As each year draws to a close, industry color authority Pantone selects a single hue to characterize the incoming year. 2013′s color: Emerald Green. In its press release announcing the choice, Pantone’s Leatrice Eiseman explained that ”the human eye sees more green than any other color in the spectrum.” Cast your human eye on a spectrum of green with these six ways to the color of the year.

1. Pantone Emerald Coffee Mug - Make the 2013 color of the year part of your working week with this limited edition, fine bone china coffee mug. There’s also the Emerald iPhone 5 Case for your on-the-go needs. Find Emerald and the whole spectrum at Pantone.

2. Caper Chair, Jeff Weber - Add a touch of green and a lot of nimble comfort with the perfect portable chair. Stack them, roll them, scoot them up for any occasion. Available with and without arms, choose casters or glides, and black or metallic frames. Plus a multitude of colors. Get yours at Herman Miller.

3. School Satchel - Whether you’re in the halls, on campus, or heading to a 9-to-5, the classic lines and bold color of these London-made satchels keeps you looking well educated. Carry your lunch, a tablet, and an apple for the teacher. Find it at Present and Correct.

4. Merchants of Virtue, Bill Birchard - Though its subject may only be figuratively green, Merchants of Virtue tells a distinctly green story. In it Bill Birchard describes Herman Miller’s hard-fought journey to sustainability, setting a new standard for company behavior in the modern world. Available from Amazon or find it locally through IndieBound.

5. Classic Stanley Thermos - Reduce waste and keep the heat in with a worker’s classic, the thermos. Holds 1.1 quarts of your favorite toasty beverage or soup. Find one at The Woodlands.

6. Magis Folding Air-Chair, Jasper Morrison - Bright, lightweight, and incredibly durable, the Air-Chair’s form-fitting comfort comes from the air-molding process. Perfect outdoors and in, from casual to formal, it’s right at home no matter where you unfold it. Choose green and three other colors at Herman Miller.

Photos linked within text.

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

For more from Yves on SAYL check out this week’s post over on Discover.

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.

Location: Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon

Size: 1,100 square feet

Juliet Zulu, a video production company based in Portland, Oregon has created a clean, inspired work space on a budget. Zak, Jason and their team DIYed their office in about a month, using irreverent, recycled materials and a whole lot of ingenuity. When describing the studio, the words “industrial” and “man-chic” just kept popping into my mind. Although not a traditional “home” office tour, this work space is full of great ideas to pull into the home or home office.

Zak and Jason, co-founders of Juliet Zulu, wanted to create an open, honest space that inspired great work. They create videos for a range of clients, from big corporations like Nike and Intel to non-profits such as The Mentoring Project and other videos featuring local food carts. Juliet Zulu is a creative force and their space reflects their artistic vision.

What’s interesting to me is they achieved something I don’t see all that often – they used a palate of heavy darks (black concrete floor, army green military tent material, etc) and bright whites. In a time where “fresh and new” seems to connote whitest of whites, they were able to balance darker tones with light, punctuated by the neutral colors (reclaimed wood, re-purposed army tents), and wacky use of particle board. Never have I seen particle board looking so good.

Another wonderful aspect of the space is the personal details. Every inch of the space is carefully planned to maximize flow of air/light, but it’s also got personal items strategically placed in an uncluttered fashion. There are reels of film Jason shot in the 5th grade, old cameras, beloved old toys, tickets to sporting events, used thermoses and personal odds and ends that all breathe life into the office. This balance of clean design and personal history is very appealing, and would easily translate into a look for the home.

AT Survey:

My/our style: Military Industrial, Vintage, MCM

The inspiration for my home office/home theater: Video and film production is all about process. I wanted to design a space that was clearly a creative studio but also felt like a workshop, a place that screamed process. Also, production companies tend to be techie pragmatists. I wanted a space that said, “Yes we know how to work a C-Stand but we also know what good copy looks like.”

Favorite element in your space: Military canvas walls in conference room is a fave. Having client meetings in an indoor field tent is a bit like a blanket and couch cushion fort, minus the wooden swords and newspaper hats.

Biggest challenge in designing our space: Stretching and attaching huge sheets of Pendleton Wool felt on our 300 square feet of walls. It was like stretching a canvas but with wool…which turned out to be more difficult. The exposed flashing was the answer.

What friends say about the space: We do not allow speaking in our studio. We have a no cats, no speaking, no pirates policy. As a result, we no longer have friends or rampant plundering.

Area where there is room for improvement/future projects: Our bathroom (not shown here because of the horror) is our final area to improve. Bathroom thoughts?

Proudest DIY (do it yourself) project: Construction of Barn doors with old, reclaimed government windows. Each door took us two days to complete, which, if I am not mistaken, is almost as long as it took the Egyptians to build the pyramids.

Biggest indulgence with respect to our space: Eames compact sofa, re-upholstered with Pendleton Wool. Gold leafed bidet seat (if we had one it would be our biggest indulgence)

Best advice about organizing or incorporating tech into the home: Robots are fun until they become autonomous, power up in the middle of the night and then lock you and your pets in the cellar.

Dream source for stuff: My grandfather’s basement (it would be even better if my grandfather’s name was Don Draper).

Resources

Home Tech Hardware:
• Apple computers
• G Raid 2TB hard drives
• Audio-Technica headphones
• MiniWatt Tube Amplifier
• Zeiss lenses
• Hook headphone desk holders (originally designed to be mobile, table, purse holders) designed by Philippi Design Germany and purchased through Canoe.

Furniture:
• Eames Compact Sofa
• Herman Miller Eames Molded Plastic Chairs
• All long tables, conference table bars and counters made from 100 year old Oregon, dimensional Fir, reclaimed from a barn
• Most other furnishings vintage purchased at various antique shops in or around Portland Or.
• All higher-end vintage furnishings purchased from The Good Mod, Portland.

Accessories: No member of Juliet Zulu has ever shot an animal so it is fitting that we are utilizing our grandfather’s heartlessness as taxidermy features. Most all accessories are vintage, antique.

Lighting: Barn pendant, warehouse lights. The most basic and practical I could find.

Organizing Tools/Accessories: clipboards for project management.

Additional Elements:
• Floors are sanded and buffed concrete, stained/painted with Miller concrete stain/paint.
• Exposed plywood is…exposed plywood.
• All beer served in the studio is Stiegl, all coffee is Coava Coffee, booze of choice is whiskey. Favorite name for a pet whale would probably be, Big Dawg.

Thanks Juliet Zulu for letting us tour your space!

By Leela Cyd Ross

Whenever I have writer’s block, chances are you’ll find me alphabetizing my spices, color coordinating my closet or reorganizing kitchen drawers. There is something highly cathartic about imposing order on chaos. A clean desk, clear mind, etc. Which is why I found myself roaming the aisles at Staples this weekend for office supplies to mentally prepare for a week of heavy research and interviews for a story I’m writing. Inspiration comes in all forms—and to me these tactile brown folders made from 100% postconsumer recycled paper are totally gorgeous in their simplicity and uniformity. I also grabbed a pack of Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils made from reforested California cedar—my writing tool of choice to unblock writer’s block and a favorite example of form + function.