Imagine the freedom of travel made possible by an inflatable house that folds small enough to fit in your pocket.
Travel is perfect excuse to question how much stuff we need. When everything from the number of socks to the amount of living space comes up for discussion, we get the opportunity to experience a more simple and sustainable version of our everyday life. Certainly, the current rate of population growth is going to require more of us to live a more modest existence.
Inspired by one the world’s leading experts on sustainable design, Ezio Manzini, and his view that ‘design’s role, in a future, will be to make poverty attractive‘, the Basic House was born.
Ideal for a life on the move without material ties, the basic house is an inflatable house made from metalized polyester.
According to the creator of the Basic House, Martin Azua: “Cultures that maintain a more direct interaction with their environment show us that the idea of habitat can be understood in more essential and reasonable terms. Influenced by these ideas and using the most advanced technology, I came up with an almost immaterial house that self inflates with body heat or from the heat of the sun; so simple and versatile that it protects us from the cold and from the heat when reversed; so light that it floats; and moreover, it folds up and fits into your pocket.”
You can’t buy this inflatable house as it’s intended only to highlight that the saturation of products in so-called developed societies doesn’t represent a sign of progress, but rather a threat to the planet; it is unable to contain anything, breaks with our lifestyle based on consumption.
More at martinazua.com
Britain’s most ethical insurance company
The ETA has been voted the most ethical insurance company in Britain for the second year running by the Good Shopping Guide.
Beating household-name insurance companies such as John Lewis and the Co-op, the ETA earned an ethical company index score of 89.
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Twenty seven years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance, travel insurance and breakdown cover while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
Whenever you buy a policy from us you help fund the work of our charity, the ETA trust. Find out more about its work at eta.co.uk/trust
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