OUTLET STORE SALE

Choose organic and fairtrade this year. Maybe you'll find some great Christmas presents at Pug's sale, which will take place at Sauevegen 14, 3400 Lier on 8-9 December. Time: 1500 - 2000

At the sale, we're offering:

- 20% off on all items that are available in Pug's web shop
- 50% off on superb quality organic cotton towels

- 70% off on some Ekobo products with tiny imperfections:

bamboo bowl

salad bowl

knife blocks

Please note: cash only!

This sale does not affect the prices in the web shop.

ECO LUXURY DAYS

Shop for eco friendly luxury at bathroom shop ha det på badet in Oslo 3-5 December! Lovely organic/fairtrade skin care products from Unique, soft and luxurious bamboo towels from Santens, beautiful bamboo products from Ekobo... Why not start looking for the perfect Christmas gift this weekend?

If you'd like to know more about these products, drop by ha det på badet on 3. or 4. December between 1130 AM and 1600 PM to meet Ekobo and Unique's representatives.

RAW FOOD EVENT AT INA'S

After Christmas, Ina will be hosting a Raw Food event with Mira Malin and Susanna Nova.

Raw foodism is a lifestyle promoting the consumption of un-cooked, un-processed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet (source: Wikipedia).

This is Susanna and Mira's own presentation of their work:

Susanna and Mira will use ecologically grown vegan food for the event, and they will use products from Ekobo when presenting the food.

If you'd like to attend the Raw Food day, send an email to Ina!

You can read more about Susanna and Mira's work on their website.

MENTION: AFTENPOSTEN BOLIGINSPIRASJON

12. June 2009, PUG was mentioned in an Aftenposten feature about where to shop for furniture on the Internet.

This is what Aftenposten wrote about Pug:



Short translation: PUG's focus is reused and sustainable design for the home; both indoors and outdoors. This shop's products have gone through the whole cyclus from idea to finished product through recycling.

Thanks Aftenposten for supporting eco friendly and fairtrade shopping!

The whole article is here:

http://www.aftenposten.no/bolig/inspirasjon/article3118847.ece

AT HOME WITH INA

Aftenposten Bolig did a large feature on PUG owner Ina Aspestrand on Saturday 2. May 2009.

Ina lives with her family in a Neo-Baroque house built in 1920. As you can see from the photos, she and her family take good care of the house through reusing old building materials and keeping original features - like the wallpaper in the photo below. So the eco friendly philosophy of Pug is central at home as well!

(click for large version)

Ina made the paintings in the office. The floors are new, but in the original style.

You can also find the article here:

http://www.aftenposten.no/bolig/article3055576.ece

MENTION: AFTENPOSTEN MAY 9. 2009

Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten did a feature on Etisk Forbruk a while ago. The feature focused mostly on ethical shopping sites on the Internet, and PUG got a mention:

(click for larger version)

Etisk Forbruk is a website which adresses all aspects of ethical shopping and living - food, clothes, interior decoration, electronics, tourism... Visit their informative website here.

You can find the Aftenposten article here:

http://www.aftenposten.no/bolig/article3067032.ece

MIA JØMS

Mia Jøms is the girl behind Pug's incredibly cool sail products. Mia is the sailmaker who wanted a new course, so she decided to start making bags and home accessories out of old sails.




The designs vary a bit from one bag to the next. That's the beauty of handmade things - you get a bag that is unique!



Aren't they just fantastic? Look what else she makes:



The sail apron is available here on Pug. We also carry the laundry bags, which also can be used for other things!



Smaller home accessories (clockwise from top): table mat, flowerpot cover, lamp, wine bag.



The big, no 4 bag is available here on Pug.



These photos really make us look forward to summer!

Mia Jøms' links:

Website: www.miajoems.com
Blog: Mias re-seil
Product catalogue: Mia Jøms katalog

SHOP OPENING: ÅRMANN DESIGN IN ROSENDAL

Årmann Design opened their combined shop and café in beautiful Rosendal on March 28th, 2009. The shop owner Trude Tveitnes wants Årmann Design to showcase Scandinavian design and food from the district. We think that combos like this are great additions to small communities like Rosendal, and judging from the photos, the shop should be a huge success.

Lots of people came for the opening - so many that there wasn't room for everyone inside!

These are from Pug's glass collection, which is made from recycled glass.

The pendant is Cathrine Kullberg's "Norwegian Forest" lamp. The bamboo plates are from Ekobo.

If you're planning on visiting the Western part of Norway, we recommend Rosendal - it's a beautiful place in a gorgeous district.

Good luck with your shop, Trude!

EKOBO BAMBOO PRODUCTS

Since we're running a campaign on our beautiful bamboo bowls, we'd like to feature the company that designed them and the people who make them!

Ekobo is based in France, but their products are made in Vietnam by skilled artisans. Ekobo's collaboration with these artisans is extremely close, and Ekobo has committed themselves to this:

Guaranteeing good working conditions, sharing innovative ways of using bamboo, contributing to the preservation of the environent, maximizing social equity.

These photos from Ekobo's website give an impression of the bamboo's journey from the forest to the finished product.

The finished product is packed in recycled paper.

Bamboo is an excellent material for sustainable production. It grows extremely fast - some species grow one meter per day!! It recycles large quantities of CO2, producing 35% more oxygen than other trees* in the process. The roots of the bamboo tree are very long, so they stabilize the soil and prevents erosion. Since it's so robust, it grows without any chemicals like fertilizers or pesticides.


What bamboo can become:

plato tray

mikoto knife block

copo cups

sumo fruit bowl

apero plates

mello stools

Bamboo is extremely versatile. Its wood can be used for housing, furniture and other items like the ones above; its fibres can be used for fabric and paper; its fresh shoots can be eaten...

This fantastic plant is part of the lives of two billion people worldwide.

You can read more on Ekobo's web page.

All the above Ekobo products are available in our web shop in the Fabulous Home category.

*Update: One of our readers alerted us to the fact that bamboo plants aren't actually trees, but grass!

KREJCI BAGS: REDESIGNED FROM BIKE INNER TUBES!

Here's the first post in our series about the designers behind the products you can find in PUG's web shop. We're starting with Doreen Westphal of Dutch design company Krejci. Click photos for larger versions!


Ukol

These fabulous bags are made from bike inner tubes that have lived their lives in Amsterdam’s busy city. The bags are produced in Poland by disabled workers.

The interior of the bags is lined with coloured felt - you can see hints of the colours in all the photos:


Mifa


Mifa


This is how Krejci describes their designs:

"The young label from Amsterdam started off three years ago with a series of bags made out of gray industrial felt. When designer Doreen Westphal received a bag full of inner tubes as a joke Christmas present she started to play around with the material, which resulted in her first inner tube bag, the MIFA. After much experimentation and study KREJCI succeeded in creating TUBUS, a line of strong, unique looking bags based on unusual materials: original Amsterdam bicycle inner tubes and felt."



Gava


Gava


Krejci's achievements:

"In February 2003 KREJCI was one of the first labels beeing presented in Young Designers United (a platform for new Dutch fashion in the heart of Amsterdam). From there the bags, often being sold to foreign Amsterdam visitors started spreading beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Soon KREJCI started selling in the Guggenheim Museum shop Berlin.
In august 2005 the label was selected to present itself in the High Promises section at the Modefabriek Amsterdam."

You can read more at Krejci's blog - they just wrote a blog post about how they obtain the inner tubes! If you want even more information, you can visit Krejci's website.

Here are the links if you'd like to buy these bags from our web shop:

Ukol
Mifa
Gava

We'd say that these are great for cool girls of all ages!

EARTH HOUR CAMPAIGN: 30% OFF ON BAMBOO BOWLS

Saturday 28. March, WWF arranges Earth Hour. People all over the world are encouraged to "Vote Earth" by switching the light off for one hour from 8:30 pm local time. The results of the election are being presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

Pug has signed up for Earth Hour, and we want to celebrate this occasion with a campaign! We've got some lovely bamboo salad bowls in our shop, and we're offering these at 30% discount.



This bowl is called "Globo", which makes it the obvious choice since we're supporting Earth Hour.



We've got several cool colours in stock! The bowls are from Ekobo and are of course both eco friendly and fairtrade.

There are two available sizes. Check them out here:

Large salad bowl

Small salad bowl


You can read more about Earth Hour here:

www.earthhour.org

NEW BLOG

We started this blog to keep our customers updated on what's going on in our web shop. PUG's goal is to provide lovely things that make your life happy. We make sure that these things also are produced in a way that takes care of the earth and the people who live and work here.

We'll soon be back with more. We've for instance got a couple of campaigns planned, so do revisit!

In the meantime, you can visit our web shop here:

www.pug-store.com