TrendHunter's Top 10 Eco Trends of November

by Amanda Hinski

As November comes to a startingly too-soon end, TrendHunter.com has compiled a list of Top 50 Trends in November 2010. I'm pleased to bring you a closer look at their top 10. From bubble tents to bike tents and homes made of trash to homes made for the miniature urbanite, there's something on this list for the nature-friendly, environmentally conscious.

#10 Garbage Constructed "House of Contamination"

The House of Contamination, as it is called, is purported to be "more of a village than a house." The gigantic art installation was conceived by Raumlabor, a Berlin-based architecture group. As an exhibit in the 2010 Artissima International Art Fair, the House of Contamination is more than just white trash - it's colorfully composed of "everything from used clothing to discarded electronics."

#9 Flexible "Watertable"

The Watertable, by designer Sophie Mensen, brings form and function to the kitchen sink. Derived of the "formlessness of water" and thus made of a pliable polymer that expands, the Watertable is described by Mensen's website as a "finite thing having an infinite range of appearance and expression." The structure appears to be a simple flat table without a basin, but turn on the water and the basin forms as the pressure from the water pushes it into a bowl. In order to return the sink to it's flat-table appearance, a small hole directly under the faucet drains the water.

#8 Transparent "Bubble Tent"

As an avid outdoors-woman, I can't imagine the looks I'd get if I brought this little number on my next backpacking trip. French designer Pierre Stephane Dumas, appropriately named the "Bubble Tent," leaving little up to the imagination. Designed to get people as close to nature as possible, the "balloon-encased" tent allows you to enjoy panoramic views of nature while protected from the elements.

#7 Driftwood Sculptures

These life-size animal scultures by renowned artist Heather Jansch are made of sun-bleached, twisted driftwood along with oak and copper as opposed to the usual medium for recycled art, which is generally trash. Jansch says about herbeautifully organic approach to art, "The structure must not only be strong to withstand public display, it must also be able to withstand heavy winds without falling over."