I set up So design consultants in 2000 — an agency where the focus is to break the boundaries of creative design and deliver a passion for intelligent, individual creativity. We established a small team of focused individuals and created a platform where our aspirations for commercial fine art could be reached, rather than for financial gain.

We have been working with Herman Miller for six years and enjoy the shared passion for good quality and useful design. (I love the SAYL chair as a piece of design and the way it looks. I always like to relate good to design to inspiration, and the influence of the Golden Gate Bridge to the design of SAYL is obvious.) Our first commission from Herman Miller is still one of our favourite pieces of work. We created a brochure that brought together the heritage of Herman Miller, its roots in design and craftsmanship, and showcased products using beautiful lifestyle photography.

The So studio has always been based on Greenway Farm. We originally worked from an old cowshed with whitewashed stonewalls, a wood-burning stove, and an outside loo. Our state-of-the-art Apple Macs were a great contrast to the rather primitive but inspired surroundings. Quite often I would be on the phone to a client as a lorry load of cows was being unloaded. These surroundings fuel our creativity.

Four years ago, we moved to an adjacent newly converted barn. We worked with the farmer throughout the barn-conversion process to create a light and airy space that’s been built to exacting environmental standards. The glass front to the barn means that we can stay in tune with the ever-changing countryside outside. Chickens make a regular visit to our door and we watch the doves return to the Dovecote that is an integral part of our barn roof.

Long library globe lights hang from the 25-foot high ceilings. Custom-made glass and oak trestle desks line both sides of the studio. The glass desktops add to the openness of the studio. All our workstations have Aeron chairs — the classic design looks fantastic with the simple design of the desks and the designers love them.

The mezzanine floor is our meeting space with a glass boardroom table and supportive seating. Objects of beauty adorn our walls, which link to the heritage of the building: best of breed animals; tools to perform; a vision of creativity. An extensive library of books provides constant inspiration.

We get our inspiration from everything in life. Every day breathes new energy and influences from colour, music, people, things that touch our senses. We live and breath design — design for life!

Photos: Steve Haskins/So Design Consultants

If you’re anything like us, staying eco is always on your mind. In honor of Earth Day 2012, here are six items that can help you continue to be kind to our environment — and create a better world around you.

1. Eames Molded Plastic Armchair with Wood Dowel Base It’s an iconic chair that needs no introduction, but it’s more than just a design classic. With a 100% recyclable polypropylene seat sit atop maple dowel legs, it’s not only beautiful, but earth-friendly. Get one at Herman Miller.

2. Ink’D Biodegradable Pens They write beautifully. They have a fun and flashy personality. And they achieve 82.3% biodegradation in 101 days, complying with ASTM D6400 standards. Better still, you can be a part of Ink’D Pens’ production through Kickstarter, which is bringing green products and projects to market around the world. Write it up at Kickstarter.

3. Maizy Series Clock, Spalvieri / Del Ciotto for Lexon Like the radio, light, and calculators in the Maizy series, the clock is produced with biodegradable PLA plastic. PLA is derived from renewable resources like corn starch. You get a clean, minimal design that can return to the earth at the end of its time. Maizy knows what time it is. You can, too, at Lexon.

4. Nelson Pedestal Stool The perfect little accent seat, it fits practically anywhere you will. Bright pops of color with the exceedingly elegant lines George Nelson was renowned for. And of course, they’re manufactured with recyclable upholstery and aluminum. It has it all. Part of the new Herman Miller Collection.

5. MacBook Air It might seem unlikely, but an Apple MacBook Air possesses a remarkably eco-friendly pedigree — like an EPEAT Gold rating for environmental effects, Energy Star 5.2 compliance for energy efficiency, and Apple will see to your computer’s recycling at the end of its life. From Apple.

6. Wellrounded Sound Well Rounded Sound produces beautifully bespoke loudspeakers with sustainably harvested wood enclosures, ultra-low VOC content wood finishes, and 100% New Zealand wool felt. They’ll even provide info on recycling your speakers when the time comes. How can you not like the sound of that? Get some here.

Photos: Linked to their sources within text

How would you define your aesthetic? I believe that ecological design can go hand-in-hand with inexpensive, thoughtful architecture that embodies simplicity and beauty.

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? Four years ago our family put this belief into action when we bought a “tear-down” house in northeast Los Angeles that we didn’t tear down. Instead, we moved in and began creating our ideal live-work environment along our aesthetic principles.

How do you keep your work space organized? Our professional practices are carved out between the spaces of domestic chaos. I like the blank slate quality of our environment; there is nothing precious about our house, so we have tremendous freedom to change things; the house and garden are in a constant state of experimental flux.

You established your firm in 2009. What led to that point? When we first moved in we planted an orchard of different fruit trees. After watering them one day, I pulled the plug on our son Niko’s bath and watched 50 gallons go down the drain.  Soon after, I started researching greywater and rainwater systems. Our home now uses recycled, repurposed, and reused materials in carefully considered interrelationships between the built environment and the natural world.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet right now? We have several spaces in the yard that function as outdoor rooms — furniture for these spaces would be wonderful.  And I love most of the Eames designs for their combination of playfulness and forthright functionality, and for their confident details. And the Eames Storage Unit — right now we badly need more storage!

What and who inspires you? My truest ideal living and working environment would be something like the stepwells in western India. These stepwells are a combination rainwater catchment system, communal water source, and public meeting space. I’m not sure how I’d fit it all into my home, but my ideal workspace would include more of this highly functional, constructed social space.

Photos: Leigh Jerrard; Stepwell sources – infranetlab.org and writeshop.org

1. Lenovo ThinkPad L420: Lenovo states that the ThinkPad L420 is their greenest laptop yet, and that’s a bold statement from the PC laptop giant, as their ThinkPad X301 was very eco-friendly. The L-series laptops are made from 30% post-consumer recycled content. The green-ness also affects your bottom line, as this laptop is supposed to save you 40% on operating costs alone. It has an LED-backlit display and power manager. It includes energy certifications from ENERGY STAR and attains the EPEAT Gold standard. The packaging is recyclable and there’s 20% less of it to go to waste.

2. Acer TravelMate TimelineX: Acer does its bit by displaying information about the eco-friendliness of their laptops very visibly. The TravelMate TimelineX meets EPEAT Silver, RoHS, WEEE, and ENERGY STAR standards to protect the environment.

3. Asus Bamboo Series When Asus first released their Bamboo laptop a few years ago, it was somewhat shocking that so much wood featured prominently on a device that can get very hot, but Asus didn’t do this haphazardly. Bamboo has a tensile strength that rivals that of steel, and it’s a perfect substitute for plastic. The packaging is also eco-friendly, so it’s 100% natural and recyclable. The laptops use a bamboo frame and even the trackpad is made out of bamboo.

4. MacBook Air: Macs are no slouches when it comes to being environmentally friendly. It uses energy-efficient components that require less energy to operate than other laptops. The MacBook Air also earns the EPEAT Gold certification. It’s also ENERGY STAR 5.2 compliant. If you buy a new Mac, Apple will help you recycle your old ones.

5. Toshiba Protégé R700: The replacement to the environmentally friendly A600 is the new R700, and it also has an EPEAT Gold certification. The LED backlit display uses less energy than others. Coupled with a power-saving software, it will allow you to curtail your energy consumption. Toshiba has also cut down on the use of harmful chemicals in their PCs over the last several years. (Note: The R700 has now been replaced by the r830 series – expect the same green qualities and even faster processing times).

By Range Govindan.