We Greenthinkers had a great time at the Interior Design Show this past weekend are are thrilled to bring you some of the highlights. Stay tuned all week as we barge through post after post filled with great ‘green’ design.

First up, in no particular order, is Kuda. Kuda (warning: music on the homepage) is Canada’s premier retailer of exotic furniture and accessories from Indonesia, India, China and Thailand. We’re talking teak, mahogany, Indian rosewood, elm wood, Mango, Monkey, Suar, reclaimed railway tie and the newly discovered Tamarind wood from Indonesia. All furnishings are carefully crafted by hand.

Most importantly to us, none of the wood used in the crafting of Kuda’s furniture stems from the Indonesian rain forest. Neither Mahogany nor Teak woods are native to Indonesia and have therefore no origin in the rain forest…Today Mahogany in Indonesia grows foremost on plantations, one of the largest is located in Madiun, East Java. That plantation covers over 227km of land.The Teak, like the Mahogany is grown on the island of Java on large plantations. The farmers carefully grow the trees in distinctive patterns, each field displaying trees in various stages of growth. Once the mature trees are harvested, the fields are re-seeded to maintain a healthy reforestation. The government controls and regulates all wood cutting. Each tree cut for the creation of hand-carved furniture is accounted for and cross-referenced against finished merchandise exported abroad.

Interesting looking stuff.