The Eco Choice Awards are presented semi-annually to top “green” gift and home products showcased at NYIGF. Awards are given in three categories: Most Innovative, Most Sensitive Use of Materials and Most Sellable. Winners are chosen based on inventiveness, newness, aesthetics and functionality.

“The green design movement is ever-evolving, and many stylish, functional and environmentally-friendly products were introduced,” said Christian Falkenberg, NYIGF manager and GLM vice president.

The winners of the summer 2010 Eco Choice Awards are:

Most Innovative: Emerson House by Brinca Dada. Working solar panels power the 23 LED lights throughout this dollhouse, designed by Tim Boyle. The house is manufactured of CARB-certified wood and acrylic.

Most Sensitive Use of Materials: On The Rocks by Sea Stones. Using stone and wood, two of nature's most fundamentally recyclable materials, designer Arra David created these drink chillers which keep beverages cool without diluting them. The stone “ice cubes” are the re-purposed cores generated from drilling holes to create stone napkin rings. The hardwood comes from FSC-certified suppliers. The wood composts and the stones may be returned to the beach. Sea Stones plants a rough quarry stone in the ocean for every smooth stone they collect, and replants ten times the number of trees used each year. The Sea Stones workshop is heated and cooled with a geothermal heat pump. The energy required for tooling comes from water, which is 100% re-circulated.

Most Sellable: Kitchen Basics by Bambu. These kitchen implements, designed by Rachel Speth, are made entirely from renewable, certified organic bamboo with no added finishes or substances. The eco-friendly production follows the company’s emphasis on both the process and the end product. There is a close proximity between the source of material and the labor team, which sustainably harvests the bamboo and dries it in the sun. Bambu supports the Grameen Foundation, 3rd Millennium, NRDC, and Collective Responsibility.