Don't Cross Me

"Don't mess with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo!"

— Joan Crawford

Inspired by a combination for the penchant I have for all things Rock Chick that still need to work with the rest of my wardrobe (ok, so maybe my slightly more feminine take on Rock Chick), the eternally upcycled Sacred Heart leather pants and these Jet and Crystal Swarovski pendants I saw on a lava stone hunt, Don't Cross Me was born.

Simple yet edgy, this 48 cm necklace is so versatile. Wear with denim, woolens, plains and stripes depending on the look you want to create.

Strung on chain, lava stone and upcycled leather (from the fames Sacred Heart leather pants), the 38 mm Swarovski crystal cross, contrasted with jet, catches light in the most amazing way without being too overwhelming.

Hand created, this unique piece is a great addition to any outfit.

Available at Etsy and MadeIt (for those wanting $AUD)

Upcycling+Fashion = Trashion

Typical of the fashion world, apparently upcycled fashion wasn’t a cool or catchy enough phrase to describe this type of upcycling. Hence, Trashion was born.

From the Top of the Tree

On a top level, Barneys of New York collaborated with 8 rather prominent designers (Rodarte, Alexander Wang, Versace, Rogan Gregory, Derek Lam, Stella McCartney, Ann Demeulemeester and Bottega Veneta), and Elle to create Project Blue.

The sentiment behind Project Blue was to take donated denim, collaborate with the eight designers to create functional, wearable, amazing pieces, auction them on Ebay and then donate the proceeds to Oceana, an organisation who wins specific and concrete policy changes to reduce pollution and to prevent the irreversible collapse of fish populations, marine mammals and other sea life.

I have quite the obsession with turtles. I think I once decided to keep seeing a guy just because he had a turtle tattoo, so the work of this particular charity is seen as imperative in my world.

Baby Loggerhead Turtle (Credit: Oceana/Cory Wilson)

It begs the question of why this is not done more often on a commercial level by top designers.

Stella McCartney for Project Blue

The auction ran for 10 days with items selling for an absolute song (well in comparative terms that is!):

Bottega Veneta dress - $306
Ann Demeulemeester jacket, tank top and jeans - $140

Stella McCartney jacket and jumpsuit - $306

Derek Lam top and skirt - $306

Rogan dress - $251

Versace dress - $321.01

Alexander Wang jacket & shorts - $305

Rodarte dress - $1,875

Read more at Denimology & Outsapop

Derek Lam for Project Blue

MMM…

” LEATHER BLOUSON JACKET “

The jacket is made up of 14 backs of jackets and trench coats in leather.

Different leathers are superposed and give a gradation of shades going from white to black.

Born in Belgium, Martin Margiela worked as a design assistant for Jean Paul Gaultier for two years before starting his own label in 1988. Known for his innovative designs and avant-garde style, the reclusive designer who famously never appears on the runway or in photographs is a master of deconstructing and reconstructing garments.

Whilst Margiela also produces a traditional line, he also produces what is coined within the design house as the Artisanal collection, a collection of remade and restyled garments for men and women.

Artisanal garments by Margiela have been part of his collection since the fall/winter 1989-90 collection. Made by hand at the firm’s atelier in Paris out of vintage materials, the Artisanal collection is limited in quantity.

Whilst one has to concede that a lot of these pieces aren’t exactly wearable in the everyday, sifting through I did find some really unique pieces that could function quite well as statement pieces to blend with the everyday items.

” RECORD DRESS “

A crepe de chine dress is decorated with 33 and 45 rpm records.

The records have been cut, then shaped while warm to mould to the shape of the body.

” OVERSIZE T-SHIRT “
An extra large T-shirt is partially slashed in bands to create a circular motif.
The new armhole is made with a series of hand-made knots.

” FISHNET DRESS “
A fishing net is directly draped on a dummy to create a long evening dress.

” FOOTBALL JACKET “

A leather jacket is made of footballs. The balls are cut up, flattened and
applied on leather similar to the rubbery inner tube of the ball.

” PEARLY DRESS “
Vintage buttons are embroidered on a silk chiffon to create a bit-mapped effect motif.

Two rectangular pieces of silk muslin are assembled to form a dress.

The front is embroidered with various buttons of mother-of-pearl, metal, plastic to draw a mouth.

An abundance of rings, identity bracelets and chain necklaces in

silver and gold plate recreate the shape of an evening dress.

Next: Trashion’s Grass Roots Provide Fertile Ground

Pimpng the Upcycled Pad Pt. 2 - No Skating in the House!

There is so much fun, funky and contemporary upcycled goodness for your home (and mine... if I could just find space)... that the post on Pimping your Upcycled Pad had to be split in two!

No Skating in the House

Skate Study House

Astro Clock by Skate House

There are a few designers out there doing recreated pieces from skateboards but the most interesting and contemporary I found was Skate Study House. I love that these pieces are viable in any home. Many of the skater pieces were limited by the typically grungy look (see the Deck Stool from Hot Munkey). Skate House, however, has taken the skateboard and really thought out the pieces to create pieces that sometimes you have to look at three times to realise they are boards!

"SKATE STUDY HOUSE (SSH) is an innovative design concept specializing in recreating popular furniture through the vision of a skateboarder. The movement of a skateboarder constantly changes -- it recreates itself by transcending boundaries and inventing ways to conquer obstacles. It’s constantly about anticipation and adaptation to one’s environment. The same is true for living design. The combination of the two produces a mixture of contemporary lifestyle, art and action sports culture, which is all found in this unique collection."

Jet Set Lounge Chair by Skate House

Deckstool by Hot Munkey

Put the Rubbish Out, But Leave the Bin Inside

Street Sofa by WeMake

WeMake are on a mission and their design philosophies sing to me. I recently read an interview with Sarah Johnson and Jason Allcor, the founders and designers at WeMake and it was clear that what they are up to is uniting through design; moving design from the realm of the creative genius who creates a compeltely dysfunctional lemon squeezer that gets design award after design award to a connecter between people.

Sara is also the founder of a design collective called ReDesign which is up to getting upcycling and sustainable design into the every day psyche of people.

Swing Like Johnny

Nickel Sofa by Johnny Swing

The pieces of Johhn Swing are really quite incredible. Now, I'm not sure the amount of energy that goes into recreating these pieces really fits under the sustainable umbrealla, but I couldn't resist featuring this sofa made from used nickels.

Read more about Johnny in Artworks Magazine.

Windshield table by Johnny Swing

Wheelbarrow storage table by Johnny Swing

The Pug Doesn't Belong in the Drier

I've always been a curious one. In Prep, I stapled my finger to see what it felt like. At one stage, I tried to put my poor pet Pug, Abbey, in the drier, just to see if she would fit (my brother, from memory, did give me a hand with that one). The escapade that involved letting Charlie the canary out of his cage to see if he would be like my friend's budgie was a mitigated disaster that left me scarred for life.

Thankfully though, putting a cat or dog in this suitcase is a GOOD thing!

Vintage upcycled/recycled suitcase pet bed for dogs or cats

from luckylighting at Etsy

An Excuse to Develop a Caffeine Addiction

Now, it's not like I need a reason to drink lots of coffee... I love the stuff... but now I have a reason to buy in bulk! These coffee sacks have been thoughtfully used to make the most of the original designs on the sacks.

Coffee Sack Cushions

by Sewgreen at Etsy

Books Books Books

Dare to Dream

Jim Rosenau of This Into That was raised in a house with 5,000 books. He has been making and selling thematic bookshelves from vintage books since 2002. The idea occurred to him years earlier after reading an essay, "Books As Furniture," by Nicholson Baker. Given his background as the son and grandson of publishers, he assumed the reaction, should he make such a thing, would be furious. The work, once underway, proved him wrong.

His book furniture has since earned him a wide following with work sold in almost 50 states and countries. Primarily shown at closely juried shows, he is also represented by dealers from Vermont to Los Angeles. The work has been widely published in print and on the Internet.

You Light Up My Life

And last but not least, there is the artisian upcycler Gilles Eichenbaum of French design studio Garbage Vpot.

He repurposes household goods and antique kitchen implements turning them into absolutely gorgeous and unique lighting.

Pimping the Upcycled Pad Pt 1.- Mummy, There's a Bathtub in The Loungeroom

So far we've looked on the wearable side of upcycling, but how about upcycling in the home?

During a conversation with a friend the other day, I was discussing what I was up to with this series of atricles. I fear at the moment, upcycling suffers from the public perception that organics did in the earlier days: it's a realm for environmental activists and hippies and is really all too much effort and expense. With the aide of advocates, the socially conscious and companies such as Macro Wholefoods bringing organics into the mainstream, there is a definite shift occurring in perceptions.

The aim of my game is to have upcycling enter the consciousness of society as a completely normal and preferable thing to do. Easy, breezy and fun. I am merely a small cog in the wheel, but this is the aim of my game!

This friend mentioned that perhaps the reason upcycling into home objects wasn't more prevalent was that most people look at a brick and a fence pailing and think house with a fence. I look at a brick and a fence paling and think bookshelf.

However, perhaps where the notion of upycling furniture suffers a little is in the notion that it needs to be quite raw or rustic. This, and that if it is not, it's still very much in the realm of the artisan rather than mainstream.

The following upcycling furniture producers prove that sentiment VERY wrong!

Mummy, There's a Bath tub in the Loungeroom....

... and his name is Max.

Cleverly designed by the team over at reestore, this bath tub chaise is amusing, upcycled and functional without compromising on aesthetics.

Other contemporary & curious conversions from reestore include Agnes the car bumper sofa and Annie the shopping trolley chair.

Amazing. Inspiring. Funky. Clean. Contemporary. Junktion both amuses me and makes me want a bigger space to live in so I can have a piece or two.

Founded in Tel Aviv in 2008, Junktion produces pieces made from everyday objects and takes them out of context to create pieces that are useable, functional, viable and sometimes unusual.

The commitment behind Junktion is that we already have enough "stuff" in the world, but we can still satisfy our human need for more stuff!

David Stovell first caught my eye for his rolled newspaper table.

Inspired by bundles of newspapers left outside of shops on a Saturday night, Stovewell’s simple yet beautifully effective Sunday papers explore the “compressed life cycle” of the material:

“[they] have a cultural and economic value, and that the same product has a different set of values by Monday morning, in that the news is old news and their value is for pulp. I wondered that if by simply repackaging, the material life cycle could be extended."

David innovatively uses the headlines and images of the papers to create patterns and design. I find the glass topped table made out of what looks like the equivalent of the Sunday Magazine. The scope for cusomisation to your home is endless.

Best of all, David provides "How to" instructions both via PDF and video. He does this to "...encourage people to look at the materials around them."

Another interesting paper offcut piece from David is the Stack Table.

Made from printer's offcuts, the stacks of the paper that form the legs of the table are mechanically held together by Oak caps. There is no glue involved!

But surely one of the major users of forest products in the home is the floor.

I was speaking to another friend the other day whilst sitting amongst the mouse house chatting about how I have the urge to paint everything white. But then, I said, I would want a black floor. Well the team at Ting have the perfect solution for me (at about $75 USD per meter):

Upcycled leather belt flooring by Ting

Inghua Ting established TING in 2000. Following her graduation from the Royal College of Art, Inghua worked in Japan developing innovative, futuristic fabrics. However, working at the forefront of fabric technology led her to considering sustainable issues, and the challenge of designing and producing a desirable, luxury product from recycled materials. Inspired by old leather belts, reclaimed seat belts, old braces, vintage leather saddles, salvaged fabrics and tie silks. Inghua cleverly incorporates these materials into new designs to show them off to their best advantage.

Next: Part 2: No Skating in the House!