Green & Glamorous: Furniture to Die For

Sustainable or environmentally-safe furnishings don’t have to be boring. Here’s a collection of furniture for humans and their furry friends that takes the mantra ‘Upcycle, Repurpose, Recycle’ to new heights. Celebrate cool creations from upcycled landfill waste, be dazzled by showstopping transformations from repurposed aviation as well as automotive parts, and marvel at stylish biofabricated lighting fixtures. Check out these amazing Green Goods and let me know your favs!

Pool table upcycled from a 1965 Ford Mustang
An American classic muscle car revved up for an all-American pastime.

This 1965 Ford Mustang is proudly serving its Second Life as a pool table. Made by Car Furniture and officially licensed by the Ford Motor Company, each upcycled Mustang Pool Table comes with its own Certificate of Authenticity and Serial number. This piece of Americana comes with remote controlled lights, authentic auto parts, chrome bumpers, alloy rims and tires. Touting a pro size slate playing top, the 1000-pound, 71” x 119” table is custom colored on order to complement the décor of any Man Cave.

Sofa repurposed from discarded metal barrels
The equivalent of making a silk purse out of sow’s ear from scrap metal…

Designer Vladimir Kevreshan’s chance encounter with a pile of discarded barrels at a factory was the inspiration behind this sofa made with repurposed containers. The seating is thoughtfully scaled to the dimensions of the barrels, one of which doubles as a storage unit while the other is a de facto side table. The wood softens up the industrial look while the metallic paint adds a sophisticated punch of color to the furniture.

Office chairs from recycled Vespa scooters
One for the office, one for the road.

Bold and colorful, these Scooter Chairs are recycled from old Vespas that were languishing in the junkyard. Bel & Bel is a Barcelona workshop that specializes in upcycling salvaged products. Made from the front shield and spare parts of the iconic Italian scooter, these smart looking chairs are raring for a spin, even if it’s in a workstation.

Dog bed from repurposed tennis balls
Equal opportunity repurposing, which includes furniture for your Top Dog!

Used Penn and Wilson tennis balls are repurposed to create this dog bed that is green in both color and concept. The sustainable hex-shaped bed with a removable 2-sided cushion will accommodate puppies and small breeds up to 25 pounds. I imagine a much bigger dog will be treating this as a toy, taking it apart for entertainment…

Double-sided public seating made from plastic waste
100 pounds of plastic waste magically transformed.

The wonders of 3D printing never cease. Dutch studio The New Raw partnered with Aectual, a manufacturer of eco-conscious building materials, to address the overwhelming problem of plastics in landfills. The result is XXX, a duo-sided rocking chair designed for public spaces. The chair is made with a large-scale 3-D printer, each using 100 pounds of plastic waste. To top it all off, the seating can be shredded and reprinted up to 7 times. Call it the gift that keeps on giving!

Table lamp shades made from roots of mushrooms
These magical mushroom shaped table lamps sport biodegradable shades on exquisitely hand turned wood and cast concrete bases.

Taking nature-friendly design to another level, biodesigner and biomimicry specialist Danielle Trofe produces her light fixtures with a sustainable crop such as hemp and mycelium, aka roots of mushrooms. Each 100% biodegradable lampshade is made to order: it is grown over a period of days in a shaped mold, then heated and dried to stop the process. The light fixture is then finished with hand turned wood, brass hardware and a cloth cord.

Sustainably made pendant fixture from mushroom roots
Here’s a pendant fixture courtesy of more mushroom magic!

Danielle’s award-winning MushLume lighting collection proves that beautifully crafted cradle to grave products can have a very bright and green future indeed!

Coffee table upcyled from the trunk of a 1955 Pontiac Star Chief.
Coffee table upcyled from the trunk of a 1955 Pontiac Star Chief.

Every artist has his/her muse. Montreal atelier Oxyd Factory takes inspiration from the rusted hulks of antique car hoods and trunks to upcycle them into one-of-a-kind tables and artwork. For more personal connections, these repurposed pieces are usually documented with the car’s make, model, and year of manufacture.

Coffee table made from trunk of trashed car
Trash to treasures from the automotive graveyard.

These reincarnations from the salvage yard echo the Japanese Wabi-sabi aesthetic which venerates the imperfect, incomplete and impermanent. This 40.75″ x 20.75″ x 13″ coffee table is fashioned from a trunk of unknown extraction and finished with black oxidized steel and gloss varnish.

Seating from upcycled seat belt strappings
Upcycled for seating with panache: seat belts never looked so good!

As can be seen in this blog post, Americans’ love affair with the automobile seemingly spills into its afterlife with equal abandon. Here, the lowly seat belt strapping is creatively repurposed into a trio of cushy seating for the Phillips Collection: dining chair, rocking chair and ottoman. In fact, the edgy dining chairs were used on the set of blockbuster movie The Hunger Games. It’s gratifying to know that we no longer have to choose between aesthetics and sustainability…

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