NEW YORK - IMAGINE a forest of bamboo poles in your living room, hollowed out and drilled to allow for stereo speakers, lighting, even bottles of wine.

The totemlike stalks - elegant yet ruggedly unrefined - are part of a design show commissioned by the Nature Conservancy to show how beautiful, fashionable objects can be produced in ways that don't harm the environment.

Ten designers were chosen to fan out across the globe to places where the conservation group is at work to protect natural resources under siege from pollution, development and overuse.

Their assignment was to partner with a community or business in the ecologically sensitive extraction of raw materials and manufacturing of products that could be sold on world markets to provide income to support the local economy.

The result of their efforts - an amazing collection of food, home furnishings, fashion and other products - can be seen in 'Design for a Living World', which opened last month at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

The catalog that accompanies the exhibit is worth noting in its own right. Documentary photographer Ami Vitale was hired to illustrate the 'production line', from the harvesting and processing of raw materials to the design and production of the objects, which sometimes took place halfway around the world.

By showing us the people whose economic well-being is entwined with the sale of such merchandise, she reinforces the message of the show - that sophisticated, 21st-century consumers can buy and use beautiful, environmentally safe products without spoiling the planet. -- AP