The countercultural art movement began with a group of students at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kinshasa, who decided to make art from what they could find around them. Most of what they found was the waste of faraway strangers: tires, foam, bottles, paint cans, CDs, flip-flops, exhaust pipes, and more. In 2015, the artists founded the collective Ndaku Ya Life is Beautiful, led by Eddy Ekete, and began performing while wearing their startlingly creative costumes.

Each costume echoes the ancestral clothing arts of the Congolese, and each has its own story to tell. Jared Kalenga’s “Robot Annonce” is a suit made of broken radio parts in a warning against the spread of fake news. “Femme Électrique” is a costume made of electrical wiring by Falonne Mambu, symbolizing the Congo’s inconsistent electrical service and the kidnappings and sexual assaults that occur when the lights go out.

“Tin Can” by Mvunzi Muteba Jr. aims to raise awareness among Africans about how the presence of multinational companies (such as those mining for rare minerals) has affected the continent and kept its citizens poor despite its many riches. “Tire Man” by Savant Noir is a protest of those stolen resources, like the rubber used to manufacture tires. Other issues represented by the costumes and performances include gang violence, viruses, pollution, a lack of safe drinking water, and the Western-style consumerism that’s beginning to creep into the country.

Gladieu’s photos capture these costumes against relevant backdrops, including graffitied concrete walls, industrial sites, gutters full of trash, and public street markets with locals looking on. In publishing the book, he hopes the levity and creativity of the images will catch the attention of Westerners who don’t want to be guilted into caring about where their waste ends up. His approach celebrates the Congolese culture and the resilience of the community of Kinshasa, sharing the ways in which the artists have reclaimed their experiences and translated them into something beautiful.

“(In the photographs), we are talking about ecology, but we are talking about ecology through African masks,” says Gladieu. “As you can see, they’re completely covered up. You don’t see any part of the skin. The traditional masks were done with natural materials. They symbolized the spirit of the ancestors or the spirit of support of the natural world. These young artists reinvent these traditional masks in a way, but they do it today with trash because they find more trash and natural materials.”

Published by Actes Sud, Homo Détritus was released in hardcover in November 2022 and is now available for backorder from Bookshop.org. You can see more of these images at Gladieu’s website, and on Instagram.

The post Stephen Gladieu’s New Book Spotlights the Congo’s Protest Art Against Western Trash first appeared on Dornob.

Responding to the threat of rising sea levels and other hazards of climate change, Land on Water envisions a flexible, sustainable solution that totally eliminates the need for environmentally harmful materials like styrofoam. Floating homes, campsites, community centers, small parks, and structures supporting all kinds of other functions rest on flat-pack mesh cages made of reinforced recycled plastic and filled with upcycled flotation materials.

If the needs of the occupants change and they want to expand or increase the weight of whatever the foundations are supporting, they can simply add more flotation materials to the foundations. MAST imagines that such a system could help avoid the waste that plagued the architecture of the 20th century, which was too rigid to support changing needs and lifestyles.

“The system was inspired by gabion construction, an ancient technology which utilizes mesh cages filled with rubble to create extremely sturdy, low cost foundations,” says MAST. “In this case the concept is inverted; and the modular ‘cages’ are filled with locally sourced, upcycled flotation supporting the weight of any structure built on top. They are also much more adaptable than existing solutions since flotation can be added or adjusted at any time if weight is added or shifted around above.”

“‘Land on Water promises a far better underwater environment than existing solutions. While steel and concrete foundations are commonly treated with toxic anti-fouling paints, Land on Water provides an ideal habitat for fish and crustaceans and an anchor point for mollusks and seaweeds.”

MAST says a floating community could be as small as several homes belonging to members of a single family or as large as an entire city. The architects imagine its use everywhere from houses in Seattle to campsites on an Oslo fjord and saunas on the riverfront of Hobart in Australia.

The modules can be assembled into all kinds of configurations, incorporating areas of open water connected by walkways as sheltered places to fish and swim. Large terraced decks can double as outdoor auditoriums and dance floors. The bases are also strong enough to support the growth of mature trees, potentially allowing for the creation of small floating forests.

If any of that sounds unrealistic to you, here’s a great example where a similar floating neighborhood system worked in the real world. Designed by Dutch firm Rohmer, these 75 mixed-income units on Steigereiland on the Netherlands’ IJ Lake are also designed to grow and change. However, this community is made of more conventional materials like steel and concrete. While both concepts have the potential to help us envision a new way of living, MAST’s design improves upon the idea with its focus on sustainability.

The post Land on Water: A Modular Floating Building System by MAST first appeared on Dornob.

The Pudding Creek route takes riders on a seven-mile round trip experience in an area of the redwood forests that most tourists never see. Departing from Fort Bragg, a city on California’s Mendocino Coast, the tour zooms through the Noyo River Canyon. You’ll pass deep into the old-growth redwood groves, home to trees that are up to 2,000 years old, as well as Douglas firs, alders, berry bushes, lush ferns, wooden trestle bridges, and an abundance of other wildlife.

A certified guide leads the “train” of riders on the tour, and you can even pay extra to tow your dog friend behind you on a trailer. Passengers disembark at Glen Blair Junction for a 50-minute layover to have a picnic or take a walk along a loop trail dotted with wildflowers.

You don’t have to be a seasoned biking enthusiast or even in particularly good shape to enjoy this trip. Though you’ll be pedaling for most of the tour, the two-person, custom-built railbikes feature electric assist to carry you effortlessly through the forest. Since they follow the railroad tracks, you don’t even have to steer, which means you’re free to spend the entire tour gazing around at the scenery and taking photos if you like. Each railbike has four wheels and is made of lightweight upcycled materials.

The train tracks were originally laid by a 19th-century logging company that needed to get trees from the forest to sawmills and shipping facilities on the coast. The Fort Bragg Railroad grew to 40 miles by 1925, stretching inland to Willits. The less-than-pleasant fumes of the trains’ pot-bellied stoves and gas engines gave the route its “Skunk Train” nickname (now the name of the company operating the railbikes).

Within a few decades, the railroad was used more for passenger trains than lumber, and then landslides closed a 1,122-foot-long section. Skunk Train made use of these sections by offering two short train rides from either end, and of course, the Redwood Route Railbike tour.

The Pudding Creek Railbikes tour runs daily, and rates are $250 per bike for the two-hour ride. Children age 6 and older are allowed to ride. If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, there’s now a harder and longer option available: a 25-mile trip along a remote stretch beyond the closed tunnel that takes about four hours. The Railbikes on the Noyo package costs $495 for a two-person bike, lunch included. Get details on the Skunk Train website, and check out lots of fun footage on the company’s Instagram.

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YouTuber Tchiks Guitars says he started the project as a joke. “I remember going upstairs and telling my wife, ‘I’m gonna make a guitar out of Zoé’s old bed.’ She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and asked me, ‘Why?’” It’s a fair question, but the YouTuber proved his creative recycling idea was worthwhile, as silly as it sounded at first. He used wood salvaged from his six-year-old daughter’s old crib (IKEA’s Stuva cot) as well as a Henriksdal chair and Lack shelf to create the guitar’s top and back.

The intrepid upcycler made the fretboard of the guitar from a picture ledge, the jack output plate form a Lilangen door handle, the strap buttons from a Kallax cupboard knob, and the tone and volume knobs from an Aptilig chopping board — all items you can find at IKEA. You wouldn’t guess any of this from looking at the finished product, of course.

“This idea came to me while I was making a Brian May’s Red Special replica: while I was following the footsteps of Dr. May, like anyone who’s ever made a Red Special I guess, I kept asking myself the following questions: ‘what the ….?’, ‘how did he …?’, ‘wait a minute …’, ‘no way, that’s brilliant!.’ Having access to the plans felt a little bit like cheating so I started wondering how I would personally do it in 2022? e.g design and build a guitar from scratch, using nothing but what’s available around me.”

“Truth is, ever since the Electric Shelf 335 became viral (4 million views, thank you), I’ve been wanting to make something like this,” he says. “In my original design, I was trying to emulate an actual solid body guitar, so I had to find a way to make bent sides, which is not an easy thing to do when all you have is stuff from IKEA. Another problem I had was that, to my knowledge, the only tone wood that IKEA uses is acacia, which they use in some of their outdoor furniture (and I don’t have any of those at home). Anyway, I kept finding excuses not to make the final jump, but the Red Special really opened up my eyes: Brian May taught me that they are no rules, as he demonstrated by making a legendary guitar with a body that is essentially pine and oak.”

The YouTuber and amateur guitar builder first started experimenting with unusual materials during COVID lockdowns in Belgium in April 2020. His usual lumber store was closed, so he decided to make a guitar out of wood from an old shelf. Since then, he’s made several more DIY guitars, all impressive in their own ways. In addition to subscribing to his YouTube channel, you can also follow Tchiks Guitars’ creations on Instagram @tchiksguitars.

The post The Ultimate IKEA Hack? YouTuber Makes Incredible DIY Guitar from an Old Crib first appeared on Dornob.

Known as Vanitas, the genre focused on the futility of seeking wealth, power, and earthly pleasures, as it ends the same way for everyone: death. Carrington found the idea intriguing when she visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam a few years ago.

“I’ve always been attracted to the tradition of ‘memento mori,’ art that reminds us of the passing of time,” Carrington said in a recent interview. “In looking at those pictures of half-consumed food and fading flowers, I realized that one of the only things that could have survived to today was the silverware, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to try to make something out of that?’”

Her brainstorming led her to collect cast-off tableware to create arrestingly beautiful metal floral arrangements. Soup spoons became peonies, and silver teaspoons changed into rose petals. She incorporated berry spoons and fork tines to imitate tulips, protea, and hydrangea blossoms. One piece features a suspended silver pitcher pouring out a flood of feathers and flora.

Carrington taught herself how to weld just for this project, as well as how to solder and braze. Each piece takes her roughly three months to complete. “They’re quite difficult to make,” she said, referring to the process of collecting, sorting, composing, and finally welding every item into place. “Each flower requires a different kind of spoon and each metal requires a different heating technique.”

In the same vein, she has also constructed a 17th-century-style ship from the strands of discarded pearls. In a nod to Vanitas sensibilities, its splendor is tempered with the heaviness of the precious orbs.

Carrington has a long history of assembling everyday objects in completely new configurations. She’s turned gold jewelry into spider webs, metamorphosed soda cans into classical busts of famous kings and philosophers, transformed old blue jeans into a map of the United States, and even transfigured buttons into a giant postage stamp with the profile of Queen Elizabeth II.

“Mundane objects such as knives and forks, barbed wire, pins, and paintbrushes come with their own readymade histories and associations which can be unraveled and analyzed if rearranged, distorted, or realigned to give them new meaning as sculpture,” Carrington adds.

Her artistic career began with studies at the Bourneville College of Art, after which she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art in 1985 from Trent Polytechnic. She finished her formal training at The Royal College of Art graduating with a Masters in Sculpture in 1987. Since then, her art has attracted global attention, even being used to help raise awareness about human trafficking at the 2010 United Nations conference in Luxor, Egypt. Her list of personal commissions from celebrity clientele is impressive, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, Elton John, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Tyra Banks.

Her works can be explored on her website and her Instagram page.

The post Ann Carrington’s Upcycled Sculptures Pay Tribute to the 17th-Century Art of Vanitas first appeared on Dornob.

Painted black on the outside, the shipping container pool is level with an elevated wooden deck that offers just enough room for a pair of lounge chairs. Measuring the standard 8 feet wide, 8.5 feet high, and 20 feet long, the pool has been fitted with a waterproof liner, built-in bench seating, and underwater lighting. It was professionally made by Modpools, a company that sells shipping container pools all over the United States and Canada, and features an automation system by Pentair that lets you control the lights, pH, and sanitizer performance via smartphone.

Modpools are self-contained portable units, so once you have one, you can take it with you when you move, if you want. All you need is a crane and a flat deck truck. They can be installed above ground, in-ground, or somewhere in between, and they come with an optional lightweight divider wall that turns half of the pool into a hot tub on demand. If you want to try one in person, check out the Casa Cosmos Airbnb in Desert Hot Springs, California, which has a nearly-identical pool to the one at this Joshua Tree residence.

The rest of the home is nothing to sneeze at, either. The renovation was spearheaded by Karen McAloon, former host of the television shows Find Your Style and Design Remix on HGTV and co-founder of design firm X8 Property & Design. McAlool has turned a number of Joshua Tree homes from drab and dated to vacation rental-worthy, and her work on 636 Valencia Drive will have you dreaming of warm arid nights with sage and pinyon pine in the air. The home boasts a Morso fireplace, 26-foot hand-plastered bench, handmade white oak cabinets in the kitchen, and a 45-square-foot white quartz island.

The primary bedroom, which opens onto a private Saltillo tiled patio, features a generously sized en-suite bathroom with a dual walk-in shower. Two guest rooms open to the front patio and share a bathroom with a Roman clay wall treatment. An adjacent garage has been converted to a one bedroom, one bathroom guest casita for even more hosting capabilities.

If you love the idea of a shipping container pool but want to save some cash, it is possible to DIY this project. It can be as cheap and simple as adding a pond liner to a clean, watertight container or more high-end and durable with a fiberglass liner insert. Check out our guide to shipping container pools for more details. For even more of a fun DIY spirit, you can even transform an old dumpster into a swimming pool.

The post You’re Going to Want to Copy This Modern Shipping Container Pool in Joshua Tree first appeared on Dornob.

Andre Kong Studio created the bench with students at the local University Technical College of Design and Engineering as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2022. Made of reclaimed materials, it invites passersby to sit and reflect on how we’ll need to change, both individually and collectively, in order to avoid a worst-case-scenario future severely impacted by climate disaster. The taller bench soars 2.6 meters (about 8.5 feet) above the lower bench, or 9.8 feet total.

The red gradient seen on the bench’s support frame, reminiscent of a change in color caused by cumulative water level marks, highlights the increasing risk and reinforces the urgency to take action.

“The language of the bench borrows from neighboring maritime infrastructure design around the Royal Docks, using standard metal pipe connections that will allow it to be easily disassembled and re-used for a third time in UTC student projects,” the designer explains.

The bench is simple yet striking, and impossible to ignore. It might be easy for some people to say to themselves, “by the end of the century, I won’t be here, so I won’t be affected by the worst of the climate catastrophe.” But the fact that water levels could rise so high in the very near future during a storm should give all residents of London — and similar coastal cities — pause.

The theme of this year’s London Festival of Architecture, “Act,” spurred some interesting and necessary discourse around topics like how the built environment serves disabled people, how we can design cities for women, the trend of “hostile architecture” that aims to make homeless people unwelcome, and interesting new ways to incorporate waste into architectural design. Andre Kong Studio, founded in 2016 by Portuguese-born British architect Andre Sampaio Kong, is itself an LGBTQ+ led practice committed to diversifying the built environment.

“After such a long time of enforced passivity, the imperative to act is felt by so many of us, whether we are architects or not, while the pandemic has exposed so many things that need to change,” reads the London Festival of Architecture website. “How, for instance, should architecture act in the face of the climate emergency, social injustice, and the needs of a changing society? How can architects make their actions felt beyond their profession — how can they be heard more clearly, become more valued, or collaborate more meaningfully? The theme for the LFA 2022 is ‘act.’ Through the festival we’ll examine how we can act for ourselves, each other, our cities, and the environment.”

Interested in learning more about how architecture can be inclusive? Check out our articles on how hostile anti-homeless design darkens our cities, and how colorful interiors can reimagine what accessible architecture looks like. We also love MUJI’s prefab housing kit for seniors.

The post A Cautionary Benchmark: Inaccessible Public Seating Warns About Future Climate Disaster first appeared on Dornob.

Lofty ambitions indeed — and the collab definitely does not disappoint. With their 3D honeycombed splendor, these pieces catch the eye and play tricks on the mind. FLOW also has a distinctively vintage appeal to it — think 70s macrame wall hangings with a touch of modern flair. The result is a set of functionally fabulous pieces that make for some of the most dazzling art/decor mashups we’ve seen this year.

Handmade in Denmark using 100-percent upcycled cotton, the pieces’ intricate designs deceptively mask their durability and overall simplicity. They represent “an honest attempt to create zero-waste design that takes into account the environment, aesthetics, and function,” according to Søndergaard and von Guenther. They change their shape and dimension based on the viewer’s perception. A winning combo of technique, style, and sustainability, the FLOW Collection is both earthy and sophisticated, elevated and approachable.

With an eye toward creating tangible yet ephemeral decor that’s as sustainable as it is stylish, the FLOW Collection from applicata and Sheworks Atelier’s Martha von Guenther and Solveig Søndergaard is a playfully sophisticated duo of upcycled perfection and ambitious 3D elements. Haute honeycombed shapes pair with earthy, warm hues that are a veritable Magic Eye of design — the more you look, the more you see.

Shop the FLOW Collection online.

The post Hanging FLOW Textiles are Stylish, Sinuous, and Sustainable first appeared on Dornob.

“Every year, huge amounts of isothermal refrigerated semi-trailers withdrawn from the market are imported to our country,” says architecture firm Znamy Sie. “Poland is thus becoming a cemetery for these disused trucks. Our project, prepared in cooperation with Good Spot, involves upcycling, i.e. increasing the value of the material and changing the purpose of cold storage to hotel rooms. By renovating the trailer, we give it a second life!”

The founders of Good Spot hired Znamy Sie to realize their vision. “The idea was born during a kitesurfing trip to Hel, where the key is to follow a good wind,” they explain. “What if the hotel room could move around? What if it could stay in places offering the best conditions and closeness to nature?” Thus, the first mobile hotel chain in Poland was born.

Each portable camper unit began as an abandoned, rusted-out trailer in need of some love. And while shipping containers have thin steel walls, requiring a lot of modification to be comfortable in hot and cold weather, these trailers already had well insulated shells. The architects were able to preserve a surprising amount of finished interior space (about 100 square feet) after cladding the interior walls and adding custom-built wood furniture, including storage, benches, kitchen counters, and a bed platform.

Spacious windows in the living and sleeping areas let in lots of natural light, which bounces off the bright white walls and makes the interiors feel larger than they are. The units offer not just one, but two sleeping areas, one at either end of the trailer. At the center of each one is a bathroom painted bright blue offering a toilet and a large rain shower. A metal gangway leads up to the entrance and doubles as a terrace outside. And of course, the exterior is wrapped in stainless steel sheeting to give it the feel of a more angular classic Airstream trailer.

Currently, only one unit is fully complete, but you can reserve it now on the Good Spot website. Three additional units are currently under construction and expected to be made available soon. Each unit will have a slightly different design and can be moved around Poland to tourist areas that don’t typically have comfortable accommodations. The design aims to “blend with nature without disturbing the landscape – it does not overwhelm with its form and does not compete with the surroundings.”

Good Spot founders Przemysław Kwiatkowski, Paweł Kołtunowicz, and Roman Sokołowski, who run the Hotel Service 24 company, came up with the idea before the coronavirus pandemic, but now say mobile lodging is the way to go in any circumstances. Ideal for vacations, the Good Spot trailers could also be rented by people who work remotely so they can enjoy quiet surroundings in nature and even host small meetings.

The team explains that they “change the former cold stores into three-star hotel rooms. We renovate the entire trailer with a running gear. We renew its technical elements, strengthen the entire structure, and arm its chassis. Thanks to this, each room is reborn and can travel thousands of kilometers on the road. By combining the comfort of hotels with mobility, we shorten the distance to nature as much as possible.”

The post Poland’s First Off-Grid Mobile Hotel is Made of Upcycled Refrigerator Trailers first appeared on Dornob.

Shengge, also known as “The Tireman” on his YouTube channel, actually modeled this fearsome creature after a fandom addition to the Alien universe, the “Alien King.” In 2016, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the thriller movie franchise, designer toy studio Sideshow Collectibles created an Alien King maquette – an artist’s preliminary rendering – of the rare form of Xenomorph, meant to complement the famous Queen character from the movies.

Even though it has not yet been added to the official Alien history, Shengge used that grizzly maquette as the basis of his savage, rubbery monster. The original figure was just 20 inches tall, but this new iteration towers six feet above the ground.

In a video of the process, Shengge shares how he first started with his own mini polymer clay replica before moving on to the giant, real-life version. Next, the Tireman shaped a Xenomorph skeleton out of wire before wrapping that huge form with bike inner tube pieces for stability and a layer of “muscle.” Then, with 200 used tires, he got to work on the painstaking art of applying the “skin.”

“Unlike ordinary aliens, Alien King has more tentacles. He has a lot of gully and scales on his body. It is necessary to cut the tires into very thin strips to simulate the texture of his skin, which is very difficult to make. But I feel quite satisfied with the presentation of the finished product,” the artist said in a statement on his YouTube channel.

The Xenomorph is one of the most iconic and villainous extraterrestrial species of all time, and Shengge has done an exquisite job in recreating it. The final artistry is stunning in its incredible detail. Thanks to its piercing claws and teeth and a real sense of movement, one could almost believe this Alien King could attack at any moment. And to top it off, Shengge says the sculpture took him only 20 days to complete.

The Tireman states that his goal “is to bring new life to those disused tires.” It is unclear where he gets his supply of discarded tires from, but the fact that all his magnificent creations are made from recyclable materials gives them an extra “wow” factor.

Shengge has produced more than a dozen full-size characters out of tires since 2020 and has gathered a following of 100,000 viewers. His “War Elephant” from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV video game is spectacular with its red and gold paint, while his Kong versus Godzilla sculptures are nothing short of epic in their texture and kinematics. His model of Eren Yeager from the Attack on Titan manga series is his most popular conception yet, racking up over 12 million views so far. An oversized statue of a Lycanthrope from the Chinese anime Incarnation is also well-liked, with the Youtube video receiving over a million views in six months.

The post Recycling Sculptor Makes Life-Size “Alien King” Out of Used Tires first appeared on Dornob.

The “Metamorphosis” collection encompasses three functional art pieces that respectively double as a chair, a table, and a light. Of course, these aren’t your average decor selections. Instead, they represent an artform that involves layering a variety of materials at the moment inspiration strikes. To that end, each piece is also the culmination of materials that were easily accessible during the lockdowns of 2020. Most were common items from around Podracky’s home, including paint, wood, textiles, spare car parts, broken ceramics and sheets of glass, styrofoam, and moss.

Part of Podracky’s technique is to create through destruction, like when he uses a chainsaw to carve irregular patterns into the surface of his new chair. Although he’s obviously passionate about creating unique products, his underlying inspiration is more about what he’s avoiding rather than what he’s producing. More specifically, the Metamorphosis collection is a statement against the mass production and industrial manufacturing that result in unmemorable standardized products.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjXLIONs_hU

“Design has rendered our environment impersonable. Living in prefabricated houses that are occupied by mass-produced furniture, where we spend most of the day escaping to virtual worlds,” he explains, adding that “through questioning construction methods, putting emphasis on authenticity and revaluing materials’ ability to reveal character, I propose a new methodology of making — a reformulated approach to design that is based on emotional decisions, unpredictability, and expression.”

Having said that, art isn’t created in a vacuum, and Podracky also readily admits drawing inspiration from famed Dutch artist Gerrit Rietveld and his iconic Red Blue Chair, using a similar shape for his own “Rietveld Chair” frame. Once constructed, Podracky basically deconstructed it with the use of multiple paint and other liquid layers, coupled with moss and polystyrene clumps to form a lopsided and eye-catching texture.

The collection’s lighting piece, dubbed “Growth,” was created by building a support frame that the artist then covered with fabric, wood, and other materials, once again layering it to achieve the final result. Upcycled car headlights illuminate the center. Podracky summarizes the piece by saying: “my aim was to let the object grow through my hands by glueing and combining different elements, like the process of a bird weaving its nest.”

The third piece, titled “Creating Through Destroying,” is an opaque table made from recycled pieces of fragmented glass. Any number of statements could be made about its fragile and unstable look, yet it also supports an additional piece of art: a large blue vase of flowers that’s neither alive nor replicable, since it’s essentially a reassembling of pieces of broken porcelain.

Making a name for himself by combining disparate artistic styles and materials, Tadeas Podracky has won a series of design awards in his career, and his work is on display in multiple venues around the globe.

The post Tadeas Podracky’s “Metamorphosis” Collection Will Change the Way You Look at Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

Lean in to really look at the hen, for instance. That’s a button for an eye, encircled by a golden wreath ornament. In the center of that button is the head of a fox, while the comb at the crest of her head consists of three tiny hen figurines. Her body contains a fork, a spoon, and maybe a kitchen sink, too. The fox, meanwhile, is made of old red tins. Visible on one panel along his back is the word “fox.” Franc adds that she used an old spectacle case and cutlery on his flanks, and surgical scissors and watch straps on his face.

On the head of a hare, another button-eye features a flying bird, and a gear on the muzzle calls to mind the pocket-watch-carrying White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. The griffin is Franc’s only mythological creature to date, which gave her a bit more creative license. Its components include “recycled metals, decorative tin, and various pieces of ‘found’ materials such as umbrellas, keys, bike spanners, cutlery, chainsaw blades, hinges, dog leads, and lawn mower parts.”

Based in London, Franc clearly has a knack for choosing just the right upcycled elements to incorporate into each life-sized character. She begins with a wire netting armature, filling out the shapes with all manner of junk. Her process is intuitive, led by what she has on hand, what fits each part of the animal’s body, and species-appropriate symbols and imagery.

Picking out each object is part of the fun of viewing Franc’s metal menagerie, but their underlying structures are interesting, too. It’s cool how she leaves much of the armature visible, owing in part to her admitted fascination with skeletal systems and the mechanics of motion.

“I have always been fascinated by the sculptural form and shapes of animals, they present a never-ending source of inspiration to me,” she says. “I try to capture a feeling of their movement and presence in my sculpture. For this I use wire and other materials in a way that suggests drawing in three dimensions. This allows me greater freedom to add changes whenever I want during construction to keep the feeling fluid and to reflect the diversity of movement and form. I increasingly use recycled and discarded materials as I enjoy the challenge of transforming something with a past history into something new and exciting.”

If you love Franc’s creations and want to adopt one as your own, you’ll be happy to know she sells them periodically through her online shop, with smaller animals like birds listed around £180. Keep an eye out for more additions on her Instagram @barbara.franc.

The post Artist Barbara Franc Upcycles Scrap Materials Into Intricate Metal Creatures first appeared on Dornob.

As you can see, adding that second level onto the home is what really makes it stand out, especially since the builders highlighted the use of shipping containers in the design. More specifically, the renovation added two 53-foot containers sourced from Chicago, one of which still has its hinged steel doors thrown dramatically open to reveal a picture window.

The owners also incorporated reclaimed barn wood into the project, giving both levels the same distressed exterior siding to tie them together. The leftover barn wood was used for the interior ceilings of the main living space. Altogether, this weathered wood, the exposed steel of the shipping crates, the concrete floors, and pops of bright color give the home a lot of personality.

Shipping crates can be hard to transform into livable houses because they’re so narrow, but there’s no shortage of space in this four bedroom, four bathroom abode. Generous use of glass allows natural light to penetrate every square inch, and the rooms are laid out to take advantage of views in every direction, including the surrounding Red Rocks, Flatirons, and foothills. On the main floor, a garage-style door opens the living room up to a large patio.

The lucky buyer got the home fully furnished with all the ingenious little touches the unnamed sellers incorporated into the design, like a vintage dresser repurposed as a bathroom vanity, a commercial refrigerator with glass doors, diner-style stools in the kitchen, a striking industrial metal staircase, and botanical wallpaper.

“Both he and his partner are extremely creative,” says listing agent Zach Zeldner of the sellers. “Technically, it was a remodel, but little remains [of the original 1954 single-family home]. The lines in the design are modern, but a lot of the materials are rustic.”

Zeldner, an agent with Compass Realty, notes that the home has had an astronomical amount of interest since it was listed, and it sold almost as soon as it became available.

Here’s the description from the property’s listing:

“A work of art inside and out. Meticulously handcrafted using shipping containers, reclaimed wood, and steel, this outstanding 4,000+-square-foot residence is a marvel in design, functionality, and energy efficiency. Sited on an elevated 9,375 square-foot lot, the home frames breathtaking views in every direction, including huge iconic Flatirons views to the south, unobstructed Red Rocks and Foothills views to the north, and eastern vistas over Downtown Boulder. Flooded with abundant natural light and featuring multiple indoor and outdoor living spaces, this home is designed to take advantage of all that Boulder has to offer.”

This unique upcycled home is a great example of how shipping container architecture can go right, versus when it’s less than livable or downright dangerous.

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Now, they’re bringing that aesthetic into the home for the first time ever with a West Elm collaboration. The limited edition, sustainably produced collection of furniture and home decor is made with upcycled Eileen Fisher denim and other fabric scraps.

“Our team was delighted to partner with West Elm because of our shared passion for creating responsibly designed products,” says Eileen Fisher, designer, founder and co-CEO of her eponymous company. “With these beautiful designs, we are extending each garment’s life cycle and drastically reducing the waste that we put out into the world.”

The West Elm + Eileen Fisher Collection transforms a wardrobe staple into statement-making upholstery for a series of pillows and the Eileen Fisher Swivel Chair ($1,999). West Elm partnered with the fashion brand’s Waste No More team to recycle the fabric and felt it into a new textile using no water and very little energy. As you can see, the process preserves “the story” of the original fabric, making no attempt to hide what it was. Blocks of denim in colors ranging from near-white to deep indigo meld together in an effect that’s reminiscent of watercolors, all in soothing shades of blue.

The swivel chair is classic West Elm in design, but its body-hugging silhouette gets a little extra coziness from the unusual fabric. The pillow covers include three square throws ranging in size from 20” – 24” ($169 – $179 each), two 12” x 21” rectangular pillows in either light or dark indigo ($159), an extra long 14” x 36” lumbar pillow ($179), and the option to purchase sets of two for a discount.

By nature of the upcycled fabric, no two pieces are exactly alike, each bearing their own unique abstract pattern from the particular scraps used to create them. Eileen Fisher’s recycling team washes, repairs, and hand-layers them to achieve this effect.

If you’re not familiar with clothing take-back programs, they’re a pretty great way to adhere to the principle of “circular design,” in which the manufacturer takes responsibility for the entire life cycle of the products they create. Instead of ending up in landfills, garments that are ripped, stained, threadbare, or otherwise unwearable get a second life. More and more companies are starting to participate in programs like this, which will hopefully start to make an impact on the environmental impacts of fast fashion.

“Eileen Fisher leads the apparel industry in sustainable innovation and has developed a transformative technology that allows us to introduce circular design to a collection of textiles for the home,” says Alex Bellos, president of West Elm. “Together, we are bridging our shared commitments to responsible retail and great design to offer quality, artful pieces.”

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Romanian artist and fashion designer Alexandra Sipa has found a creative way to repurpose e-waste wires and cables, and it’s chic enough to get the attention of Vogue. The 23-year-old graduate of Central Saint Martins in London says it all originated with a “happy accident.”

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“I was researching for my sustainability project for school, and my headphones broke. I noticed the wires inside were so colorful. It was also the fifth time I broke my headphones that year, so I wanted to find a way to reuse them and thought about creating a fabric out of them.”

Sipa had recently returned to her hometown of Bucharest, Romania to visit her family. While there, she took in her culture’s sartorial past and present, as well as all the inspiration to be found in her grandmother’s colorful home filled with recycled objects. Drawing lacemaking techniques from the tablecloths she found there, she learned to craft wires sourced from local recycling centers into a stunning collection of dresses, robes, veils, tops, and accessories.

Romania is rich in folk art designs and traditions. Patterns and symbols seen in everything from blankets to bridal gowns originated as a way for craftspeople to share their histories with one another, and to channel energy throughout the body, which translates nicely to Sipa’s use of wires in her work.

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The artist incorporates traditional embroidery techniques and motifs into her designs, but other influences make their way in, too, like references to popular beach towels featuring prints of bikini-clad women. “Most of the fabrics I used have a Romanian attitude,” she tells Vogue. “Very nonchalant, humorous, and adaptable.”

While Sipa was the primary designer and fabricator of the wire garments, all of the complex work behind them required a little assistance. Among other things, her boyfriend learned to make wire lace alongside her, and she sent patterns for the collar of a jacket to her mother in Romania, who finished the pieces with her own reclaimed wires and in turn sent them back. A lingerie designer herself, Sipa’s mother had a big influence on her daughter’s career choice, immersing her in the world of fashion from a young age.

“She made cardboard cutouts of Barbies for me to trace on paper and draw on top of and taught me how to hand-sew,” she says. It’s no surprise, then, that some of her woven wire clothing ended up being Barbie-sized.

It’s hard to tell the garments are made of wire until you get a close-up look. You might think wires would result in clothing that’s stiff and uncomfortable, too, but the pieces actually drape with surprising grace. For some, like the jacket from her “ROMANIAN CAMOUFLAGE” collection, Sipa even paired them with textile factory remnants.

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The patterns are sometimes discernible and sometimes abstract, but always engaging to look at. Would you have guessed all these gorgeous pastel shades of mint, pink, yellow, and lavender were present beneath the outer casings of wiring in your home?

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The California-based Rareform is the result of two brothers with a passion for the environment. When one of them, Alec Avedissian, was living in El Salvador, he observed the locals using old billboard advertising materials as roofing tarps, and the signs couldn’t have been more clear: billboards made for a terrific durable and waterproof material.

With product ideas churning in his head, Alec headed home to secure his brother’s help in creating a surfboard carrying sleeve. The two then began calling billboard companies who were more than eager to ship truckloads of used billboards to their home.

Knowing that the typical billboard only remains roadside for an average of a month or two, Rareform can count on a consistent material supply. Plus, turning a usable material into something useful is a business model that gives the vinyl billboards new life instead of just sending them out with the trash.

Six years after the brothers set off on their venture, manufacturing has moved out of their parents’ house and the product line continues to grow. Production in their plant is almost completely streamlined, beginning with the sorting and washing of hundreds of billboards daily. The materials are sorted by thickness and color in order to match the a wide array of preferences for different products. Pieces are then hand cut and inspected before being sent out for final stitching. Even the smallest scraps are incorporated into manufacturing, resulting in minimal waste. Once stitched, each bag is individually photographed for an accurate representation of how the pattern lays out in the final product.

To date, the brothers and their team have converted 2,710,252 pounds of billboard material into one-of-a-kind backpacks, duffle bags, crossbody bags, messenger bags, and briefcases. Unique totes and purses come in a variety of options, with a new lunch tote being the most recent addition to the lineup. The good news is that when it comes to using up all those scraps we mentioned earlier, a ton of products fit the bill. Choose from wallets, toiletry bags, wristlets, pouches, and even fanny packs. Planning on traveling sometime soon? Pick up a passport holder, luggage tag, or key chain. If you’re looking for something more casual, just grab a fun tee or hat.

Rareform may be all about sustainability, but they still realize we live in a modern world, accordingly churning out heaps of laptop sleeves and iPhone cases. Don’t worry though, Alec’s passion for surfing hasn’t waned one bit, and his initial long and short board surf bags are still considered staple products six years later. They also produce change pads, which are perfect for handling the wet and sandy conditions the beach provides.

While Rareform continues to pick up vinyl billboard waste (and we salute them for it!), the newfound spotlight on the ad industry’s bad habits is causing some changes around them. More specifically, new technology in printed billboards allows makers to reduce their carbon footprint with the use of water-based adhesive vinyls and 100-percent recyclable paper. On top of that, many billboards are now digital, taking away the waste but not the resource consumption. Digital billboard signs do create a host of other environmental problems though, including energy consumption, light pollution, and disposal at the end of usable life.

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