I am drawn to comfortable, soft accessories from reclaimed materials.
Slippers made from recycled, felted 100% lambswool sweater and recycled leather by Wooly Baby as well as this upcycled slouch bag made from the sleeves of a mens wool dress coat by Betsy & Bess...

August 16, 2010 by Designsquish

Materials upcycled:  bike chainlink, broken ceramic plates, hardware washers. 
Found on Etsy.

August 11, 2010 by Designsquish

Disposable tin food containers transformed into ceramic and reusable by Lorena Barrezueta.

July 22, 2010 by Designsquish

Wild blackberries and red salmon berries gathered in Upstate New York, Harriman State Park. I never had salmon berries before.  They are so delicious! Almost as good as or better than raspberries.

July 19, 2010 by Designsquish

Bike fashion is really hitting its peak.  There are more and more people biking Fort Tilden beach everyday.  Great bike fashion blog I found recently - http://piubici.tumblr.com/

Special addition for Jen: bike helmet chic. Beautiful bike helmets:

Stylish bike helmets:

July 16, 2010 by Designsquish

Cafe America is an upcycled galvanized steel chain-link chair with stainless steel rod and fasteners by Grain. The chair flat-packs for efficient shipping and storage.  Handmade in the Pacific Northwest, USA.

July 07, 2010 by Designsquish

July 06, 2010 by Designsquish

“Man can better set up in a small house than in a huge castle.” - Leo N. Tolstoy

“With the loved ones you can be happy even in the smallest of places.” - Leo N. Tolstoy.

July 03, 2010 by Designsquish

Old workshop seat.

Coffee table from recycled cable drum.

Chair from old sewing factory.

Pillows from vintage produce sacks.

Images from ArtKraft Furniture and Design.

June 28, 2010 by Designsquish

Old bathtubs, shipping crates and barrels are great “upcycle material” for DIY planters.
Above: Old barrels as planters in San Diego, California.

Bathtub garden baskets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn:

Below: Shipping crate as garden planter.

June 25, 2010 by Designsquish

June 17, 2010 by Designsquish

VerTerra’s disposable tableware is a great alternative to plastic and paper plates. It is made from fallen palm leaves and water only and biodegrades naturally within two months.

June 07, 2010 by Designsquish

Above: Willow branch chandelier. 

Above: Hickory Branch Chandelier.

Above: Hickory pendant light.

Handmade twig chandeliers inspired by nature.  Found in Collier West.

June 06, 2010 by Designsquish

Chair redesign by Jetske Groot.  Jetske finds old chairs, carefully disassembles them and recycles them into new chairs that reflect their past history. Jetske calls her series “Multiple Family”

June 01, 2010 by Designsquish

Book LED floor lamp. The lamp’s shade opens and closes like the cover of a book. As the shade opens wider, the light shines more brightly, and as it closes, it gradually dims and turns off. Made from recycled aluminum.

Simple, non-toxic, eco-friendly biodegradable coffin!

Eco-friendly chairs made from strawboard. (Strawboard, a formaldehyde-free material made of compressed straw- an alternative to wood particleboard or fiberboard)

Invisible Street Lights designed by Jongoh Lee are in the shape of tree leaves and can be wrapped around tree branches.  During the day, these leaf structures mingle in the tree’s natural leaves, harnessing and storing sunlight. At night, they provide a poetic alternative to streetlights. 

National Design Triennial is on right now at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City.

May 28, 2010 by Designsquish

Scrap wood chair. (Perfect DIY idea)

Skateboard wheels rotating table. (Great idea for reusing skateboard wheels)

Button toy. (Great idea for reusing buttons)

Future Perfect is a good new design store in
Williamsburg and East Village, New York.

May 26, 2010 by Designsquish

Lamp made from scrub pads and chandelier made from
plastic spoons by Daisuke Hirawa.

Tiago Sa Da costa creates bowls and lamps out of natural material - cork. 

Hand knitted recycled cotton and leather bags by Lana Williams

Colorful, environmentally friendly wood blocks by Miller Goodman.

Scrap Lights made of recycled cardboard.

May 18, 2010 by Designsquish

Log speakers by Stanley Ruiz - http://stanleyruiz.com  Stanley’s speakers are composed of only wood and metal. “It is a very lo-fi, unassuming approach to product design.  Improvisation is a major part of my process” - Stanley.

Ceramic speakers by Joey Roth: 

The speaker system is reduced to its most simple form.  It is also made out of all natural materials consisting of porcelain, cork, and birch.

May 14, 2010 by Designsquish

Reused shipping crate shelves / drawers by Linda Jose.  Furniture designed to reuse shipping crates.

May 08, 2010 by Designsquish

Reused shipping crate wood for shelves, glasses and cups from grandma’s garage, flea market or thrift store and a few handmade ceramic bowls.
Done!

Image found on beautiful blog by Anna Rikje, photographer and musician from Germany currently living in New York City -  I Truly Like That.

March 30, 2010 by Designsquish

Sets of mismatched dining chairs. Life becomes much easier with mismatch!  Photos from Emma Blog, unpolished Life and Apartment Therapy.

March 10, 2010 by Designsquish

I see a lot of old beautiful bird cages in the garbage. I think I threw out a few as well a long long time ago. What I did not know is that they can be transformed into beautiful lamps. This re-purposed bird cage lamp above is by PSPCA ( Philadelphia Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).  The curtain will naturally diffuse the light acting as a lamp shade!

by Designsquish

How to hand build your own well!!! (in Russian): www.kolodec.ru

March 08, 2010 by Designsquish

I was excited to find these great “Recycled Banner Golden Mean Messenger Bags”  DIY instructions a la Freitag bike messenger bags.  (Can be made under $5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!). Comfortable, light, tough billboard sign material (waterproof). To view instructions please visit: EEIO Golden Mean messenger bag instructions
In stores, nice bike messenger bags can be $200. Making your own not only saves money but also is good for environment.  I just saw a truck driver discard a big piece of truck tarpaulin and now it is lying on the street waiting to be made into bags.

March 03, 2010 by Designsquish

LED lamp by Brooklyn based designer Stanley Ruiz,  inspired by fabrication techniques of indigenous peoples.  An energy efficient LED strip is encased in felt, taking advantage of felt’s quality of being a fire-retardant material. 
The lamp was designed to reduce a task lamp to its bare essential- reducing the components and eliminating the use of complex machinery in production.

February 17, 2010 by Designsquish

I love these computer-graphic-design-font-inspired eco-friendly pillows! Pillow sets are made from 100% recycled Plastic bottles Eco Felt .
Eco felt letter pillows by Alexandra Ferduson and Ctrl Alt Del soft pillows by Diffraction Fiber. 

February 10, 2010 by Designsquish

Flower baskets made from old apple and wine crates.

February 02, 2010 by Designsquish

Reusing plastic and wooden shipping crates as shelves and drawers.

Above: Apple crates from Bailey’s Home and Garden

Reusing plastic crates as chairs and coffee tables.

Reusing shipping crates as baskets for bikes.

Above: Bike photographs from Bakfiets en Meer blog - City Cycling News and Opinions from Amsterdam.

Above: Shipping crate as bike basket.  Image from Toronto bike blog - Globe Revolution - Inspiring Everyone to a Cycling Lifestyle

January 19, 2010 by Designsquish

Above:  Chairs by StudioMama

January 14, 2010 by Designsquish

Above: Sledding in Central Park

Above:  Sledding in Prospect Park

I was surprised to find out that sledding was and is a lovable activity after the snow storm in New York City Central and Prospect Parks.  Next time it starts snowing ( as it does not happen too often nowadays) I am definitely hurrying to the Prospect Park with my sled.  But what is even more surprising is that back in the days horse drawn sleigh rides were a popular activity in NYC Central Park during the winter.  Back in February of 1876, the NY Times reported over 10,000 sleighs passing through the park in one day.

Above: Sleigh riding in Central Park

“The Central Park blogger recently recalled the days when the sleighs were active, noting: “For most of the latter half of the 19th century, right up until its demolition in 1915, the McGown’s Pass Tavern awarded a magnum of champagne to the first sleigh that reached it each season. The tradition was carried on with the Central Park Casino until it’s demise in 1934.” The NY Times reported on the tradition back in 1910, saying that year the snow wasn’t heavy enough for “good sleighing.” - Jen Carlson, Gothamist

Watch a video showing how popular sleigh rides were

January 11, 2010 by Designsquish