Above: Shelving/vase system displaying thistles, dried plants and exotic flowers.

Daniel Goers is a local Brooklyn designer, architect and artist who has a show right now called Scrap Ecology at Brooklyn coffee shop K-Dog in Lefferts Gardens.  All pieces are made from reclaimed materials except some lighting components. Daniel has been collecting scrap materials and remaking them into beautiful designs and sculptures for some time now. His other great project is in collaboration with artist Jennifer Wong called Birdtown. Fifty birdhouses were built from recycled materials and installed in Fort Greene:

http://myrtleavenuebirdtown.com/

Above: Daniel Goers and Jennifer Wong.

Above: Birdhouse from Birdtown.

Scrap Ecology aims to rearrange the raw materials of our urban and natural environments into objects with new meaning and purpose. These materials include abandoned shipping pallets from Red Hook, wood cutoffs from carpentry projects, recycled packaging, discarded architectural samples, donated plant stems and foraged specimens from Prospect Park and the mountains of Harriman State Park.

http://dgoers.com

Why reclaimed materials?

New York is a great place to find raw materials to build with.  every day the streets are filled with “trash” that can be so much more. But maybe the best reason is that material is free. The reclaimed material also tends to have more character.

Do you enjoy living in New York? Would you if you had an opportunity move somewhere where there are more trees and less garbage?

Of course, New York is a great place to be a designer but my sculptures do hint at the desire to be closer to nature.  I would love to live in a barn in the mountains but in the meantime I will work to bring nature to people’s homes here.

Above: Lamp made from glass jar moss terrariums.

Why do you think using reclaimed materials is popular today? 

It’s just marketing for many people. I like to believe that myself and many other designers simply see some intrinsic value and potential in the waste around us. What was once a shipping pallet can become a hundred new things, so why cut down another tree?  More people come to this realization and the ‘green’ movement will become less about marketing & more a part of the collective conscience.

September 10, 2010

How to make sofa out of pillows?
This cusioned sofa by Christiane Hoegner “uses the smallest element of a sofa - the little pillow on top - as main component.  Usually used to adjust and customize your personal comfort level, it is now multiplied and piled up to the shape of a sofa” - Christiane

Dad pillows by Christiane Hoegner made from button up shirts. Great idea for DIY project and a way to reuse old shirts!

Another beautiful pillow inspired sofa and stool:

Hanabi by MottoWasabi can be freely transformed according to different needs and seating situations and it is also possible to form a sofa by combining several Hanabis together.

August 24, 2010

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

July 22, 2010

Wild blackberries and red salmon berries gathered in Upstate New York, Harriman State Park. I never had salmon berries before.  They are so delicious! Almost as good as or better than raspberries.

July 19, 2010

Cafe America is an upcycled galvanized steel chain-link chair with stainless steel rod and fasteners by Grain. The chair flat-packs for efficient shipping and storage.  Handmade in the Pacific Northwest, USA.

July 07, 2010

July 06, 2010

“Man can better set up in a small house than in a huge castle.” - Leo N. Tolstoy

“With the loved ones you can be happy even in the smallest of places.” - Leo N. Tolstoy.

July 03, 2010

June 17, 2010

VerTerra’s disposable tableware is a great alternative to plastic and paper plates. It is made from fallen palm leaves and water only and biodegrades naturally within two months.

June 07, 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

Scrap wood chair. (Perfect DIY idea)

Skateboard wheels rotating table. (Great idea for reusing skateboard wheels)

Button toy. (Great idea for reusing buttons)

Future Perfect is a good new design store in
Williamsburg and East Village, New York.

May 26, 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

Log speakers by Stanley Ruiz - http://stanleyruiz.com  Stanley’s speakers are composed of only wood and metal. “It is a very lo-fi, unassuming approach to product design.  Improvisation is a major part of my process” - Stanley.

Ceramic speakers by Joey Roth: 

The speaker system is reduced to its most simple form.  It is also made out of all natural materials consisting of porcelain, cork, and birch.

May 14, 2010

Reused shipping crate shelves / drawers by Linda Jose.  Furniture designed to reuse shipping crates.

May 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

Sets of mismatched dining chairs. Life becomes much easier with mismatch!  Photos from Emma Blog, unpolished Life and Apartment Therapy.

March 10, 2010

How to hand build your own well!!! (in Russian): www.kolodec.ru

March 08, 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

Flower baskets made from old apple and wine crates.

February 02, 2010

Reusing plastic and wooden shipping crates as shelves and drawers.

Above: Apple crates from Bailey’s Home and Garden

Reusing plastic crates as chairs and coffee tables.

Reusing shipping crates as baskets for bikes.

Above: Bike photographs from Bakfiets en Meer blog - City Cycling News and Opinions from Amsterdam.

Above: Shipping crate as bike basket.  Image from Toronto bike blog - Globe Revolution - Inspiring Everyone to a Cycling Lifestyle

January 19, 2010

Above:  Chairs by StudioMama

January 14, 2010

Above: Sledding in Central Park

Above:  Sledding in Prospect Park

I was surprised to find out that sledding was and is a lovable activity after the snow storm in New York City Central and Prospect Parks.  Next time it starts snowing ( as it does not happen too often nowadays) I am definitely hurrying to the Prospect Park with my sled.  But what is even more surprising is that back in the days horse drawn sleigh rides were a popular activity in NYC Central Park during the winter.  Back in February of 1876, the NY Times reported over 10,000 sleighs passing through the park in one day.

Above: Sleigh riding in Central Park

“The Central Park blogger recently recalled the days when the sleighs were active, noting: “For most of the latter half of the 19th century, right up until its demolition in 1915, the McGown’s Pass Tavern awarded a magnum of champagne to the first sleigh that reached it each season. The tradition was carried on with the Central Park Casino until it’s demise in 1934.” The NY Times reported on the tradition back in 1910, saying that year the snow wasn’t heavy enough for “good sleighing.” - Jen Carlson, Gothamist

Watch a video showing how popular sleigh rides were

January 11, 2010

I like the idea of reusing old plates by drawing on them and arranging them on the wall alongside vintage plates. Inspiration from Fine Little Day

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

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

January 04, 2010

Above: Table made from reclaimed rusty steel and
sustainably sourced uk oak.

Above: Table made from reclaimed oak finished with hard
wax oil protected against stains with an eco sealant
glues used are non-toxic & solvent free

Furniture from discarded and reclaimed materials by Pacha Design

December 29, 2009

Above: Orbit Chandelier.  Spotted at The Future Perfect in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Above:  Sting Light

String Lights and Orbit Chandelier by Patrick Townsend.  I like these designs because they are so ephemeral and simple.  (Will also probably work great with LED lights)

December 27, 2009

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

Some of New York City’s rooftop houses and gardens (photos from Apartment Therapy, Treehugger and Brooklyn Roof Garden)

December 19, 2009