Make your own Bernie Sanders’ Recycled Mittens
The sign appeared to me in Bernie Sanders' clunky upcycled mittens.
upcycled
Reformation swimsuits for pin-up models and a saint
So it’s summertime again. That means swimwear. When was the last time you found the perfect bathing suit? On a trip to Rome maybe in 2010 when you found that perfect bikini? Ordering on the Internet or going to some bland and somewhat vulgar shop like Bikini Bay fills me with dread; I tried both […]
Design School Partners with Wineries to Give Wooden Barrels a Second Life
I used to be a wine barrel… and now I’m a chess board. Wine companies worldwide may be trying to ‘go green’ by producing organic wines (the wineries of the Middle East being no exception), but even so there is non eco-friendly waste associated with making vino. A winery in the Israeli Negev desert has […]
Recycled Tea Strainer Lamp Creates Soothing Glow
As an alternative light fixture, Israeli designer Marina Rudinsky lights up a string of loose tea strainers. Items found in the kitchen are often endowed with unusual shapes and holes, and many a designer have found ways to convert kitchen tools into light fixtures. Pasta strainers are an obvious choice, but small, delicate loose tea […]
Tel Aviv Lifeguard Shacks To Become Tiny Pixel Hotels
Lifeguard shack on drummer’s beach in Israel is soon to be upcycled into a unique new boutique “pixel” hotel. We’ve heard of pixelated screens and buildings, but pixel hotels are a new phenomenon that started as an art project in Linz, Austria. Now these tiny hotels established in unusual, typically abandoned urban settings – whether […]
Light Bulb Terrarium and 5 New Uses For Old Light Bulbs
Just because incandescent light bulbs are less energy efficient than CFLs doesn’t mean you need to toss them. Upcycle them! IKEA Israel won’t even sell incandescent light bulbs any more, and people are gradually switching to more energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs). No need to toss the baby out with the bathwater, though – […]
Eco-Friendly RhythManiAcs Use Upcycled Drums as Instruments
One way to make musical performances more sustainable is to use renewable energy (such as human cyclists, for example) to power them, but what about making the music itself more sustainable? What is the carbon footprint for making a piano or a guitar?
Adi Zaffran Weisler Makes Upcycled Bullet Jewelry, Not War
Used copper bullets found at a firing range transform into sculptural objects incorporated into rings. Bullets are, objectively, ugly things. They have an ugly purpose, and are not much to look at, either. But what would happen if you removed a bullet from its violent context? Could it be beautiful? Israeli designer Adi Zaffran Weisler […]
Interview with Andrew Sell, Founder of Hipcycle
Hipcycle, a new online marketplace for upcycled products, shows mainstreamers that upcycling can be hip. Shopping local and sustainable is always best, but when you can’t find locally made, sustainably made, or upcycled products around – sometimes the internet is the best way to go. Online marketplaces such as Etsy, Mideast ecostore Ekotribe, or the […]
Studio Ubico’s Furniture Collection Reincarnates Wood Into Trees
Studio Ubico has upcycled found wooden pieces back into their original form, a tree. Studio Ubico, an upcycling and environmentally conscious design studio working in Tel Aviv, joins the ranks of other sustainable designers who are trying to make good use out of materials that are already sourced (instead of going out and taking more […]
PET Bottles Upcycled Into Art Using Glass Blowing Techniques
PET bottles hark back to their glass bottle predecessors using traditional glass blowing techniques. Plastic bottles have pretty nasty reputations for being bad for human health and the environment. Very few people are arguing that plastic bottles (and especially bottled water) are a good thing in the long run. Some companies, such as Israeli fashion […]
Ocean Parts Sculptures Are A Strange Gift of the Sea
To all of you out there who used to make seashell necklaces on the beach as kids – did you ever think of making one of these? Beautiful beaches can be found all over the Middle East, but unfortunately many of them are plagued by unnatural waste. During the hot summer months it is a […]
Rescued Candlesticks Unite to Form Upcycled Menorah
Candlesticks that have lost their partners find a home in this upcycled menorah. Most flea markets and second-hand stores have them – candlesticks either with or without their partners. Solitary candlesticks often tend to be left behind, since they usually come in pairs. But thanks to this menorah design from Reddish Studio (the same people […]
Upcycled Bath Tub Chair Design by Reddish
Designers often talk about “clean” design, with crisp lines and an absence of frou-frou decoration. See the emergence of functional design in restaurant furniture. But apparently there’s another kind of clean design – the kind that’s clean because it’s upcycled from objects formerly used to keep people clean, like a bathtub. The Bath & Beyond […]
Reuven Fields Brings Israeli Scrapiness to his Scrap Metal Sculptures
From small-scale butterflies to large horses, Reuven Fields’ scrap metal sculptures breathe life into discarded pieces. It takes a lot of energy to mine metals from the earth, and significantly less energy to recycle metals into something new. But if you can upcycle used metal scraps into something else (such as an upcycled aluminum can […]