NEW YORK CITY—Sina Pearson Textiles, New York City-based designer/manufacturer of contemporary upholstery fabrics, announces its introduction for Spring 2011: an environmentally-friendly series for both indoors and outdoors. With the Global Village Collection, Sina Pearson simultaneously pays tribute, and updates, elemental motifs common to many cultures. The simple stripe, the abstracted floral, the coiled basket weave, belong to a shared visual language, and have been found in artisanal textiles for thousands of years. Yet the singular approach to scale, rhythm, proportion and graphic color contrasts makes this group decidedly modern. Global Village is woven of 100 percent solution-dyed Bella-Dura olefin fibers,...

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—With the prices of cotton continuing to rise dramatically around the world, Valley Forge Fabrics announced that it would lock in pricing for its Tencel+Plus through the end of the year. There have been several factors that have influenced the cotton price surge including flooding in Pakistan and China, stockpiling from cotton yarn suppliers in China, and the emerging middle class economies in Asia, India and South America. Valley Forge has been able to secure long-term fiber contracts with Lenzing Fibers of Austria; the sole producer of Tencel+Plus Lyocell fiber from Eucalyptus. These long term contracts ensure more...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) recently launched the CMP Wizard, an interactive online tool to help LEED Professionals understand their Credential Maintenance Program (CMP) requirements and explore continuing education options. The maintenance requirements for the LEED AP and LEED Green Associate credentials ensure that credential holders stay current with the quickly evolving body of knowledge around green building. Credential maintenance also enables professionals to grow their skills and show clients and employers that their expertise is meaningful in a rapidly transforming marketplace. The CMP Wizard helps LEED credential holders select from among the wide variety of options they...

NORTH WALPOLE, N.H.—Len-Tex Corp. announced the introduction of its exclusive Clean Vinyl Technology (CVT), a breakthrough development for the commercial wallcovering industry. Len-Tex has partnered with O’Sullivan Films to create a customized, non-ortho-phthalate vinyl film. This technology eliminates the elements of most concern to health and indoor air quality typically found in traditional vinyl wallcovering products. Len-Tex CVT contains no phthalate plasticizers, no barium or other heavy metals, no antimony-based fire retardants and no formaldehyde. In addition, the CVT technology incorporates the Ultra-Fresh antimicrobial agent, replacing an arsenic-based biocide often found in commercial vinyl wallcovering. “We’re proud to take a...

SYRACUSE, N.Y.—The 58-room Hotel Skyler, set to have its soft opening here in Syracuse on April 1, could soon join the exclusive club of hotels that have earned LEED Platinum certification. There are just two other U.S. properties that have earned such a distinction—the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, N.C., and the Bardessono in Yountville, Calif. Hotel Skyler, which is pursuing the top-level LEED designation, is truly unique; it was first a synagogue constructed in 1921 and later a home for a theater group. According to Tom Fernandez, director of marketing for the Syracuse-based Woodbine Group, which owns Hotel Skyler,...

BOSTON—Some 4,000 renewable energy and green building experts will bring their cutting edge thinking—and very strong opinions—to Boston in March for the BuildingEnergy11 Conference and Tradeshow. Now in its 36th year, BuildingEnergy11 (BE11) is organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), and is the oldest and largest regional renewable energy event in the country. On Tuesday, March 8, three workshops at BE11 will highlight different constructs for gauging energy efficiency and environmental impact beyond the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system: Zero Net Energy, Passive House, and The Living Building Challenge. “NESEA believes in the...

LAS VEGAS—Green Day will precede Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (HD Expo) once again this year, taking place at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 17. Green Day is the only accredited conference of its kind that brings together a targeted group of passionate industry leaders dedicated to sustainable hospitality design. This unique forum continues to be at the forefront of education and innovation to promote more socially responsible, ethical and eco-friendly practices within the industry. While the U.S. market of green building products and services has increased 500 percent in the past...

OAKLAND, CALIF.—A leader in the creative use of recycled metals, Móz Designs introduces Blendz Sculptures, laser-cut metal wall art that heightens visual interest in a hotel or restaurant setting. Each Blendz Sculpture is composed of a series of panels that “interface” in geometric or curvilinear patterns to create a singular work of art. Though available in standard configurations and sizes, each Blendz Sculpture is considered unique because of the hand-etched patterns and rich Blendz color overlay featured within each piece. Blendz laser-cut wall art can be installed in lobbies, guestrooms, halls, restaurants, bars and lounges and in resort settings. Standard...

NEW YORK—The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has recommended that Applied Textiles and Nano-Tex, Inc. discontinue a wide range of advertising claims made for three fabric-coating products—Nano-Tex, Nano-Tex with Durablock, and Nano-Tex with BioAM. NAD, the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, examined the claims made by Applied Textiles and Nano-Tex, Inc., following a challenge by Crypton, Inc., a competing textile manufacturer.  A key issue in NAD’s review was print and Internet advertising claims that the treated fabric produced by the advertisers was “certified,” “compliant,” or “approved” by federal agencies that include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational...

CROSSVILLE, TENN.—Crossville’s new Sustainable Samples kit, which contains realistic “tile” samples made of recycled and recyclable card-stock, has been created using advanced high-resolution imaging technology to capture a near-exact visual of each tile. This earth-friendly chip kit contains every tile and every color in Crossville’s Porcelain Stone collection—more than 230 colors—in a compact, lightweight kit that is about 10" x 10" x 4". It is intended to help architects and designers make preliminary color and product selections, allowing them to have an entire product line in their libraries in a minimum of space. The back of the tile has a...