Born and raised in Battersea, Jo Gibbs is a London-based artist who started off her creative career in textiles. It all began with her first Saturday job at Tooting market. Jo worked on a fabric stall with a lady called Lybette who took her around all the wholesalers in Brick... Read More →

Embroidery seems to be having a moment. Not only is there a plethora of contemporary cross stitch kits appearing on Etsy (depicting anything from ‘more gin please’ to llamas), there’s now a new wave of crafters learning to embroider their own jeans and jackets.... Read More →

New homes and interiors book There are many reasons to be joyful about finally entering March 2017. Snowdrops and daffodils are now gracing our London parks with their cheerful presence. Days are slowly but surely getting longer and we can finally come out of hibernation. On top... Read More →

Marij Hessel is an interior stylist with a taste for DIY, travel and thrifting. As you’ll see from her blog and web shop My Attic, she has an instinctive sense for colour and a unique talent for styling flea market finds. Based in the Netherlands, she tells us about her... Read More →

There is no shortage of decorating inspiration for kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms or living rooms. But what about those awkward in between spaces? Hallways can offer a whole host of quirks and obstacles – narrow corridors in particular often end up lacking in light,... Read More →

I first came across the work of Elisa Cavani, whilst doing research for my book Upcyclist. Hailing from Bologna, Italy, Elisa makes whimsical lighting, desks and furniture pieces made from found objects, all of which can only be described as the epitome of one-of-a-kindness. Now... Read More →

Lighting is probably the most fun element of home design. Sure, you have to get through the tedious part of working out where all your electrics are going, but when it comes to choosing the fittings, that’s when you can begin to experiment and characterise your space. As... Read More →

The joy of hunting for vintage homeware is that element of discovery, chance encounters and salvaging a piece of history. That’s all very romantic… but coming across that perfect one-off piece that fits your budget? Some might say it’s like searching for a... Read More →

The creators behind this impressive garage renovation are Graypants, a design collective led by Seth Grizzle and Jonathan Junker, who work from their studios in Seattle and Amsterdam. Renovated in 2013, the award-winning holiday cabin was an architectural debut for Graypants, and... Read More →

You may have noticed that Minimalism, Minimalist living or Minimalist lifestyle are now frequently used phrases by the online community. For many, the term Minimalism conjures up images of sparse, clinical white living rooms containing nothing much at all. But this is a rebrand... Read More →

The beginning of the year is the perfect time to rethink your home interior. After the decluttering, rearranging and general Christmas detox, you might feel your home could really do with one unique and timeless piece, that will give the space a bit of character. So, if... Read More →

We hear a lot about the amount of waste that’s generated around Christmas, with one of the biggest problems being the vast amounts of wrapping paper that ends up straight in the trash. During the festive period, enough wrapping paper is thrown away to go around the equator... Read More →

There is something about ‘handmade’ that goes so well with Christmas. Perhaps it’s the thought of all those elves in Lapland busy making toys… how do they do it? Best of all, it offers the perfect excuse for anyone with a crafty inclination, to make... Read More →

Exhausted and buzzing. That’s how I would describe my digital hangover after recently returning from Lisbon for Web Summit 2016. One of the world’s biggest technology conferences, Web Summit is now in it’s 8th year and saw 53,000 people descend on the Portuguese... Read More →

When I came across the eco botanic restaurant interior of Väkst, overflowing with lush green plants, I looked over at my wilting coriander and thought – yep, it’s really time to step up the amount of plant life in my living space. If you’ve managed to embark on... Read More →

If you’ve just arrived here out of nowhere, first of all – WELCOME! and second of all, I should mention that this post actually follows on from a previous one on ‘grown up’ Halloween party inspiration, and you can read that here. If you’re a little... Read More →

The run up to the 31st October is that splendid time of year when our supermarket shelves suddenly fill up with a LOT of black and orange plastic. With Halloween paraphernalia, there is a multitude of choice – and it no longer stops at witches hats and freaky masks.... Read More →

Making something useful with discarded plastic drinking bottles is one thing. Reusing them to make something useful AND aesthetically gratifying, is a whole other (much more difficult) ball game. These little stools don’t just look effortlessly cool however, they pioneer a... Read More →

Cockpit Arts is a London-based business incubator for craftspeople at the start of their careers. At this year’s London Design Fair, they presented the marvellous Debris Chair by Carmen V Machado. As part of her MA project at Chelsea College of Art and Design, Carmen... Read More →

As always, there was a stunning array of design and homeware on display at Tent London this year. The only downside is coming away wanting to own everything in sight – they must be doing something right. One of the stands that stood out was Smile Plastics. Not only do their... Read More →

One of the best things about kids is their shamelessly weird and whimsical tastes. A chair that looks like a bunny rabbit? Yes please! Perhaps this is why creative furniture upcycling is so perfect for kids bedrooms – they’re guaranteed to love the quirky stuff. From... Read More →

Recently I had the pleasure of connecting with Manolo Yllera, a Madrid-based interior designer and photographer whose beautiful studio loft home features in my upcoming book (more info on that soon!). Manolo introduced me to his award-winning interior design project at Mama Campo... Read More →

Humblesticks was established in 2013 by husband and wife team Richard Holman and Katy Shooter. Richard is a photographer and creative director of a design agency. Katy is a painter, sculptor and interior designer. Their upcycling adventure was born out of a love of rejuvenating... Read More →

This incredible art installation called Rockaway! is an old aquatics building at a former US Army base in Fort Tilden, New York. Structurally unsound due to the affects of hurricane Sandy in 2012, the abandoned building is set to be demolished later this year. Artist Katharina... Read More →

100 tonnes of waste generated at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2015 was reused for an installation at the 2016 Venice Biennale by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. Curating this year’s exhibition and the 15th of its kind, the co-founder of Elemental reused 10,000... Read More →

When 27-year-old Mat Dusting graduated from university, he was on the look out for a durable bag that would transport his skiing and snowboarding gear without ripping. Inspired by some of the materials lying around on the family farm, he began experimenting. Fast forward four... Read More →

I had the pleasure of meeting Swedish designer Marie-Louise Hellgren at Tent London a few years back. It was here that she introduced me to Pink One Puff, a beautiful dusky pink stool made from recycled airbag material. Since then, she has launched a collection of upcycled... Read More →

Los Angeles artist Augustine Kofie created a body of work with an incredible futuristic quality, despite being made from forgotten materials of the past. Kofie finished his art education at high school but became a key player in the L.A. graffiti scene of the 1990... Read More →

Reuse at its best, Bentu Design proves that a reclaimed ‘look’ is not all about worn patinas, rough edges or shabby chic. These products are beautifully clean cut and streamlined, despite being made from a mix of cement and recycled construction waste, something which... Read More →

Ilaria Bianchi is a furniture and product designer from Pisa, Italy. She studied Industrial Design in Turin, and after winning a scholarship moved to Stockholm where she did work experience in the studio of Fredrik Paulsen. Relishing Paulsen’s vibrant, crafty approach, she... Read More →

Imagine the patience required to create such intricate carvings as this? Recollecting the tedium of sharpening pencils in art classes, only for the lead to inevitably break off would be enough to put me off. Yet for Bosnian artist Jasenko Đorđević, carving his sculptures made... Read More →

Melbourne designers March Studio transformed the foyer interior of Hotel Hotel in Canberra, using thousands of planks of salvaged wood. The planks are fixed around the ceiling and walls with steel rods, with stunning results. Surrounding the foyer’s grand staircase, the... Read More →

The notion of highlighting something seemingly worthless by casting it in bronze was explored by Jasper Johns in the 1960s. Works such as Painted Bronze (Ale Cans), like other members of the Pop Art movement, blurred the boundaries between high art and mass culture. Belgian... Read More →

Artist Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels is an Australian-American artist living in Brooklyn. The New York art institution Clocktower Productions where Bothwell Fels was former artist-in-residence, describes her work as ‘submerging environments built into existing architecture,... Read More →

Founder of Swarm, Leslie Oschmann reclaims objects found in Dutch markets, French homes or Belgian antique shops to create something unexpected and beautiful. Visual Director for US Anthropologie for 8 years, she was inspired by the beauty and possibilities in reclaimed objects... Read More →

In 2012, the storage room of Italian marble company Budri was hit by earthquake Emilia, shattering hundreds of beautiful slabs of marble into shards, in a matter of seconds. In 2013, designer Patricia Urquiola created a collection of stunning geometric creations from the broken... Read More →

Debbie Wijskamp has been operating from her studio in Arnhem, Netherlands since graduating in Product Design in 2009. Inspired by everyday objects and materials that surround us on a daily basis, she investigates their boundaries in order to create beautiful products for... Read More →

Popular with aeroplane enthusiasts, there’s a whole host of designers looking for ways to reuse material from decommissioned aircrafts. In the beautiful city of Bath, one company getting it right. Plane Industries specialise in crafting unique clocks, lighting, tables,... Read More →

Last weekend, the chilly capital was aglow with dazzling light installations, projections and sculptures by various artists for 2016’s Lumiere festival by Artichoke. Among the 30 installations at Lumiere London was a piece called Litre of Light by Mick Stephenson, located... Read More →

We had to single out these beautiful pendant lights by Paper Moon Factory as the ultimate accessory for making a home feel cosy this winter. The lamps are from the City Lights Series and are made from recycled paper pulp, coated in chalk paint. Dutch artist Marion Westerman is... Read More →

Valorisation Lab. is a Ukrainian brand run by Denis Chernyavskyy, specialising in headwear made from unconventional and reused materials. Over the summer, they launched their first collection of baseball caps made from vintage scarves. Chernyavskyy has now launched a Kickstarter... Read More →

San Sebastián based architectural firm Estudio Beldarrain have created a new extension to the Municipal Library in Azkoitia, Spain using reclaimed railway sleepers. The library itself is a converted station building, but the old railway track had been removed. In order to put the... Read More →

Mike Stilkey creates captivating paintings on discarded books using acrylics, inks, coloured pencil and lacquer. Almost Tim Burton-esque, the distinctive style of the Los Angeles artist features depictions of melancholic characters ‘inhabiting ambiguous spaces and... Read More →

The Vaho project was founded in 2001 by Patricio Abreu, starting out from a small multidisciplinary design studio in Barcelona. Vaho make handmade bags, belts, wallets and tech cases that are crafted from upcycled advertisement flags hung from street lamps in Barcelona and... Read More →

Kyle Bean is an award-winning London based illustrator, director and set designer. From sculptures made from eggshells to tube maps made from drinking straws, he creates playful, concept-driven imagery for editorial and commercial projects, as well as installations for fashion... Read More →

From her Promenade (2010) featuring 105 miles of gold thread to her musical manuscript installation Resonance (2013), we continue to be amazed by Susie MacMurray‘s creations. For Cloud (2015) at The Great Hall, Winchester, MacMurray’s latest installation is made from... Read More →

California mixed media artist Scott McMillin chops up reclaimed car parts to create geometric works of art. Scrap metal from cars is cut into squares and rectangles and assembled like a jigsaw puzzle to create textural wall sculptures, some of which closely resemble paintings by... Read More →

These incredible animal sculptures by Marc Sparfel have a primitive aesthetic achieved through the reuse and reconfiguration of found furniture. Sparfel grew up in Brittany, north-west France surrounded by countryside and animals. After graduating from school, he studied commerce... Read More →

With the new 5p charge on supermarket carrier bags in the UK, it might be time to shop for the perfect tote bag to cart those groceries around. Vaho are a small multidisciplinary design studio in Barcelona. They create handmade bags from upcycled banners which in their first life... Read More →

The idea of upcycled money may seem paradoxical, but Angela Mathis isn’t the first to make art out of cold hard cash in order to play with our perception of value (see this post on Justine Smith). This Swiss-born/London-based designer however takes the reuse of currency to... Read More →

Ariele Alasko is a full-time woodworker living in Brooklyn, New York. Originally from California, Alasko started building furniture for her own apartment, shortly after she graduated from a BFA in sculpture in 2009. It swiftly grew from a fun hobby to a full time job in her 900... Read More →

Stuart Haygarth was one of the first artists we featured on Upcyclist, along with his reconfigured collections of found objects, transformed into stunning chandeliers. A more recent piece from 2014 is Prairie King, which is based on a body of work inspired by the concept of play.... Read More →

An architect with offices in Brazil and Portugal has created a 12m high periscope out of a shipping container. Superiscópio by Pedro Barata took just over a month to design and assemble and is described by the architect as the world’s largest periscope. The device offers... Read More →

Founded in 2013, Kitty Ferreira is the brainchild of Valerie Goode. Whilst working as a Senior Designer in China, her firsthand experience of the terrible air pollution became the catalyst for her new line of clothing. Manufactured in London, the Pomonion range is mad... Read More →

Fashion meets art quite literally for Viktor & Rolf‘s AW15 couture showcase. The Wearable Art collection was unveiled at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week at Palais de Toyko earlier this year and featured garments made from broken picture frames filled with fabric. The... Read More →

Telebeute Lichtobjekte is a beautiful 50cm telescope shaped wall lamp made from upcycled cardboard. The light is designed by Michael Konstantin Wolke of Berlin atelier Herrwolke and follows in the footsteps of his Beute series of pendant lamps, also made from strips of used... Read More →

Brothers Dressler are a design duo based in Toronto specialising in one-of-a-kind production. The brothers work on projects ranging from furniture and lighting to special commissions, with a commitment to using found, reclaimed and locally sourced materials. “Ou... Read More →

Wyatt Gallery (a person not a place) is an award-winning American photographer living between New York and the Caribbean. Many of his photos raise awareness and support for communities damaged by natural disaster such as Haiti and Hurricane Sandy. This year he exhibited a body of... Read More →

With the success of Orsola de Castro’s Reclaim to Wear collaboration, Topshop have now launched their own ethical line of clothing made of surplus fabric from previous collections and production offcuts. Launched this month, the new Topshop Reclaim range boasts upcycled... Read More →

Serpent Sea was founded by New Yorker Sophie Aschauer in 2011. After a sailing trip to Nantucket, she began to make colourful mats out of recycled marine rope. Using ropes that showed no signs of wear, she weaves the mats using four kinds of knot called Bonny, Drake, Morgan and... Read More →