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 materials from the planet). The studio collects and reclaims materials such as wood from workshops and bins near them, finding new uses for materials that others have discarded. We’ve seen other designers do some pretty crazy things with wood (like make wooden eyeglass frames), but we haven’t yet seen as spiritual an approach to wood as we see in Studio Ubico’s new furniture collection – The Wake.
The wooden stools that form the handcrafted pieces of The Wake collection are, in the words of the designers, “inspired by the wake ceremony” and by “the notion of anticipation for reincarnation.” The designers have meticulously glued together various wooden scraps and then carved them into the shape of a tree trunk, in an attempt to reincarnate these wood chips back into their original form.
“Even though we could not reincarnate scrap timber into trees, our design debates our aspirations for what is beyond us,” the designers write. “The WAKE is a set of objects debating material’s origins and life-cycle, natural material and technology, but mainly the role of design as a mediator between consumption and environmental criticism.”
And who are these designers, you might ask? Studio Ubico describes itself as a
“design studio and production unit, offering furniture from recycled materials with environmentally conscious finishes. We believe that through the combination of design and craftsmanship, environmental agenda and visual context, we can generate objects which offer function and longevity as well as the notion of time embedded in matter.”
The Wake collection was recently exhibited at the annual London Design Festival, and will be sold at various stores in Israel and Europe.
For more information about The Wake collection and its designers please visit the Studio Ubico website.
Read more about Studio Ubico and other sustainable designers::
Tel Aviv’s Studio Ubico Offers Funky, Fresh Recycled Design
Ten Sustainable Israeli Designers Who Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
Interview with MiKlum Studio, Designers of Furniture Out of Nothing
Images via: Sahar Tamir
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
