Today my guest is Rowena Finegan, BBEC, Managing Partner and Interior Designer of Pine Street Natural Interiors in Sausalito, California. She says: “Our mission has always been to provide a next wave of green furniture and design, one that combines social responsibility and healthy habits with color and texture and, well, fun.” The idea for this particular combination hatched years ago as Ms. Finegan visited various countries all over the globe, where she developed her design sense, which is especially influenced by African and European pattern and style. Emigrating from Brighton, England when she was in her early thirties, she started her business life in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She built a tiny shop handling ski clothing alterations into a very successful interior design concern that handled high end clients and hotels in the area. Not satisfied with the essence of her work, she eventually sold her business and enrolled with the Institute for Bau Biologie and Ecology, which promotes the use of healthy building principles in homes and also teaches its students how to identify elements in the home that might be dangerous, such as mold and volatile organic compounds released from such materials as carpet and plastics. Ms. Finegan earned a certification as a Building Biology Environmental Consultant (BBEC). For the past ten years, Ms. Finegan has been using the principles of Bau-biology in her work, specializing in Healthy Home Interior Design. In 2004, Ms. Finegan collaborated with Cisco Pinedo, owner of Cisco Brothers, a furniture manufacturing company in Los Angeles, to create a sustainable, fully upholstered furniture line, utilizing natural, non-toxic and sustainable materials. www.pinestreetinteriors.com