Photo courtesy of Sissey, Grand Designs Week Upcycling Hub
Sustainability is a trend that isn’t going anywhere. Now more than ever, designers are taking note and bringing more awareness to the dangers our environment is currently facing. Here are Top 10 initiatives to get you inspired on your own sustainable journey.
- Join the movement by taking the leap and into transitioning into eco-friendly materials. From zero waste shopping kits to small switch conscious living sets, Know The Origin gives you the goods you need. A Fairtrade and organic fashion label, this brand incorporates sustainability in everyday living. The brand includes organic duvet sets in crisp whites and blues that you can also choose from here to add to your home collection.
2. Bram Vanderbeke is an artist creating furniture art out of bricks. The Belgian designer transforms and explores possible interactions between objects with raw materials. His abstract furniture pieces are treated with pigments and wax to create a texture with a surprising touch, aiming to treat concrete as a natural material for value.
Want to try your creative hand in a concrete competition? Hosted by University of the Arts London, you can put your creativity to test with The 4Fashion Concrete Competition taking place on Thursday, February 28th. London College of Fashion and Student Union are launching the series, allowing students to collaborate with the design team to achieve a pattern that would be developed into a special finish for the components of LCF’s new building structure.
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3. Chinese studio Bentu Design aims to highlight the amount of waste produced by the ceramics industry. With its Wreck furniture range, their name Bentu means “local creating”, creating raw materials that are local. The label believes that even dirt can be as valuable as a diamond when treated with diligence.
Photo courtesy of Sissey, Grand Designs Week Upcycling Hub
4. London Craft Week is the 8th – 12th of May, and Woven Waste, A Second-Life Installation from a Regenerating Site, will be giving a talk on May 9th. The woven installation, made from re-purposed construction waste materials, is created by designers Monica Cass of par-avion co. and Claire Potter Design, both of whom highlight the sustainable management of construction waste. The two designers are combining their eco-conscious design ethos and transforming construction into intricately woven structures.
5. London-based designer Nir Meiri has created a series of table lamps using mushroom mycelium as an alternative to synthetic materials. The shades for each of the minimal table lamps is made from mycelium, and the vegetative part of a fungus forms the stand and base, so due to the way mycelium consumes this waste, Meiri believes that the development of fungi material could be a massive new idea in how we look at furniture in the future. Who knew that a fungi could become a piece of furniture?
Photo courtesy of Sissey, Grand Designs Week Upcycling Hub
6. Altrock is creating a whole new visual experience, combining materials like marble flour—the powder that results from cutting through marble—and chips, chunks and broken slabs that result in beautifully hand-chipped art. These durable designs are made from 87% reclaimed and recycled materials and create the most unique patterns.
Want to re-create your own marble home project? A marble slab can be salvaged after home-renovation projects, which can become a stylish home addition. Re-create your own look by using salvaged pieces for a mug coaster, a stylish platform for a plant, or even a heat coolant stand for your hair straightener or blow dryer.
7. Forming and fitting without toxic glues and materials is a brilliant example of the zero-waste movement. Pentatonic is a company created by Jamie Hall and Johann Boedecker, working with an adapted injection-moulding process to transform waste materials into homeware. The rubbish material that they choose can include anything from smartphones, cans, and cigarettes. With plastic, the waste is washed and sorted before it is shredded into pellets to create a new material ready to be formed into furniture.
8. Benjamin Hubert has collaborated with British furniture brand Allermuir to create a collection made entirely from recycled materials. The Axyl collection is designed by Hubert’s studio Layer for Allermuir and comprises of furniture pieces that are made totally from reclaimed materials. Recycled aluminium forms the frames of a chair, stool and table, while the shells, seats and tabletops are available in recycled wood fibrse, timber or nylon. Hubert also uses steam-bending techniques with expressive minimalism to create clever construction ideas.
9. Author Ellie Bullen Watson has created a delicious vegan recipe book with more than 100 plant-based diet recipes. Her book, Elsa’s Wholesome Life can be found here. The Wholesome Store, created by duo Ellie and Alex Watson, is an Australian lifestyle brand based on ethical, eco-conscious and plant based concepts. From plastic-free shopping bundles to bamboo drinking straws, this wholesome pair has a plethora of eco-friendly products and goodness. Visit her inspiring Instagram page here which features connections to nature that are simple, surreal, and full of plant-based goodies.
10. Masters of Making: Making Sustainable Furniture by The Odd Chair Company will also be giving an informative talk at London Craft Week. Celebrating 50 years in the making, this family-run business is ethical from the start to finish, beautifully crafting solid timbers of highest quality. Their pieces are dowelled and corner blocked, creating pieces that last for a lifetime. Find out more information by visiting London Craft Week here.
Fancy lending a hand? You can sign up to attend a half-day training session for London Craft Week this upcoming Thursday, April 25th. Volunteering has proven to be a rewarding experience, so you can gain something valuable by pitching in, having fun, and lending towards a good cause in return. Find out more information here.
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