Upcyclisted Directory

I'm very happy to be included in Upcyclist's Directory,  Upcyclisted.  Antonia wrote one of the best books on upcycling that I've seen. Each time I look through it I see something I didn't notice before so I'll never be finished with looking at it. I particularly love the furniture by Italian company Manoteca, one of the 48 featured artists in her book.

The play with proportions in this dressing table called Ephemera makes it stand out against most furniture I've seen, this is daring but not loud which I find really aesthetically pleasing.

And I love this ingenious work table called Windoor that folds away. Isn't great when you see something and love every decision the artist made and wouldn't change a thing.

Christmas Tree Decorations

I usually use branches to make a festive tree and I've managed to accumulate decorations over the years so that I have a curious collection by now. The oldest is a little antique Santa and the most modern a 3D printed mesh bauble with a reindeer inside.

This bauble was given to me by the artist Lucy Casson, it's one of two from a collection she found in a charity shop years ago. We were both exhibiting on the recycling scene (before the word upcycling was used) around the year 2000 and she knew I'd appreciate the making. The above is made from washing liquid nozzles, plastic beads and a ring of spikes from a dismantled plastic flower - ingenius!

And strangely the maker - or someone - had labelled it 'Floral Spikes 1974', how curious, it's like an anthropologists label from Pitt Rivers Museum.

This is the other one, a green lady from foil wrappers with a button for a collar and small buttons for hands and feet.

This knitted tree is a real favourite. I bought it from Emmaus charity shop in Portslade on the outskirts of Brighton some years ago.
HAVE A LOVELY FESTIVE SEASON!

'Money for Nothing' on BBC

A chance glance at Rupert Blanchard's blog alerted me to this series of programmes; Money for Nothing on BBC iplayer. Hurry it's your last chance for the first one of fifteen episodes as that's available until 7th Oct 16.30pm, then each consecutive episode expires a day after the previous.

Sarah Moore intercepts things about to be dumped, gets artisans to revamp them and sells them on. Happily it's all done seriously well, not dabbling dilettante upcycling that there is so much of now, no this series uses some of our favourite talented artisans like Rupert Blanchard and The Rag and Bone Man. I don't like everything that gets done but some are great and having seen 3 episodes so far you really get the point about our wastefulness and neglect of potential use.

Featured!

My copy of Upcyclist arrived today - I am so proud to be included in this beautiful book. It really is gorgeous and full of great artists and photographs - no dabblers here - this is seriously good design only.

And perhaps most importantly.....Otis made the edit....in what is perhaps his best portrait to date.

Handsome and well dressed.

Upcyclist Book

Exciting News! This book 'Upcyclist" Reclaimed and Remade Furniture, Lighting and Interiors, will be published on March 1st in the UK and April 1st in the USA.  Antonia Edwards is a champion of upcycling and runs the site Upcyclist. She's been working on this book for some time and now it'll be available in just a few days.  Happily my work made the edit so I'm super curious to see it and see all the fellow makers included.

Oncycling

Has anyone used the term 'oncycling' yet or can I claim it as my own?

I found what I will call 'oncycled' boxes today. Luckily these little things make my heart sing. I find these truly great sculpture. What was a box has been made into a new box and has reprinted new logo on the outside.

These are things of great beauty but also very strong boxes. I love that the base is a bit skewed and not a perfect oblong. In our increasingly shiny over designed world I appreciate this kind of thing even more.

These boxes have great texture. I found them in Brixton Village (I hate calling it that as it will always be Granville Arcade to me - and see this fantastic footage of it in 1961!) one of Brixton's market arcades, but how appropriate for me to have them for packing the materials of my upcycling endeavours ready for move day when that comes. Maybe I should re-label one with my logo for a 3rd life from biscuits to palm juice to chandeliers.