Check us out on FastCompany.com ! Thanks to FastCompany Expert Blogger Glenn Croston for telling our story. Here’s some great excerpts:

“Shoplet is taking this route and making it easy to switch to green because they see an opportunity; in the last 3 years they have seen demand for these products grow over 700%. “We saw a demand for greener, more energy efficient office supplies and we wanted to provide our customers with the largest selection possible,” says Ellison. “While we see the biggest demand for things like recycled copy paper, we are also seeing more people buying other recycled paper products, recycled notebooks and even bigger items like recycled chairs and desks.” To help with shopping green, Shoplet has a Facebook application that calculates the number of trees saved, energy conserved, and water conserved as a result of buying more eco-friendly products. ”

“As more businesses move toward sustainability they find that they are not alone. Businesses are part of an interconnected supply chain, working with other businesses on sustainability. “We have also been working closely with our manufacturers to help them come up with eco-friendly ways to improve their products,” says Ellison. “HP, for instance, produces increasingly more energy efficient printers using more recycled materials. We try to convey to our manufacturers the demand we see from our customers for more recycled office supplies.” They now work with manufacturers like Smead and House-of-Dolittle that are responding to increased demand by offering whole lines of products made from 100% recycled material. Manufacturers of electronic equipment also see this mainstream demand for more energy efficient products, and are finding ways to incorporating recycled materials into their products and making them more easily recyclable at the end of their life cycle. ”

Thanks again to Fast Company and remember to choose Shoplet for all your recycled office supplies!

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Today I’d like to give a shout out to Mr. Gavin Worth who has brought new life to old pieces of cardboard. Yeah we all have torn up cardboard boxes stored around the house and even more at the office. Somehow I always convince myself that I should keep boxes to use for presents or to store things in but in the end I just end up having a pile of torn boxes with items falling out underneath my bed.

Anyways, let’s focus on these works of art. Mr. Worth says about these beautiful paintings
“I’m love experimenting with common materials. I was cutting cardboard for a project one day when I noticed the inherent layers and almost sculptural depth inside cardboard. That coupled with a recent trip to see Japanese paintings at the Asian Art Museum got me good and set to do these. They’re generally all made out of single pieces of cardboard”

These are so simple and beautiful. I would love to have on of them in my apartment. If you’re interested in more of his work head over to his website He does really cool wire sculptures and designs.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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I’m all for unique office products especially ones that make life more comfortable. I stumbled across the Uglee Pen this morning and have been thinking about it ever since. The website does look a lot like an infomercial (and I love infomercials) but the pen does look really comfortable to hold on to.

Dr James Lee, the inventor of UGLEE, has made it his mission in life to make a “truly comfortable, ergonomic pen.” Yes he admits that it is not as great as curing cancer but, and I will agree, a pen that will make writing comfortable and protect your from that scary carpal tunnel syndrome is well worth the time.

Our friend OfficeSupplyGeek did a great review of Dr. Lee’s pen concluding- “I really enjoyed writing with this pen, its definitely in a class of its own, and if you have ever had any issues with writing discomfort I highly suggest you give this pen a try.”

I haven’t tried the pen but I would like to offer my shallow review. Yes pens should be comfortable and I am well-known in my family for holding my pen like a cave man which makes writing uncomfortable. I’ve suffered many years with the dent on my ring finger from writing too much and having to stop and rub my hand because it’s so sore. But. I’ve also suffered with bad knees and cramped feet from wearing flats and shoes that have no arch support. Do I ever want to switch over to Crocs or wearing running shoes all the time?

I really do respect comfort but it’s hard for me to fully support something if amcompletely sacrificing style. Crocs might help my knee problems but not feeling respectable about what I’m wearing is not worth it to me. The same goes with Mr. UGLee Pen. Yes I bet it’s a pleasure to use and yes I bet I could write a lot longer and faster with that thing but sparkly lumpy gel grip and a logo that reminds me of Goose Bumps doesn’t really inspire me to switch. I’m just saying.

Sorry if I have offended anyone with my extremely shallow, unqualified review. If you have tried out this pen, fight for it in the comments below! (And if you love Crocs..well I will try to listen to your argument too.)

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Sorry that this is turning into a DIY blog; I promise I don’t mean for it to get that way. I just keep finding cool projects that you can do with stuff lying around your office!  Now before I pass on these simple instructions from Apartment Therapy (thanks for sharing!) I need to give the disclaimer that I’m not necessarily assuming you have a ton of extension cords lying around (or even one extension cord lying around) don’t worry I will suggest another use. Also, I am not suggesting that you use a really colorful, girly piece of paper that makes everyone in your office think you are a woose. I think you could use a classy black or solid, dark colored paper that would look very classy and professional.

Here goes:

The version shown on Unclutter struck us as a fine idea, but it was missing a little something-something. Call us extreme aesthetes, but we wanted to make our cord holder a little more attractive (it’s the Martha in us). We had a remnant piece of decorative wrapping paper we thought would do a fine job of fancying up our version of an extension cord holder. All you’ll need is the paper roll, a small piece of wrapping paper, scissors and tape (recommend additional double-stick tape for a nicer finish)

We wrapped our roll using one piece to adhesive the paper to the roll, while apply a double-stick tape at the finishing end for a seamless finish. You should have about 1/2″ of excess wrapping paper length sticking out from both ends when done.

Now cut every 3/4″-1″ cut a slit down to the roll until all you’ve made it all the way around. Apply a piece of tap with a bit hanging off, fold over into the roll and adhesive down.

Here’s where I’m going to use it:

Does it look like this underneath your desk too? Do you accidentally unplug the printer that’s around the corner but somehow plugged into your power strip? I think I definitely need some cord consolidation and someday I will hunt down an empty toilet paper roll to make one. It maybe even be useful in being able to determine which cord is going to which place instead of a big jumbled mess.

How do you keep your cords under control? Would love to get your tips!

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To call this a DIY project would be ridiculous since all you need is scotch tape and a finger.  I actually don’t recommend double stick tape because that stuff is really sticky and might end up ripping your pages which would be upsetting.

All you do is wrap a piece of scotch tape around your finger (not too tight!) with the sticky side out. (I know that is easier said than done.) Then you can start browsing books and notebooks with ease!  Did everyone already know about this? I feel kind out of the loop- this is super handy.

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