Leaf coffee cup cover by iris from thailand

From my curiousity about exact definition of "environmental design" I've questioned myself how many products we use was design to be actual environmental friendly product.

Recently environmental design became an important part in industrial design, many products were insisted to be environmental friendly, but how we can proved that? Is it really possible that every phases of production process do no harm to the environment at all? May it be some stage that damaged our environment?
This doesn't mean those design didn't work, but how can we do more to make every process a real environmental design. Paper is currently considered as one of environmental friendly material by its recyclability, moreover, paper trees were replanted all the time. However, using paper in industrial production may still cause some harm to environment.
There is an interesting thought that Thai traditional culture of wrapping food with leaf interested me. Cutting part of tree did not destroy them but let new part to bloom and can become good design that easily bring us close to nature. I think most people like coffee. It becomes today culture. Hot coffee use cover to prevent your hand from the heat. I combine design with function by using withered leaf to cover the coffee cup instead of paper. Some tree leafs have flexibility and can bend with the shape of coffee cup without tearing. The color of leafs are vary and not boring and can make the strength point to the café. Beside, dry leaf has cost less than paper and biodegradable too.
From my point of view, It was possible to try using natural material just like we used wood to produce furniture production or construction but we didn't even do harm to any of those. Nevertheless this work was inspired by my curiosity and own way out for solution, some may not agree but it was possible to try.