Disposable tin food containers transformed into ceramic and reusable by Lorena Barrezueta.

July 22, 2010

Old bathtubs, shipping crates and barrels are great “upcycle material” for DIY planters.
Above: Old barrels as planters in San Diego, California.

Bathtub garden baskets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn:

Below: Shipping crate as garden planter.

June 25, 2010

Chair redesign by Jetske Groot.  Jetske finds old chairs, carefully disassembles them and recycles them into new chairs that reflect their past history. Jetske calls her series “Multiple Family”

June 01, 2010

Book LED floor lamp. The lamp’s shade opens and closes like the cover of a book. As the shade opens wider, the light shines more brightly, and as it closes, it gradually dims and turns off. Made from recycled aluminum.

Simple, non-toxic, eco-friendly biodegradable coffin!

Eco-friendly chairs made from strawboard. (Strawboard, a formaldehyde-free material made of compressed straw- an alternative to wood particleboard or fiberboard)

Invisible Street Lights designed by Jongoh Lee are in the shape of tree leaves and can be wrapped around tree branches.  During the day, these leaf structures mingle in the tree’s natural leaves, harnessing and storing sunlight. At night, they provide a poetic alternative to streetlights. 

National Design Triennial is on right now at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City.

May 28, 2010

Lamp made from scrub pads and chandelier made from
plastic spoons by Daisuke Hirawa.

Tiago Sa Da costa creates bowls and lamps out of natural material - cork. 

Hand knitted recycled cotton and leather bags by Lana Williams

Colorful, environmentally friendly wood blocks by Miller Goodman.

Scrap Lights made of recycled cardboard.

May 18, 2010

Old rusty bike found on garage sale restored and repainted in the Gzhel style of ceramics. Gzhel is a Russian style of ceramics which takes its name from the village of Gzhel and surrounding area, where it has been produced since 1802.

April 08, 2010

Reused shipping crate wood for shelves, glasses and cups from grandma’s garage, flea market or thrift store and a few handmade ceramic bowls.
Done!

Image found on beautiful blog by Anna Rikje, photographer and musician from Germany currently living in New York City -  I Truly Like That.

March 30, 2010

I was excited to find these great “Recycled Banner Golden Mean Messenger Bags”  DIY instructions a la Freitag bike messenger bags.  (Can be made under $5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!). Comfortable, light, tough billboard sign material (waterproof). To view instructions please visit: EEIO Golden Mean messenger bag instructions
In stores, nice bike messenger bags can be $200. Making your own not only saves money but also is good for environment.  I just saw a truck driver discard a big piece of truck tarpaulin and now it is lying on the street waiting to be made into bags.

March 03, 2010

Black Pine Books makes these beautiful high-quality, affordable alternatives to more mass-produced journals. Recycled papers are utilized when possible and all items are entirely hand-made.
Moss and Khaki notebooks are made from recycled paper and have light gray paper( 80 pages). They are saddle-stitched (also known as staple-bound)
The Dusk (Navy) journals have hand-sewn binding,  heavy dark blue cover stock and the inside has a narrow-ruled, blue lined paper (80 pages). Comes with the option of a hand-made band, which helps keep the book flat when not in use.

http://www.blackpinebooks.com/

February 20, 2010

LED lamp by Brooklyn based designer Stanley Ruiz,  inspired by fabrication techniques of indigenous peoples.  An energy efficient LED strip is encased in felt, taking advantage of felt’s quality of being a fire-retardant material. 
The lamp was designed to reduce a task lamp to its bare essential- reducing the components and eliminating the use of complex machinery in production.

February 17, 2010

I actually do not remember where I found this post card or who made it but I really love it.

February 14, 2010

I love these computer-graphic-design-font-inspired eco-friendly pillows! Pillow sets are made from 100% recycled Plastic bottles Eco Felt .
Eco felt letter pillows by Alexandra Ferduson and Ctrl Alt Del soft pillows by Diffraction Fiber. 

February 10, 2010

Above: Images of bird illustrations wallpaper found on Katy Elliott Blog

DIY: newspaper, old book pages, drawings and illustrations as wallpaper.  ( Caution:  newspaper yellows with time.)

January 06, 2010

Pillows made from recycled suit-jackets by Hilary Cosgrove.

January 04, 2010

Recycled map envelopes by DIREKTRECYCLING.
(Good DIY idea too.)

Beautiful handmade ceramic cups and plates by Zena Verda Pesta.
“I’m interested in the importance of accumulated personal objects. For example, my mother had a spray-painted gold brick, which held open the door to the apartment I lived in as a child. This illusion of luxury served more than one function for her. As she would continue her daily tasks like laundry, the brick would twinkle some significance every time she entered or exited. I am investigating the transformational aspects of the gold brick. Pondering its peculiarity, many questions arise in my mind about the functions of this object” - from zenaverda.com

December 22, 2009

Images from the book Heavenly Visions:Shaker Gift Drawings and Gift Songs.

December 21, 2009

December 16, 2009

Flower inspired earthenware by Walter Ostrom.

October 26, 2009

Red Chair Antiques.  Found on Wabi & Sabi blog.

October 12, 2009

Reusing old buttons as fridge magnets. By Skin and Tonic Too.



Rings made with old vintage buttons. Found in Red Chair Antiques shop.

Ceramic rubber duckie by Futility l.t.d Really cool.



Ceramic milk carton bt Hanna Risgaard.

July 19, 2009

Ceramic Teacup by Jonathan Trotter

July 18, 2009

Bags from re-purposed, recycled coffee sacks!  Lined with a soft unbleached cotton. by Mayamade. 

May 31, 2009

This drawing by Karin Uusikorpi of an owl is incredible.  I found it by accident by looking through flickr.  Karin writes about herself:  ” I am a prairie girl born in Saskatchewan and raised in Northern Alberta. I draw, paint and play with colour. I eventually will get back to making things out of clay. I have made art in some form or another since I was little & still do. I am always picking stuff off the ground and saving it for future use - I am a self proclaimed ‘packrat’ and ‘magpie’ that routinely tries to cull the collection of stuff”

May 29, 2009

Casamento, located in Cape Town, South Africa individually hand crafts furniture using recycled frames and only natural fibers throughout: natural non-allergenic fibers: sisal, raw cotton wadding, horsehair jute webbing, hessian and flock natural fibers.

May 18, 2009

I love lighting made from old teacups and milk bottles! (as you already could have guessed from my previous blog postings)  I found this teacup chandelier by Domestic Construction and this milk bottle chandelier by Bonne Plat on the Conversation Pieces Blog - blog about finding neat, sweet and unusual items in junk and charity shops, online, and everywhere else in between.

May 17, 2009

Projekt Mobilivre - Bookmobile Project is primarily based in Montreal and Philadelphia. It is a trailer converted into a small mobile gallery and library that showcases handmade books and zines from all over the world.  Traveling through Canada and US, this bookmobile visits community centers, schools, colleges, libraries, festivals and artist-run centers.  I happened to run into Mobilivre-Bookmobile while I was studying at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and was stunned by the idea of a traveling gallery/library. 






Bookmobile is a vehicle designed as a traveling library.  Slumgullion,  is a collaboration project that strives to create community, empower young voices, and promote literacy and the humanities through the book arts and zines. It is based in Missoula, Montana.  Slumgullion’s bookmobile exhibits handmade books, art zines and is just like a regular bookmobile only it is bike powered!

May 02, 2009

*Above: Patchwork Harmony - http://www.patchworkharmony.co.uk

April 25, 2009

1. Chandeliers by Madeleine Boulsteix are made from old tea cups, jewelry, beads, marbles and kitchen utencils.

2. Droog Design Chandelier made from milk bottles.

April 24, 2009