My name is Mette te Velde. I started Strawberry Earth with Ikenna Azuike in December 2008 after being inspired by the green movement in New York. I wanted to bring New York’s optimism, creativity and green solutions to Amsterdam. After two years of hard work, Strawberry Earth has grown into a daily source of inspiration for people interested in sustainable living, eco friendly design and a good laugh!
Every spring we hold the Strawberry Earth Film Festival. We screen the latest and best films and documentaries with a focus on sustainability and the environment.
Every autumn we bring Europe’s ecofashion talent to Amsterdam during Strawberry Earth Wonderland, the Netherlands’ first Eco Fashion, Art & Music fair for consumers.
And this year we initiated the Green Film Making Competition, a challenge for all creative filmmakers out there to make a short fiction film, produced as sustainably as possible. We want to inspire the film industry to work greener. Actress Thekla Reuten is our lovely ambassador!
With the blog I want to show people the many cool designers and brands out there that create things with respect for people, animals and the planet.
As consumers we have a big influence in how the world around us looks. I love things that stand for quality, uniqueness and are made with love and an eye for detail. Forget the mass products that we are suppose to trow away, so brands can quickly sell more to us. Instead: let’s support the good stuff. And you know what’s the best thing about it, whether it’s clean and fair produced food, design or clothes? You enjoy it more too!
OAT Shoes:
Did you know that shoes can bloom? These lovely sneakers from OAT contain seeds of wild flowers, so when you’ve worn them out, you can literally ‘plant’ your biodegradable sneakers! I really like the philosophy of this Dutch brand: “What we do, what we say, what we make, use or throw out has an impact, however big or small. Every day you can choose what that impact is going to be. Toxic or clean, naughty or nice.”
Tree Hotel:
Talk about being at one with nature… the Tree Hotel located in Harads, Sweden was created by Swedish architects Tham & Videgård. The Mirrorcube is just one of six rooms in the hotel, the others are no less impressive.
Lu Flux:
Lu Flux joined us last year at Strawberry Earth Wonderland and since then we’ve fallen head over heels in love with her playful, quirky and beautiful work.
Lu works in an ethical and sustainable way by working with salvaged, vintage & organic fabrics combined with traditional knitting, pleating and patchwork.
Her bear jumpers make me smile and almost look forward to winter and a cosy fire place!
Lexon bamboo radio:
This little bamboo radio is definitely on my wish list. You need to wind it up to power it and it works perfectly. The materials used are corn and bamboo. And the bamboo calculator works on solar power! All these bamboo beauties are from Lexon and available to buy from one of our favourite Strawberry places in Amsterdam, Conscious Hotel. I like what they have to say about their eco design line: “The planet is our playground. To keep it accessible to all and for a long time, we must change our habits, efforts, evolve.” Absolutely!
Bagboy:
These cute “bagboy’s” are made from old supermarket bags by my super creative friend Hagar Vardimon. Check out her other great work at: www.happy-red-fish.com.
Swiss City Luzern garbage game:
Fun. Swiss city Luzern wants to encourage more people to throw their trash away by turning trash cans into games 
(via my fave blogs: Swiss-Miss and curiousabout)
Nick Gentry:
Forget canvas, British graduate of Central St. Martins, Nick Gentry paints on old floppy disks and he is a prolific artist. Here’s a video of his entire work and there’s plenty more on his website too.
