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