Sachie Muramatsu lives in the Japanese city of Sakura, located in Chiba Prefecture. After graduating from Kuwasawa Design School, she took an apprenticeship at a studio specialising in ‘Kaga Yuzen’, the traditional art of hand painting silk for Kimonos. It was through trial and error that she started making her beautiful lampshades made from Japanese washi paper and in 2003, she had her first solo exhibition. Read on to find out... Read More →

At school Ian Berry was known as the art one. But around aged 18, he didn’t turn up for his art foundation course and listening to those who said art wasn’t a way to make a living (something he now campaigns against when lecturing at schools and universities), went to uni to study graphic design, before working in advertising in London and Sydney. ‘While I’m terrible at advertising myself, it enabled me to think... Read More →

In 2005, Kresse Wesling and James Henrit launched Elvis & Kresse*. A certified B Corporation, their sustainable luxury line of bags and accessories is made from genuine de-commissioned British fire brigade hoses that would otherwise be destined for landfill. They have now extended their range to homeware, using additional reclaimed materials, such as off-cuts from the production of Burberry leather goods, printing blankets, auction... Read More →

Bottletop have been creating their signature handbags made from recycled aluminium ring pulls since 2002. The brand collaborates with artisans in Brazil, Kenya, Nepal and Indonesia, whilst also running a number of global initiatives through The Bottletop Foundation, which you can read more about in our previous post. In 2016, they opened a pop up store on London’s Regent street for three months, the success of which led them to take it... Read More →

In an age of Netflix, Spotify and iTunes, we continue to leave behind a large trail of redundant CDs and DVDs. Turning those discs made from layers of aluminium and polycarbonate plastic into something useful, let alone beautiful is no easy feat. In the UK, only a handful of recycling centres will take them – and there are only so many CD clocks this world needs… But the following creatives have managed to elevate CD art to new... Read More →