Papier series

Designed as a collaborative project between Saskia and Stefan Diez, this “Papier” series started out with the basic requirements of a travel bag – durability, protection and light weight. Made of Tyvek®, a synthetic recyclable paper that is extremely lightweight, water and tear-proof. Available here.

Reclaimed Wood

These stairs are constructed using materials are recovered antique floor wood and construction wood from the castle. I simply love the tone and colour of the wood!

Jennifer Collier

These adorable book shoes are created by artist Jennifer Collier. Jennifer creates innovative textiles and craft pieces using natural and found materials such as plastics, papers and fabrics. For more amazing work, do visit her website here!

Wall mounted Crates

I love this storage idea. (via Creature Comforts)

Corner Forest

I really love it when designers turn the most common objects one would usually not bat an eyelid to into beautiful objects. Such as these paper toilet rolls above by yuken teruya.

Yuken Teruya is a artist whose work involve manipulating everyday objects and transforming their meanings to reflect on contemporary society and culture, such as the growing consumerism of contemporary society, depleting natural resources and other problems associated with globalism.

By cutting trees out of paper bags and cardboard toilet paper rolls, he creates meticulous and intricate art works which relate to broader concerns. In each bag and roll, the shape of a tree is created without adding or removing anything, just by cutting out and folding the paper from the bag itself. (via Oh Joy)

Jennifer Collier

Jennifer Collier is an artist that creates innovative textiles and craft pieces using natural and found materials such as plastics, papers and fabrics. Through methods of weaving, waxing, trapping, embedding and stitching, she creates unusual materials. These are then developed into garments and accessories. Jennifer's works are used to communicate ideas about recycling, as well as themes exploring the body. To see more of her work, click here. above 1: Dress made out of used postage stamps and machine embroidery
above 2: Shoes made from pages of a book

The Cabbage Chair

Isn't this chair simply gorgeous?? Designed by Nendo for the XXIst Century Man exhibition curated by Issey Miyake, the cabbage chair is made out of the pleated paper that is produced in mass amounts during the process of making pleated fabric. This paper is usually abandoned as an unwanted by-product.

The cabbage chair is created by peeling away the layers of a roll of pleated paper one layer at a time. Resins are added during the original paper production process to add strength. Since the production process is so simple, the chair could be shipped as one compact roll for the user to cut open and peel back at home.

Salvaged thrones

I will take the yellow or turquoise throne please! Think this would look gorgeous in a clinical white bathroom. (pic taken by Debi Van Zyl in an architectural salvage yard in LA)

Pulp Bulletin Board

This clever Pulp Bulletin Board made from densely packed magazines even allows you to save on the need for push pins altogether! (via momeld)

Recycled bathtub

Here is an idea what you could do with an old bathtub. (by Reddish Studio via Apartment Therapy)

Recycled textiles

These cushion covers made from clothes care labels really take recycled fabrics to the next level! Requires 4 weeks lead time to snip and make from scratch. (via indie-guest)

Maki Squarepatch

The 2 beautiful sisters, Xin and Enqi, of Maki Squarepatch just told me that they are doing a callout for old and unwanted toys to be recycled for an upcoming exhibition in Nov.

What they need are toys that are stuffed with fibre foam or cotton. They don't have to be in perfect condition just as long as they’re not too dusty. For every medium-sized toy donated, Maki Squarepatch will donate 10 cents to charity.

Collection ends: 9 Nov 2007. Here’s are the details if you would like to contribute to this exciting project with a worthy cause:

Maki Squarepatch is also having a sale at their beautiful new outlet at 111 Emerald Hill. From 12-31 October, you get to enjoy up to 20% off vintage apparel, belts and Maki Squarepatch’s older stock. And for those not in Singapore and would like to own somthing from Maki Squarepatch, you will be happy to know that they are knocking 10% off most items in their online shop.

Stylish reusuable grocery bags

I was at a local convenience store a few weeks ago when I first saw these lovely prints on grocery bags by Envirosax. I told myself that I would check out the company who made these stylish enviroment friendly reuseable bags but somehow forgot about it. It thus came as a lovely surprise when Envirosax emailed me recently to tell me more about their newly launched eco bags in Singapore. First launched in Australia, EnviroSax has spread like wildfire across US, Japan, Canada & even Israel. Besides in local select convenience stores, these bags are also available in Takashimaya & OG at $9.90 (for singles) and $35 for a set of five.

Mountain retreat

This gorgeous mountain retreat is designed by Dutch bag designer Esther Veereschild for her six-year-old son Kiet's bedroom. The amazing wallpaper is from kitschkitchen. Esther chose orange for the decor of this room as she finds it perfect for a boy's room. It's uplifting, funny and very retro. The ski lifts you see in the image above are actually real objects!

The various pieces of furniture in the room are mostly from thrift shops. I love the way she puts the pieces together to create such a magical and imaginative space for her son. For more, visit Esther's shop and flickr page. (via finelittlething)

The return of the cassette tape

While cassette tapes seems to be forgotten by the music industry, two current trends have brought them out for a second play - the 80's nostalgia in the visual world + recycling and sustainability happening just about everywhere.

I just love the hand made wallets by Marcella Foschi below. They were designed especially for the Designboom Mart in Tokyo, November 2006. Marcella dismantles old cassette tapes, removes their innards and then joins the plastic sides back together again with a zip. Brilliant surgical procedure! (via The Designboom Shop)

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Trash Luxe

There will be an exhibition taking place at Liberty in London from 20-30 September 2007 during the London Design Festival called Trash Luxe at Liberty. Curated by dezeen editor Marcus Fairs. This exhibition celebrates over a dozen young designers round the world that create exquisite furniture, lighting and jewellery using cheap or worthless materials. To find out more about the designers whose work will be featured at this exhibition, click here. Below are some of my favourites.

(above) Tide , a chandelier made from hundreds of plastic items found washed up on Dungeness Beach, by Stuart Haygarthand.(above) Paper Mache Arm Chair made of 120 layers of newspaper built up over an inflatable mould by Majid Asif.
(above) TransNeomatic bowls which combine traditional woven wicker techniques with used scooter tyres rescued from landfill sites by the Campana Brothers from Brazil.(above) Jewellery design made from sugar crystals by Greetje van Helmond. The wall of bread she made for her graduation show at the RCA is simply delicious! Sandwich, anyone?

A house in a house

My heart skipped a beat when I first saw this at Debi van Zyl's blog. It reminded me why I loved architecture and interiors in the first place. The magic of creating that dream house to live in. Of making, reconstructing, rethinking, inhabiting, dreaming...

This house is reconstucted by fnp architeken in Stuttgart. Since the site is not in English, I guessed from the pictures that the architects preserved the decaying shell of the house and inserted a new interior like an inner sleeve into it. Simple and magical. Love it! Absolutely looove it to bits!

Maggie Zanger

I am intriqued by the work of Canadian designer, Maggie Zanger. A woodworker, seamstress, and furniture designer all at once, Maggie creates her beautiful masterpieces through a blending of layers and grouping of unusual materials. Her key projects are inspired from found objects that are integrated into contemporary pieces and spaces. Below are some pictures of a room Maggie designed and constructed, in collaboration with contemporary landscape artist and theatrical scene painter Kelly Palmer, for the Come Up To My Room design event.

The gorgeous table in the room below is built from exotic Koa veneer. To give it a quirky twist, one drawer face is spray lacquered in aqua blue and the interior drawers are custom painted with a graphic design.

Budget finds

I found out about this gorgeous mid century chairs from Floretro (via Decor8). Absolutely beautiful and timeless! I love it when old beautifully-made objects are given a new lease of life with just a fresh coat of paint. You can buy all four chairs newly upholstered for only $550, or start bidding at $450 on ebay! Quick!

For those of you out there who can't miss out of good budget finds, Holly of Decor8 will be posting a weekly summary of a few of her eBay picks for the week. Do check it out!

Michelle Brand

Aren't these the most gorgeous things? Created by Michelle Brand, this fabric was produced by cutting, sanding and assembling the base of plastic bottles into the tapestry. (via sub-studio)