Mariel Hemingway’s Life-Embracing Choices

Story by Grace Stokes

Mariel Heminway, author, actress, and celebrity environmentalist is practicing what she preaches! She’s renovating her kitchen and bath under the helm of Healthy Child Healthy World and has selected Cambria Quartz Countertops for her Kitchen and Bath. Mariel, a Cambria advocate since 2010, tells interiors.net that she’s thrilled to finally have a kitchen that uses products that are not harmful to her and her family. “The reason that I like Cambria is that it’s American Made, it’s sustainable, it doesn’t contain toxic chemicals, has zero emissions and is safe for the environment.”

Caring about the environment is more than Mariel’s passion, it’s her way of life. As an avid spokesperson for health and wellness, she has penned three books and led wellness workshops throughout the nation promoting healthy lifestyles. Mariel and her partner Bobby Williams are launching TheWillingWay.com this summer to “help people live better, be more in tune with themselves, those around them and their environment in a way that makes them want to celebrate who and what they are.”

The Will and Way! Mariel Hemingway and Bobby Williams will Launch TheWillingWay.com this summer

“Many people ask me when I became so passionate about wellness, about the environment but wellness is my way of life and it always has been. Wellness is everything from the food we eat, to the company we keep, it’s the products we use. It’s about being aware of the world around us, you know nature is our teacher and nature is beautiful and I’ve always been surrounded by nature. ”  Mariel says there never was a time when she suddenly became concerned about the environment and living well. It’s just something her and her family have lived for generations. She grew up on the family farm, nestled in the beautiful landscapes of Ketchum, Idaho, surrounded by nature and the legacy of her Nobel Prize winning grandfather Ernest Hemingway. Part of her teen years were spent living in New York City pursuing her acting career but Mariel never lost touch with her love of nature because she gravitates to it wherever she is. “I get in touch with nature everyday and I feel that everyone else should too. No matter where you are, even in a big city you can find a patch of grass take your shoes off and get in touch with nature!” and, “Anyone can be an environmentalist”, she adds, “many people think it’s a lot of work but it’s not. Being an environmentalist can be as easy as getting your fruits and vegetables from your local farmers market. Most of us don’t even know this but the majority of us live within five miles of a farmers market!” (cont’d)

Finding Balance

(cont’d)

Mariel Hemingway is a bonafide Yogi and believes that our own discovery of what keeps us balanced can improve our lives and the lives of others. She has written several books on the subject: “Finding My Balance”, “Healthy Living from the Inside Out” and a cookbook “Mariel’s Kitchen: Simple Ingredients for a Delicious and Satisfying Life”. Though she feels that she was born an environmentalist, Mariel says that she had to try many things before finding her right balance, to her it’s an ongoing process.” I was a vegetarian for some time, but found it made me feel off balance, but Bobby is into that, he does the raw food, and I do eat meat now because I felt my body needed it. I only buy meat from farms that I know and that I know take care to raise animals that are cared for and unharmed during their life, and it’s honored and respected, I eat it with honor and respect. I value what I eat and where it comes from and what it does for me.” She shared more on finding her balance, stating, “I tried the alkaline water for a long while but for me, I realized that since I already eat alkaline foods, fresh fruits and vegetables,  I found that I didn’t need alkaline water anymore, but I think it’s fine for someone who needs it.” I asked Mariel what we could all do to find more balance in our own Kitchen and Mariel says “anyone who has a microwave shouldn’t cook food in it!” She tells me that microwaves change food on a molecular level, leaving it worthless for consumption. She feels the kitchen is the soul of our wellness and making sure that our kitchens are safe and healthy for our families can contribute to the balance we need. What else can we do? Mariel advises,  “Anyone who can buy Cambria Quartz countertops for their kitchen, should!”

Cambria for the Kitchen

Choosing Cambria Quartz is a decision consumers can feel good about. Quartz is a natural stone that comes from the earth and Cambria is the only manufacturer of quartz countertops in the United States. Most granite and marble gets imported to the U.S. from Xiamen, China’s billion dollar a year stone industry. Even Calcutta Marble gets imported from China. Lawmakers have only just begun implementing  a new “Environmental Act” this year on China that will require labeling of their product’s carbon footprint. But, Cambria on the other hand, is a family owned company which has implimented high standards of their own. They meet their product’s carbon footprint requirements by law and have been doing so since they opened their Le Sueur, Minnesota plant. There they also recycle and recover 100 percent of the water used in its production processes through unique settling and filtering techniques.

Cambria for the Shower

You won’t find Cambria quartz in the “Big Box” stores but they do have a select group of partners dedicated to quality and customer service. “Our retail partners get a high-value brand that mass retailers can’t touch,” a Cambria exec told us, “Cambria is elated with the response we have gotten from interior designers regarding our newest colors in the Waterstone Collection.  Our research and development team tapped the minds of the nation’s hottest interior designers to see what they wanted in new colors from Cambria – the need for the look of granite and marble, but with the performance benefits of Cambria Quartz.  Cambria is proud to lead the pack when it comes to cutting-edge color innovation.”

- Mariel Hemingway

Cambria Quartz has hundreds of colors to choose from. Which ones will Mariel be using in her renovation? Mariel Hemingway tells us she likes several of the earthy brown tones from Cambria’s new Waterstone Collection but she hasn’t yet committed to the exact color schemes. “I do like Cambria because it’s good for the environment but really part of our health and wellness is beauty. I was able to mix and match Cambria colors, it was exciting and it’s going to be beautiful!” says Mariel,  ”One of the great things about the products that I represent or anything that I do in my life is that it represents kind of something of nature, you know nature is beautiful, nature is our teacher and that’s where my passion comes out. It is my connection, my lifestyle, how to eat, how to live, what to say. But it all comes down to the same things,” she adds, ” it really comes down to how much you love yourself. Whether you make good choices at home is about how much you love yourself and it really means that you care about life and your products.”

interiors.net readers will be updated on the outcome of Mariel Hemingway’s  renovation and her final Cambria color choices will be posted here on our site –  so stay tuned!

For more info about Mariel Hemingway you can visit Mariel’s website

also Visit CambriaQuartz.com to learn more about  their residential and commercial product lines.

Here are just some of the many exciting colors of Cambria Quartz:

Story by Grace Stokes