ECO PRODUCT: biodegradable wipes

$Method\'s bathroom wipes$ WE, AT LITTLEBIG, have a secret addiction of which we’re quite ashamed. We’re wipe addicts. It starts off innocently enough. Baby’s bum is cleaner on the go thanks to a packet of wipes stashed in the handbag. Then you notice those wipes clean the changing mat beautifully, get killer stains out of carpets and rugs, remove spots of staining juice / vomit / felt tip pen out of clothes (your own and your babe’s). Brad Pitt even claims to use them to refresh his, erm, pits. And then, all of a sudden, it hits you, you’re addicted. Despite the fact your son is 3 years old, you still carry a packet of wipes around for ‘emergencies’ - which include cleaning cafe tables before you sit down - and playground swing seats.

The guilty part? Most wipes aren’t biodegradable or anything like it. The supermarket own-brand varieties might be the best at stain-removing, but they’re essentially plastic, non-eco, poison for the environment and your toilet/plumbing if you flush. Whilst we should all quite clearly be using water and washable cloths where possible in lieu of wipes, thankfully there are a growing number of biodegradable alternatives - and ones that are just as effective at cleaning.

Method’s Flushable Bathroom Wipes, £3.50 in the UK at www.methodproducts.co.uk, aren’t baby bottom friendly, but they are intended to mop up toddler toilet spills, and are made from a biodegradable pulp. Nature Babycare’s bio wipes are biodegradable (made from sustainable beechwood sources) - see www.naty.com for stockists, as are Mio’s wipes, £1.50 for 40 in the UK from www.bumpto3.com, which are also flushable (see www.bambinomio.com for international stockists). And we’ve only recently discovered, but really like, Mothercare’s biodegradable, organic wipes which feature 15 per cent cotton, so they’re more like a cloth than a wipe, and are therefore gentler on tiny baby bottoms.

Happy (guilt-free) cleaning.

Posted 9 June 2009 in Products

TOP FIVE: cot beds

$Sebra\'s Kily in white$ By Christine Samuelian

AS ANY NEW parent will attest, the biggest challenge is to get your baby to sleep. At all. To make things easier (at least psychologically) it’s worth investing in a beautiful cot or cotbed, preferably one that grows with the child. Plus, with the bed most likely being the biggest lump of furniture in the baby’s room, it’s wise to buy stylishly.

$IKEA\'s Leksvig$ Best for value: IKEA’s Leksvig cot is simple in design and construction but will fit into both modern houses and well as more ornate ones. One side of the bed can be removed when the child is ready to climb in and out on his/her own. And, as with everything at IKEA, the price is more than fair. £73.40. www.ikea.com

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Posted 19 May 2009 in Furniture

TREND: retro robots

By Jenny Dalton

SERIOUSLY, when my mother was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, she and countless others genuinely believed they’d be being served by robots around now - such was the hype surrounding post-war robotics technology.

And yet, despite constant and impressive developments, we seem further and further away from living the techno-servant dream. At the same time, we seem loathe to let go of the vintage robot aesthetic of half a century ago - even though the look has been very definitely superseded by today’s quest for near-human robots.

For Clifford Richards, who came to the fore of graphic design in the 1960s, the appeal of such robot aesthetics has never dated. “My robot designs are inspired by Japanese clockwork tin toys of the 50s and 60s. I have a small collection of them plus some more recent examples in plastic. They have an endearingly clumsy human quality that I find quite irresistible - and they’re great fun to do!” Richards’ work on a robotic tip includes mugs for Big Tomato Company, signature graphic identity for the Museum of Childhood in London and a new collection of robot metal clocks, pictured left, coming soon from The Original Metal Box Co. As far as possible he’s kept the clocks industrial and fairly ‘raw’ looking (so be warned, they’re not to play with) to mimic the age and patina of his tin toy collection. Read the rest of this article

Posted 19 May 2009 in Decor

THE CHAIR: the Parupu

AMIDST ALL THE excitement, hype, paninis, bellinis and footsoreness that are guaranteed at the Milan Furniture Fair this week, there’s a chair to look out for that’s already of note. Chairs are two a penny at each year’s fair, but this one is a little special - and it’s for kids.

The Parupu stands out not just because it has been designed by Scandinavia’s design royalty, Claesson Koivisto Rune, and not just because it’s made from eco wood pulp provided by manufacturer Södra. It’s super cute too, and is already up there with Enzo Mari’s Seggiolina Pop for Magis as a kids’ chair that ticks all the right boxes: great colour palette, so light the kids can move it themselves (or create houses and play structures), super sturdy and user-friendly. Plus it’s stackable and biodegradable. Read the rest of this article

Posted 21 April 2009 in Furniture

TOP SIX: rugs

$Katvig\'s new rugs range$ EVER SINCE EDGE TO EDGE carpets fell out of fashion in the mid 90s in favour of modern floorboards, rugs have come into their own. The choices for kids, however, haven’t been too exciting until recently - something ege, the super-cool Danish carpet manufacturers, who have worked with the likes of Conran & Partners and Christian Lacroix, is addressing with the help of Katvig, the eco-conscious Danish fashion and home textiles company. Together they’ve launched a new range of rugs (pictured left) with Katvig’s signature bold, graphic motifs, that have, in the words of Svend Aage Færch Nielsen, Managing Director of ege carpets, “a clear attitude to design and the environment.”