Big Brothers
Photo: MIO
Given all the recent attention—or hype, some might say—it's easy to forget that not so long ago, sustainable design was a mere radar blip. And so it was with MIO, the Philadelphia-based maker of witty, ecofriendly home products founded by the brothers Jaime and Isaac Salm. "Sustainability had been in the marketplace for decades, but people weren't getting it," says Isaac, recalling the response to MIO's debut collection in 2003. "Back then, 'green' was just a color."
Of course, five years on, green has become something of a lifestyle—one in which Jaime, 29, and Isaac, 30, have firmly established their savvy environmental turf. Visit any leading contemporary-design store, or flip through a forward-looking magazine, and there's a good chance you've seen their products: their colorful SoftBowl felt vessels; the three-dimensional PaperForms wall tiles; the Bendant hanging light, its steel fronds folding into a Sputnik-like starburst (see MIOCulture.com). Emphasizing ingenuity and an economy of means, the MIO ethos is more playful than polemic, producing designs that are eco-sensitive—but also accessible and engaging.
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