What are you clicking this week? My colleague Janet shared this video with me and now I’m dreaming of treehouses and visiting Whistler.

I’m also dreaming about fantastic topiaries, because The Aestate rounded up a fantastic group of them. Also, I watched a whodunit show this week where the culprit was a topiary gardener, SPOILER ALERT! I think it was on Bones. Anyway, here’s a favorite from her collection:

What to you think of this list of the top 10 world’s ugliest buildings? I agree with most of them, but I actually like the pixel building, even if it is a bit gimmicky.

Do you subscribe to Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle newsletter, GOOP? I totally dig it, and this week’s feature on Food Hero Seamus Mullen has me dreaming of chowing down on some shellfish this summer. Just curious – what do you think of GOOP?

What are you pinning this week? I haven’t had a spare second to Pinterest much this week, but I did find my pal Leah Hennen’s amazing Indigo Board and now it’s the only hue on my mind. It’s making my beige walls bum me out, in fact, so know that might happen if you have beige walls and you happen to check it out.

Note: In trying to track down the credit for this image, I ran into a dead end, so if you happen to recognize where it originated and who the photographer was, please let me know in the comments section so that I can add it.

What caught your eye online this week? Please share a link with us in the comments section. Have a great weekend everyone!

Hey All, today we’re chatting with Sharon Burdett, co-founder, along with Ted Burdett, of Strand Design. Thanks so much to Sharon for sharing a little more about how a career leads to designing furniture at your own company, choosing recycled and recyclable materials, producing goods locally, and hip-hop night in Florence …

Please tell me a bit about your background – what led you to creating Strand Design?

Strand Design was created out of our desire to work together on collaborative projects, and became an actual company three years ago when we both decided to pursue these collaborative projects on a full time basis.

The first project that we created together was a line of reclaimed vinyl bags that we called “Tree Theory.” We sourced almost all of the components from the waste stream, literally taking vinyl billboards out of the dumpster, and cutting seat belts out of cars in the junk yard. It was messy, and very fun. Since that project, we’ve continued to produce designs that utilize recycled materials, or can be recycled easily (i.e., no “monstrous hybrids”) but we don’t feel that the designs should have a specific “green” aesthetic; we want the designs to speak for themselves.

Strand Design Birdhouse Floor Lamp

What preceded the Strand Design phase of your lives?

Ted has been designing, creating, and making things from the moment he could hold a pencil in his hand (that the pencil was made from old-growth lumber would become an issue as his awareness of and love for the natural world matured).

Ted’s relentless curiosity, lust for life, and desire to create led to an equally curious education — anthropology, fine woodworking, and environmental ecology at The University of Wisconsin at Madison; dinner parties and hip-hop night at the Lorenzo de Medici Art Institute of Florence, Italy; and, finally, The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where he received his BFA in Industrial Design in 2004.

Ted’s design career began in soft goods at California Innovations’ Chicago office. There Ted was drawn deep into the world of product design on a massive scale, simultaneously enchanted and challenged by cost engineering and development trips overseas, high stakes design presentations for large retailers, and the ultimate challenge of trying to design products for six year old girls … luckily, there was foosball and the most amazing coworkers to help him cope with the stress.

In addition to his work at Strand, Ted is an instructor in Industrial Design at UIC. He loves it there.

Strand Design Better Dog Spotlight

As for myself, though fascinated by just about everything, a passion for writing and image-making led me to study graphic design over biochemistry, philosophy, psychiatry and poetry …

I received her undergraduate degree in graphic design from California College of the Arts in 2000, where I had the good fortune to learn from and work with some of the best designers in the profession. After graduating from CCA and working in The Bay Area for a few years, I headed back to Chicago to earn my MFA at The School of The Art Institute Chicago.

Before starting Strand with Ted in 2009, I worked as an in-house designer for the international fashion company Oilily, then at RGLA, one of the top retail design firms in the country, and I freelanced for several boutique design firms in San Francisco and Chicago.

When I’m not at Strand, I can be found practicing yoga, reading books, or eating chocolate. Sometimes all at once.

What’s your workspace like?

Our workspace is in an old warehouse in the west loop of Chicago. We are lucky to have a large amount of space, and we’ve been tweaking it continuously for the last three years. We have our prototype workshop in the basement of the building, our office on the ground floor, and our storage and assembly space on the top floor.

Tell us a bit about your neighborhood.

We absolutely love our neighborhood. It’s an exciting and almost bizarre mix of different businesses. The west loop is home to some of the most respected restaurants in the city, great galleries and boutiques, and packed in between all of these “tourist friendly” destinations are old meat packing shops and food wholesalers that have been around for decades. It inspires us both to think about how much the city changes, and how many layers of history are present simultaneously.

Strand Design Basket Lug Trug

Tell us a bit about designing sustainable products and some of the sustainable materials, processes and/or technologies you employ.

There are many reasons that we are committed to sustainability, and some of those reasons may not be as obvious at first as others. As designers of objects, we are certainly interested in reducing the environmental impact of the objects that we make, and this can be seen most clearly in our material choices.

• We use urban lumber or reclaimed lumber instead of wood from forests

• We use locally fabricated steel because of steel’s almost endless ability to be recycled,

• We use recycled rubber and recycled plastics.

• We also design our products with the intent that they can be disassembled into their component parts, which facilitates recycling as well as ease of repair.

Strand Design Eleven Side Table

In addition to our commitment to responsible sourcing of materials, we’re passionate about producing our designs locally. We work with local manufacturers, many of whom have been in business for decades, and the relationships that we have forged with these great local companies have a huge impact on the quality of our work. In addition to supporting the local economy, we truly believe that we can produce better products here.

Strand Design Tripod Table/Stool

Where did the name Strand Design come from?

The name Strand Design came from the very first collaborative project that Ted and I did together almost a decade ago. We were experimenting with carbon fiber jewelry, and the tiny fiber “strands” are just so amazing looking! The name just came from that moment of inspiration and we stuck with it.

What’s next for you and your company?

Slow and steady growth, and collaborations with other designers are on the horizon.

Thanks so much to Sharon Burdett for visiting with us today! Click here to see all of Strand Designs’s current line.

Thanks to everyone who has been posting their Design Public goodies in action around their own homes. I love these so much more than retail product shots; it shows how talented you all are and I’m nosy; I love getting a peek into your homes and lives this way. Here are a few ways you all are using Inhabit’s Wall Flats that caught my eye this week:

These Inhabit Wall Flats were posted by Lisa Choules, and because she posted this picture, I am suffering from an acute case of kitchen envy! So clean and white, full of style, and punched with color and mid-mod style in all the right ways. On the far left wall you can see the Drift Wall Flats adding just the right amount of texture, the perfect backdrop for her Nelson Pendant Lamp and Eames Eiffel Base Shell Chairs. Bravo!

Next we have this super hip and energetic nursery posted by Lori, who has used Seesaw Wall Flats to add dimension to the white wall in the room. I love the way she’s balanced white, hardwood floors and that brilliant green, and the birch trees are the perfect finishing touch. Isn’t it amazing how far nursery design has come in the past decade? Babies are growing up hipper than ever!

Want to explore all of the cool Wall Flats designs? Check them out here. Check out all of the Hot Design in Action here.  Want to share your own hot design in action? We don’t ask this without offering up a little enticement: Email us a photo of design in your home and get $10 off your next order. If your photo includes you or a friend in the shot you’ll be entered to win a monthly drawing for a $200 gift certificate!

I realized I have been neglecting my friend Flickr lately, which actually made it really fun to go back and catch up on all of the great photographs you all have been sharing in our Fresh New Spaces Group! Here is a small sample of the many that caught my eye.

This one was posted by Claudia of Twiggs Photography and it’s titled “stories from lisbon: landeau chocolate. I love the way this room has combined patinaed metals and woods against the white painted brick and those enviable industrial windows. It’s industrial yet warm, and the photography is stunning. In fact, at first I didn’t realize this was two pictures side by side at first glance; I thought it was all one room.

This photo was posted by tiffanycsteinke and it’s called “back porch furniture.” I love it’s retro grooviness and the way her photography has created all that white space nd light in the background. It gives her furniture an almost surreal quality. Check out her blog here.

The photo above comes to us via Rita (the busy woman and the stripy cat). There’s something so wonderful about her bookshelf arrangement; it’s organized yet casual and not too-too styled. This looks like a room that invites pulling a book off he shelf, putting an album on the turntable and curling up on that comfy slipcovered sofa.

This cheery dining room shot is titled “the sun was shining just right.” Yes it was, and I love the way Flickr member Loup-Loup captured it, and I especially love the way she used a Mexican serape as a colorful table runner, and that she has gold bentwood chairs.

Finally, this charming tablescape is called “Blue Vintage Lamp 4: Love at first…light.” was posted by Flickr member mihameeha. It’s really cool; she has this lamp posted with all sorts of different backgrounds as part of different vignettes.

Have some shots of your home you’d like to share? Please add them to the Fresh New Spaces Group!

Last week four of my girlfriends and I hit the Mediterranean Sea and stayed in Collioure, France. This is an absolutely stunning coastal village with a history that dates back to the Phonecians. It is also the place that inspired the Fauvists, after Henri Matisse and André Derain spent a summer collaborating and painting there. The views, people, architecture and colors continue to inspire today. While Collioure has it’s own unique style, culture and spirit, I have picked a doorway that shows off one of the most well-known French color combinations. It’s a beautiful warm yellow and bold blue, outlined in white stucco, with a few accents provided by terracotta tile and some gorgeous greenery:

To find this very French blue and yellow combination, I recommend Pantone 18-4148 TPX Victoria Blue and Pantone TCX 14-0756 Empire Yellow.

With these colors in mind, I decided to plan my dream contemporary, French-inspired dining room. I did go a little more powdery with the blues I chose.

Based atop a cherry yellow and white striped rug from DwellStudio, added a simple maple table from STAACH, added a few Misewell chairs that combine metal and wood, added a few accessories including a limited edition Parvez Taj canvas that reminded me of all the fishermen I saw catching dinner along the sea, a pop of green provided by a Chilewich three-tiered tray and a super-cool pendant light from Joug. While the light fixture is made of plastic, it’s unique texture and glow remind me of the light hitting the stucco walls of the buildings in Collioure. For purchase information, click on the links next to the thumbnails below.