Mariclaro Upcycles Car Upholstery, Air Bags Into Durable Carryalls
by Jasmin Malik Chua, 02/02/12
Where do exploded air bags go to die? If you ask Mariclaro, they don’t. The Toronto-based accessories label salvages truck tarps, leather upholstery, seat belts, bicycle inner tubes, boat sails, and yes, exploded air bags, to create a range of road-tested laptop sleeves, messenger bags, briefcases, and backpacks. Of the materials that comprise each piece, roughly 99 percent was landfill-bound, according to co-founders Sven Schlegel and Willa Murray, who intercept the materials within 300 miles of their workshop. (“1 percent is made of notions and our logo, still unavailable in recycled,” Schlegel says.)
Represent Your City with Hanger 3′s Recycled Subway Token Necklaces
Fashion and transportation history collide with Hanger 3′s line of quirky necklaces, which designer Dustin Wood fashions using vintage subway tokens from around the country. Representing cities from Conestoga, PA, to Beaumount, TX, each piece of ephemera bears a unique, city-specific design, …
Hot Off the Presses: Necklaces Made From Vintage Letterpress Type
Typography geeks, wordsmiths, and lovers of the alphabet will fall for the charms of Gwen Delicious, a Canadian accessories label that fashions necklaces from vintage printing-press type. Burnished with scuffs and other imperfections that make each piece unique, the repurposed brass blocks are strung from a gunmetal chain and secured with …
Upcycle Broken Christmas Lights into Sparkly Holiday Accessories
MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES
Old Christmas lights
Pliers
French hooks
Necklace chain
Jump rings
Thumbtack
Wire and beads (optional)
TO MAKE EARRINGS
1. Remove lights from Christmas strand. Take your tack and poke a hole through the plastic end part of the light.
2. Thread a jump ring through the hole.
3. Thread the French hook through the jump ring and close up with a pair of pliers. …
18-Year-Old Creates Couture-Inspired Bustier From Recycled Drink Cans
Eighteen-year-old art student Hannah Sykes isn’t one to color within the lines. And boy, has it paid off. The budding designer, who unveiled a gleaming couture-inspired bustier made from repurposed drink cans, snagged first prize at a competition that encourages canned-beverage aficionados to get creative with their …
Valérie Pache Creates Whimsical Dresses From Recycled Paraglider Sails
Valérie Pache is the wing beneath our wings…paraglider wings, that is. The French designer turns castoff parachutes, retired paraglider sails, and end-of-roll fabrics into sartorial flights of fancy. “This material is there, there’s a lot of it, and it’s free,” Pache says in a video interview with Shamengo. “And to offer it a second life—a good life—is something I can really put a lot of myself into.”
Lisa Våglund Upcycles Festival Tents Into Stage Costumes
Music festivals create more than merriment and boozy afterglows; they also generate a prodigious amount of trash. Lisa Våglund, a recent graduate of the Danish Design School, pitched a solution, transforming discarded tents from the Roskilde Festival—one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe—into stage costumes for singer and festival staple Kissey Asplund.
7 Last-Minute Halloween Costumes Lurking Inside Your Closet
WHERE’S WALDO
Be the lovable guy everyone is searching for by donning a few simple pieces you probably already own.
COSTUME COMPONENTS
Red-and-white striped shirt
Jeans
Red beanie
Black-rimmed glasses
Camera with strap
Cane (an umbrella would also work in a pinch)…
Manolo Blahnik, M. Patmos Make Eco-Friendly Shoes From Waste Tilapia Skins, Cork
A eco-friendly Manolo Blahnik shoe isn’t something we expected to see in our lifetime, but stranger things have happened. The luxury shoemaker, name-checked by Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex and the City, has teamed up with award-winning designer Marcia Patmos to create a collection of sandals for spring. Made from discarded tilapia skins, cork, and raffia, the two styles—a double-strap flat and a sophisticated open-toed pump—will be available in a combination of electric blue, black, ecru, and fluorescent yellow.
Make Do and Mend, World War II-Style (Video)
“Make do and mend” was an oft-repeated mantra in 1940s Britain, when manufactured commodities were in scant supply and clothes rationing became a vital part of the British war effort. Coinciding with a Board of Trade exhibition at Harrods in London, the Ministry of Supply produced a clip that demonstrated the new “substitution and conversion” economy, including a patchwork dressing gown made from scrap material, a shift-dress derived from old plus-four trousers, and a baby cot improvised from sackcloth slung between a …
Knit From Undies, Antoine Peters’s Knicker Dress Reimagines the Everyday
One way to make sure celebutantes keep their panties on? Make them wear a dress composed entirely of underwear. Designer Antoine Peters gathered as many unmentionables as he could, cut them into strips, and knitted a thigh-grazing shift designed for flashing in public. Peters salvaged every component, leaving almost zero waste behind. “From a distance, you see an elegant dress,” he tells Ecouterre. “But up close you experience the surprise that the dress consists of knickers only.”
© 2010 Ecouterre.com Full Site
9(unknown*no*no*0)&guid=ON&x_utmac=MO-17589472-1){kind=small}
