Fred Segal Green: Gorgeous, expensive, eco-goodies

Fred Segal Green celebrated its grand opening today in Santa Monica. Located in a 1200-square-foot space at the back of Fred Segal's east building , this eco-friendly home and lifestyle store showcases the cutting edge of green design.

Collected here are all the gorgeous eco home decorations you've only seen in pictures on Inhabitat. You'll be able to touch and feel the sleek Monacca laptop bags and calculators, made -- according to the little explanatory sign -- "from ecological wood such as trees that have been pulled down during the programmed maintenance plan of Japanese reforestation."

Customers have their pick of recycled glassware to pick from -- as well as a whole big set of recycled stainless steel knives with funky designs on the blade, made to last a lifetime.

There's furniture too -- mostly a variety of stylish side tables and stools made from sustainably-harvested wood or scrap and recycled materials.

Eco-conscious pet owners can buy gourmet pet food (below) free of all the weird stuff that apparently goes into the "conventional" pet food. Sustainable pet toys are available too -- though I suspect that the less expensive stuff at My Pet Naturally would be just as beloved by kitties and puppies.

High-end eco products get dissed a lot, because they can make environmentalism seem like an elitist movement for the rich Gelson's crowd. But examining these unique, fairly-traded, hand-crafted, carefully-designed products, I felt vaguely hopeful about a different sort of consumer culture. There's an anti-disposability to these items that serves as a refreshing contrast to today's one-use, throwaway world.

Of course, I can't afford to actually buy the stuff. (above: bamboo bowls)

What I would love to own are these Ronel Jordaan pillowy, river-stone-like cushion-seats. I want a big one that I can curl up on top of, catlike, for daytime naps. But I can't put a grand or so toward fulfilling that desire.

Or to be more accurate, I can only afford a few things at Fred Segal Green. A couple items are actually doable for the regular middle-class person. For example, there are the Daff Feel Filz coasters, placemats, and silverware holders (above), made of eco-friendly merino wool felt. Coasters cost $25 for a set of four.

And perhaps even more practical are these Brelli umbrellas (right), made of biodegradable plastic and bamboo. Cost: just $28 for a small one! Metaefficient raves about them.

Expensive certainly doesn't mean necessary or useful. I have a hard time seeing the practicality of the chair below, for example.

And as much as I heart eco-friendly soap, I'm not sure if it's even possible to make soap that looks crunchier than this soap-on-a-rope stuff.

And is it just me, or is this kinda fugly? (below)

But it's good to see Fred Segal going green. This anti-plastic-bag slogan (below) is all over the store right now:

And all weekend, each department at Fred Segal Santa Monica will hold drawings to benefit local anti-plastic-bag org Heal the Bay.

Go green now, before we all burn up. The store carries a surprising number of memento moris -- made of recycled silver or glass, of course.

Fred Segal Green. 420 Broadway. Santa Monica.

Photos by Siel