and made out of sustainable materials), you’ve written a card (hopefully on recycled paper), but the presentation still needs that extra touch? KAPARA (also known as Viktoria Slutsky), runs a cute little shop on Etsy that specializes in upcycled paper gift tags. When you are making […]

Walking the streets of any modern city, you are likely to encounter wasted materials. Materials that – with a little imagination, skill, and love – could be transformed into something beautiful and new. Materials are thankfully being snatched up by design studios all over Tel Aviv in order to recycle and reclaim them. Some of […]

Whether we like it or not, many of us get bombarded with junk mail. And try as we might to remove ourselves from junk mail lists, unsubscribe, plead with the postman… somehow it just keeps trickling in. This project will give some of the paper in your junk mail pile one more use before it […]

Think Again is a series that provides fun ideas for how to reuse items in your home that you would normally throw out or recycle. Reusing is higher on the “green” food chain than recycling, because getting another use out of an object is always more effective than spending the energy to recycle it. Plus, […]

If asked whether the glass is half empty or half full, we’re pretty sure that Israeli artist Cecilia Cohen would say full. Full of possibilities. A self-described “mother earth type”, Cecilia has always been conscious of her impact on the environment and is the kind of person “who worries about the survival of coral and […]

[/caption] Here on Green Prophet we love to hear about green design. In the world of green furniture design we’ve already covered Green Lullaby, which makes cribs, doll houses and doll cradles for kids out of recycled cardboard paper. But now there’s a new recycled cardboard furniture design company in town and they’re making furniture […]