Heavy duty seating from upcycled tires and M100 chair by Matias Ruiz Malbran. Maya chair by Arya Alfieri.

October 08, 2013

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/29/175621576/self-taught-architect-behind-brooklyns-broken-angel-faces-eviction

April 05, 2013

May 31, 2012

Re-Love  is a project by MAEZM.“Most clothes and chairs used in the past were collected by the artists and other relevant parties. It was designed based on a new method using objects in which memories remain and original function gone.  The discarded chair once again becomes a comfortable sofa with clothes on top. Clothes are what enable the chair to play its part. This is also understood as one’s own past. As clothes are tangled, memories can be tied up to create a new love. To love the things again means to add another function to them. To love the things again means to add another function to them”

“To love the things again here needs be distinguished from recycling. Though the old and ragged chair in my room will gradually lose a great deal of its original function, it will hold prevalent value over other new ones through the time and space shared with me. This chair may carry an image of myself on it, stretching leg to the floor, or elaborately cherish a reminiscence of a time when I conversed with someone.
Sharing of such time and memory is also a matter of intimacy between me and the thing. However, regrettably enough, we repeatedly replace the thing for a new ‘goods’ unconsciously in pursuit of the ‘function’ it provides. The relationship between a thing and people should be understood as an expression of
‘self love’ on oneself as a result rather than personifying a thing. The intention is that the act of loving a thing again is engraved as love of one self about the time and space, and such love be proposed as methodology through ‘RE_LOVE’ “

May 11, 2012

April 11, 2012

January 30, 2012

Scrapwood furniture by Dutch designer, Piet Hein Eek:

- http://www.pietheineek.nl/en/collection/scrapwood

August 06, 2011

July 14, 2011

Bike chain wall clock by Andreas Dober.

May 07, 2011

April 17, 2011

“The project deals with giving new life to damaged, out-of-use furniture. over the past year, I practiced furniture-healing through design. The cultural and personal history of each piece of damaged furniture served as a starting point for the treatment, which attempted to preserve each one of their stories. the intention was to explore with joy, the multiple personalities, and the defects that exist in old products, and to create a human and hybrid aesthetic language[...] I started exploring a visual language that deals with imperfections, and giving objects human-like gestures.” - Noam Tabenkin

Read more about noam Tabenkin’s furniture on Visual Syntex

February 22, 2011

I love this extra shabby, homemade wardrobe. Found on http://www.kabinettandkammer.com/

February 09, 2011

A chest of drawers made from old suitcases.

January 15, 2011

I found these beautiful greenhouses made from upcycled old windows on HAUTE NATURE. I recently have seen a bunch of gorgeous old windows in the garbage. ...

October 29, 2010

This mug by lenni08 reminds me of where I grew up. There are many birch trees in Russia — it’s considered the national tree.

This necklace made of birch bark by bettula is inspired by the discarded and unusual. You don’t have to think very hard to figure out which tree is my favorite.

When I was growing up, people in Russia did not have a lot of money to buy new wares, so they made belongings out of other objects. To this day I think it is pretty cool to see objects and materials being reused, like this rotating bike wheel pot rack by plaidclad

These beautiful and valuable bits and pieces almost disappeared into the garbage pile forever! Get inspired to recycle by the digit recycled leather necklace by mainichi and shift key typewriter vintage pendant necklace by PreciousPastimes.

This neglected dresser was salvaged and restored by rubyrhino1 and made into a vintage masterpiece.  It reminds me of our summer dacha in Russia.

Read full Design Squish guest Curator post on Etsy:

- Earth Tones: Design Squish’s Eco Picks

September 16, 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

Old workshop seat.

Coffee table from recycled cable drum.

Chair from old sewing factory.

Pillows from vintage produce sacks.

Images from ArtKraft Furniture and Design.

June 28, 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

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

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

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

January 11, 2010

Emergency Response Studio, by Paul Villinski, is a solar-powered, mobile artist’s studio, rebuilt from an old trailer. An artist needs to be mobile and free just in case of the ocean water rising because Greenland is melting, and other devastating natural disasters, such as Katrina in New Orleans. 

July 19, 2009

I found this old vintage chair - $2, and two frames - $3 on garage sale.  They were falling apart and covered in dust.  I washed them and repainted them. 

June 04, 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

AFTER:

BEFORE:

The city slowly have been replacing old modern silver lamp posts and installing new old fashioned Victorian style (“Bishop’s Crook”) street lamps to match the historic architecture of the Ditmas Park’s large, free-standing Victorian homes built in the 1900s. Ditmas Park is actually a neighborhood in Brooklyn that have been officially designated a Historic District. It has remained rural until the early 20th century and still fells a lot like a small village surrounded by the city.

March 14, 2009

My friend Sergio is making New York City more beautiful by restoring and creating new architectural stone ornaments, reliefs, figures, gargoyles and public monuments. I like how they are not entirely symmetrical and organic.
Besides stone conservation Sergio is currently working on a documentary about atlantic rain forest. Sergio writes: “Some areas of the Atlantic Forest have been designated by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve because of their outstanding biological distinctiveness. Others, equally distinctive, beautiful and rich in species diversity and endemism, are still unprotected.
Until interrupted by human encroachment, continuous areas of forest extended for thousand of miles, linking the Great Araucaria Forest of Southern Brazil to the Amazon jungle. Many plants and animals have evolved travelling throughout the tropical and temperate zones of the New World. This flow is essential to maintaining the rich gene pool and species diversity of the area. The fragmentation of these forests places many species, including some existing only there, under critical threat of extinction”.
Webite for the film: ATLANTIC FOREST 911. 

February 09, 2009

Great way to restore old chairs!
&MADE is one of the UKs freshest consultancies for ethically conscious contemporary design. Located in a former mid 20th Century doss house overlooking a tributary of the River Thames, they have grown from their birth in 2005 into an award winning studio, working in product, furniture and spatial design. With an extensive knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes and a background of new technologies and engineering , &made demonstrate a unique creative process, with a commitment to conscious design. One that has been recognised by the Design Museum, MoMA and Terrence Conran.

November 23, 2008