There was one trend glaringly absent at this year's Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan -- sustainable design. As the rest of the world is going green, powerhouse furniture manufacturers, it seems, have been slow to adapt. One exception is Cappellini, the quirky Italian company with a history of inventive design. While it hadn't greened its entire line, the company took its first few baby steps toward a sustainable future with the launch of a new project named Cappellini Love.

New York designer Stephen Burks created the project's first four pieces. Two are small tables made from recycled, shredded magazines and newspapers, which are assembled with a papier-mâché technique that uses a non-toxic, glue-like hardener.

A vase and bowl made from fragments of recycled glass and silicone round out the collection. All the pieces will be handmade by struggling artisans in South Africa. Burks has a history of working with people in the area, helping to create better sources of income, in between more glamorous jobs for companies like Calvin Klein, B&B Italia, and Missoni.

Burks says the project grew out of an idea he had "for recycling all the piles of magazines I had lying around, which I figured would make great raw material" -- proving once again that one man's garbage can be another man's treasure. --TIM McKEOUGH

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