There are two major acts of violence against nature involved in Christmas tradition. Selling living carps, which are one of the most important dish during Christmas Eve and cutting hundreds of thousands firs and pines for Christmas Trees. Most ironic is that Christmas Tree is a symbol of reborn, living and fertility, while - after decorating our houses for few days - it is mostly thrown out in the garbage. Although many people don't bother that, maybe it is a good time to start “a new secular tradition”. It doesn't cost much yet it makes difference.

What are the alternatives?
First – not to buy a living carp. Bought dead one would taste the same and you wouldn't have to practice killing a being right before you celebrate Jesus birthday with your family. (Personality, I truly believe that most people don't like killing).
Secound – use an artificial plastic Christmas tree (which would decompose thousands of years) or one of the recyclable one.

Here's another great concept for christmas gift (and another one from the kitchen area). This one is special not only because of the unique qualities of the product, but also because it is connected with the fair idea and interesting story. It's about guys who cared to make en effort to reduce post industrial waste from the manufacturing of professional skate parks. What did they do? Created innovative cutting surfaces made from the same durable material used on skate ramps. This is the story of TrueRide and Epicurean® cutting boards and kitchen utensils.

As I have already mentioned, cardboard elements of interior design are becoming more and more popular. For the last years we could observe many interesting and inspiring products made of this material: toys, all kind of accessories and furniture. Keeping in line with the idea of environment protection cardboard shows various faces: from retro stylizations to modern outlook, from disguised painted images to sauté versions.

Products created by Laboratoryart.eu belong to the strict party in cardboard use. Experimental searchings in the areas of cardboard texture and eco friendly materials led by Laboratoryart.eu ended up in forming aesthetic minimal look of the chocks a biodegradable seats which can be used in many different ways; as a seat or a table or just as an object fulfilling the space with the touch of nature.

The idea of cardboard furniture is nothing new. It's quite old actually. First cardboard furniture appeared in 1920s amongst the works of the designer Gerrit Rietveld. However they had to wait another 60 years to become popular. Since then, they are subject of experiments and source of inspiration for the designers from all over the world.

One of the companies which offer the variety of hand made cardboard furniture is Kartooni. They use the special constructional technique for production, which resemble building a house. A basic construction made of strong corrugated board is covered with a layer of another durable cardboard. Thanks to the construction all reinforcements are invisible and the furnishing remain very light yet sturdy. The raw piece of furniture can be painted, embellished and polished at discretion. For the first sight it's hard to recognize the ready made product as a cardboard made (unless you choose a version of natural cardboard, of course).