upcycling.

30 September 2012 // design

Find Your Happy Upcycled Baskets

Sarah is a designer living in New South Wales. She is Find Your Happy. Sarah creates these wonderful baskets—the first are from a series called ‘Roped in Neon’. They are made with natural cotton rope and nylon brickies line. The other series, ‘Waste Paper Baskets’ are made from recycled junk mail. She uses various pages of junk mail twisted and stitched into form. Sarah hand sews all of her baskets from found materials and coil them into unique shapes. No two baskets are the same. She says “I have a keen interest in sustainability and utilizing found materials in my work. Every one of my designs are hand made with love.” Shake it Sarah.

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29 August 2012 // design

Genbyg (recycled) Design

Genbyg Design (recycled design) specializes in making furniture from upcycled building materials. In their Copenhagen workshop they create unique, functional pieces with the emphasis on sustainable design. This piece is one of my favorites, a desk made from old filing drawers and salvaged Oregon pine. Shake it.

via the aviary

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6 June 2012 // cycles

Freitag – From Truck To Bag

In 1993, two design students in Switzerland constructed a weatherproof messenger bag out of used truck tarps, used car seat belts and used inner tubing of bicycle tires. Pleased with the result, they turned this idea into a business (Freitag which means Friday) and are now selling their bags all over the world. They come in a never ending wealth of colors and patterns, as they are all cut by hand from different truck tarps—hence each bag is one of a kind. Shake it Freitag!

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28 May 2012 // bottlecaps

Chalkboard Tablets – Peg and Awl

Husband and Wife team Margaux and Walter Kent are the owners of Peg and Awl a wonderful little shop that uses reclaimed materials to create treasures for the home. Their trio of chalkboard tablets is my favorite. The perfect list-sized tablet will replace any number of scraps on desktops, refrigerators or bedside tables. They are made from reclaimed oak, the bleachers from Liberty Highschool built in 1918 Philadelphia, reclaimed black leather (WWII Spats, WWII Gun Holster, Early 1900′s purse etc) chalkboard paint and a Koh-I-Noor chalk pencil. It’s been a while since I have gotten to say… everything that is old is new again. Shake it Peg and Awl.

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9 April 2012 // art

Light Reading Melbourne

How great is this!? The collection is called Light Reading Melbourne (naturally), the bricks are stenciled on each side, with titles and pages giving the appearance of an antique leather-bound book. The bricks are the work of Daryl Fitzgerald, he says - ”It whimsically invokes nostalgia for a time when libraries were cavernous worlds full of yellowing paper, silence and time. A book’s weight and size often had a direct relationship with its gravitas – and those we cherished are eternally embedded in our memory.” And I get to say… everything that is old is new again. Shake it.

via junkculture

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7 February 2012 // design

Brush Hooks by Dominic Wilcox

A group of creatives was challenged to take an everyday object, rebuild and repurpose it to create an entirely new item using as little additional materials as possible to be displayed as part of the exhibition Object Abuse. Dominic wilcox says he left these paint brushes unwashed so they would harden—a series of paint brushes, whose bristles have curved upwards created wall-mounted hooks to hang one’s belongings on. A simple, smart design. Shake it.

via designboom

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4 February 2012 // art

Aaron Moran – New Zone Structures

Aaron Moran is from BC’s lower mainland. Recently I fell in love with his geometric sculptures made of reclaimed wood. It was a pleasure to see them so predominately featured in the art world. They are magnificent. His most recent series, New Zone Structures is a study in pattern, structure and reclaiming what has been left behind. In a recent interview with Hunted he said of his work -

“At present, the Fraser Valley is growing at a very rapid rate, meaning that housing and development is on the rise. My work literally grows out of this development as I use predominantly found materials from housing / demolition sites around my neighborhood and surrounding areas. There are entire blocks of forests and single dwelling homes getting toppled to make way for town-homes and high occupancy / close proximity condominiums. I could not help but be drawn to these lots to further investigate and what I consistently ended up finding were large stock piles of building materials (from old homes and new) left for waste. I was drawn to the beauty, history, and story of these materials and naturally began using them.”

The beautiful story of his process, and his passion for reclaiming that in which has been left behind makes me grateful to once again say —Everything that is old is new again. Thank you Aaron for shakin it.

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1 February 2012 // bottlecaps

JacQ Vintage Ruler Cuffs

Jacqueline von Tesmar makes all of her pieces in a small studio in Brooklyn, New York. She disassembles the rulers and shapes them into bracelets with light hammering and filing, vintage and new, no two are exactly alike. I just adore them and what makes them even more special are her detailed descriptions of each….

“This is a handmade round bangle from a vintage Stanley fold out ruler. It is aluminum with a steel bracket on the inside of one end where the ruler used to be riveted together. The numbers and marking lines are raised and a the original black coloring is mostly intact. The bangle measures approximately 7″ round x 1/2″ wide and has a 1/2″ space for rooling it over your wrist, and can be closed down a little once it’s on. The numbers on the outside are 1 through 5, and the numbers on the inside are 67 through 71. This piece says ‘Stanley’, ‘SW’ in a heart, ‘No. 426′ and ‘Made in U.S.A.’ on the outside. On the inside; “PAT’D 12-2-13″ and “1-9-17-12-4-17″ on theinside. ’JACQ 2011′ is engraved on the end.” Shake it JacQ.

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29 December 2011 // design

NottyPooch – Recycled Billboard Banner Awesomeness

Huey and Wah are Notty Pooch and they live in Penang, Malaysia. They make laptop sleeves, storage bins, wallets, and my favorite, planters out of recycled billboard banners. They ship them flat and then you put your own pot in the planter. Water will drain from the stitches and corners. They come with short jute handles but you can always replace them with longer strands if you want to hang them. Of course each piece is unique, and yes, NottyPooch is full of awesomeness. Shake it.

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19 December 2011 // design

EarthSeaWarrior – Lamps

EarthSeaWarrior by Ursala is a great Etsy shop I recently found. She is based in Brooklyn, New York and “specializes in the reconstruction of paleontological artifacts and industrial relics.” I love the vintage lamps she refurbishes. She finds one of a kind lighting, rewires it and adds a colorful, cloth covered cord—revitalizing it into a unique addition to any home or office. And once again I get to say… everything that is old is new again. Shake it.