Shanghai’s earth-friendly lifestyle movement is gathering momentum as more and more designers and businesses come out of the recycled woodwork with sustainable and stylish offerings. In the last year, the city has become home to China’s first carbon-neutral boutique hotel, a carbon-neutral wellness centre, an annual Eco Design Fair, and a groundbreaking design collective, named Nest.

Nest is the brainchild of Shanghai-based Danish designer Trine Targett, who transformed her Taikang Lu loft space into a retail showcase with seven like-minded design talents. The collective features exclusive product lines that demonstrate intelligent design and responsible manufacturing. All the products on offer champion natural, renewable or recyclable materials with a low impact on the environment. Meanwhile, the product creation process itself supports local artisans and cottage industries. Even the coffee they served here is organic fair trade, while sales receipts are printed with soy-based ink.

Bambu’s stunning range of hand-coiled bamboo kitchen bowls, contrasting bare wood inside and vibrant lacquered exteriors, brighten up one corner of the showroom, next to 100 per cent certified organic cotton baby kimonos and tees by Wobabybasics. Other products include sustainable furniture from A00 architects, which uses plywood, cardboards and water-based glues in their range of shapely, non-toxic chairs and loungers; Brown Rice’s natural fibre clothing range inspired by Chinese culture past and future; Y-Town’s funky totes made from recycled art posters; and Jooi’s home decor and accessories.

Celebrated local brands Torana Carpets and Asianera have also created dedicated ranges for Nest. Torana’s hand-knotted Tibetan highland wool carpets come in a variety of square-shaped contemporary designs, while Asianera produces a lustrous range of fine bone china in different shades of white. “In this age of mass production and high tech, we want our designs to contain a little more human spirit and individuality,” says Asianera founder Grace Liu.

This is a spirit that is very much alive in the inspired objects and philosophies cultivated at Nest.