Tag Archives: recycling

SPOTTED – screenprinted vintage mirrors of asintended

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We adore finding beautiful, handcrafted pieces to feature here on The Ecospot, or for the projects we work on with our clients. We are particularly in love with anything letterpress inspired, and this traditional way of printing often crops up in our projects in some way or another.

she stood in the storm

So we were delighted when we spotted these gorgeous letterpress inspired screenprinted vintage mirrors by graphic studio asintended, who we discovered on an Artists Open House trail in Brighton.

Using vintage mirrors  the studio prints inspirational quotes over the top to create a beautiful decorative, reflective piece with stacks of depth.

she stood in the storm

Perhaps not the mirror you would choose for a bathroom  but we are thinking about this for a hallway, or even a kitchen diner space to add a bit of extra character and to bounce the light about.

Stunning – and one we will be specifying without doubt. Contact asintended for further information on the mirrors or the other great letterpress prints in the studios collection.

(image via asintended)

Monday musings – the Artists Open Houses, Brighton

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Each May, our home town of Brighton is put into overdrive with the Brighton Festival, Brighton Fringe and the Artists Open Houses, running all month. Even though Brighton is already an incredibly creative city, you literally cannot move for pop up theatre, comedy, exciting new venues and wonderful performances. It is as exhausting as it is exciting. And as official reviewers this year for the excellent EggMag, we are enjoying it even more.

However, there is one element to May that is a real joy and we look forward to each year – the Artists Open Houses.

Springing up through the various art collectives that scatter the city, they are all brought together under the Open House banner for the month  arranged neatly into trails in most of the major areas of Brighton.

Using the brilliantly produced (and free) Artists Open House brochure or mobile app, you can discover areas of Brighton which you perhaps had never visited – peeking into the homes of the artists themselves, purchasing a cup of tea and home made cake and having a chat with the people who actually created the art, design and craft.

And this is the real bonus to the Artists Open Houses. Not only do you find wonderful pieces which span the realms of fine art, illustration, photography, jewellery and design collected together beautifully, you will probably get the chance to chat to the maker themselves.

So much of the creative process is a personal thing – particularly with solo artists and designer/ makers  so having the ability to talk through the reasoning to a piece, their inspiration or even whether they could do you the same item but perhaps in grey is priceless. In an age of the mass produced, the personality that is poured into art, design and craft is something that we have tended to lose – it is this great collective that allows us to reconnect.

It does feel as though these wonderful artists, designers and makers have been hidden away in their studios across Brighton, all working independently and the Open Houses is where we all get to discover them, so get out there.

Find a piece, talk to the maker and treasure it.

We will be posting some of our favourite makers here on the Ecospot, so keep your eyes peeled for a variety of both art, design and craft suitable for the eclectic interior.

see the Artists Open Houses website for details on all the locations across Brighton.

SPOTTED – hand crafted lamps by Sarah Lock

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As yesterday was a Bank Holiday Monday, there were no Monday Musings here on the Ecospot, but rest assured – we were not sitting idle. The merry month of May is a particularly great time to be in the city of Brighton as we have the fabulous Brighton Festival, Brighton Fringe and the Artists Open Houses.

This is where trails across the city wind their way from house to house each weekend, stuffed full of wonderful pieces of art, craft, graphics and homewares. And often, the creators are there too, so you get the chance to chat directly to the makers.

sarah lock

So, this month we we will be spotting quite a lot of stuff that we have hunted out on the Artist Open Houses trails, starting with these great lamps by designer Sarah Lock.

Currently on show at 3 Florence Road, Brighton, we were instantly drawn to the hand turned decorative wooden side lamps, each of which was topped with a bespoke shade.

With an eclectic mix of forms, some of the wooden bases were painted in both bold and delicate bands to match the contours of the base, whilst others were left natural.

Shades are matched perfectly with each base, from oversized florals to plain and neutral, but our favourite has to be the shades created from maps.

We were very drawn not only to the balanced nature of the pieces, but the slightly eclectic nature that each piece had. They would be perfect in any eclectic interior – as a set of bedside table lamps or as a single piece on a side table in a living room.

Plus, the lamps and shades by Sarah Lock are available together (£150) or you can purchase the shades separately (from £30 each)

See them on the Artists Open Houses Trail or at www.sarahlock.com

(images by claire potter design and Sarah Lock)

Open source design – the Sea Chair

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Great design is not highly polished. It is considered from start to finish. Great design adds to the world – for the better. Great design, to coin a phrase from Cradle to Cradle thinking – is elegant. And this very unassuming stool has to be one of the most elegant we have seen to date.

The Sea Chair has been created by Studio Swine and Kieren Jones and is one of the featured Designs of 2013 currently on show at the Design Museum in London.

The design is extremely simple. It is a stool created out of plastic, in a highly recognised and familiar form. But what is beautiful about this stool is the story of its creation.

Created by hand, each stool uses only pieces of waste plastic fished out of the sea – cleaning up our oceans whilst championing the beauty of the accidental and the hand made. It has a real raw beauty which we find stunning.

But the Sea Chair is not one of those very worthy designs which are made from recycled materials  by hand, but cost a small fortune to purchase.

The Sea Chair is also an open source design.

So, for anyone wanting to create their very own Sea Chair AND clean up a section of beach in the process, the full methodology of how to create the piece can be found on the Studio Swine website. Right down to how to create your own furnace and how to identify different types of plastic.

This type of project really gets us excited – using an otherwise waste material, a low tech process and a hand made finish to produce an item which will be different from the next.

Visit the Studio Swine website for full details on how to create your own Sea Chair.

(image via Studio Swine)

Monday thoughts – shipping containers as transitional housing

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A problem as complex as the housing crisis in the UK has so many associated issues that we can never hope to find one single solution. There needs to be alterations to the financial and banking systems to allow mortgages to first time buyers,  the issues with empty houses needs to be addressed and we need to ensure that any new development is both responsible and positioned in the correct locations with a fully supported infrastructure.

But could great design and a bit of sideways thinking help a fraction of those who are currently without homes?

A project in Brighton is aiming to be one of the first in the UK to address this issue with a temporary housing project constructed entirely from shipping containers.

shipping containers

The Brighton Housing Trust and developers QED have submitted plans to Brighton and Hove City Council for a project which would see 36 shipping containers converted into self contained studio style flats. Complete with solar panels and green roofs, the container flats are well designed, spacious and are a very effective use of space.

Located on an inner city brownfield site, the shipping containers would be used as temporary transitional, ‘halfway’ housing for homeless within Brighton and Hove. Affordable rents would allow residents to find stability, eventually moving on to housing elsewhere in the city.

We are huge fans of the shipping container at the studio – they are a very efficient form of construction as they are modular, easily transported and therefore easily relocated. They are not often seen in the residential sense in the UK, but projects such as these are seen readily, and accepted elsewhere in Europe.

The model that the BHT proposal is based on comes from the Netherlands, where flats within shipping containers are often used in development. One project near Amsterdam uses 250 shipping containers as a huge, stacked student accommodation and they have also been used as boutique hotels.

shipping container W300 Shipping Containers Provide Temporary Accommodation

But the main beauty of a proposal such as this is the highly adaptable nature of the construction. The containers are converted off site and arrive mostly prefabricated, are quicker to ‘build’ than houses using standard construction methods, so site down time is incredibly low and when the site they sit upon is to be redeveloped, they can be unstacked and relocated.

Although the jury is still out on the use of shipping containers as a long term solution to low cost housing in the UK, we believe that projects such as this show real promise for many locations – and potential residents in the UK.

(images via sxc and Brighton Housing Trust)

UK company creates first food safe, 100% recycled plastic products

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Recycled plastic is now widely used by companies to create goods and sheet materials, but until recently, 100% recycled plastic could not be labelled as food safe.

Until now. 

UK company Invicta has revealed a new, patented process called rPETable which can recycle plastic and remove any toxic additives, meaning that the resulting injection moulded plastic can be classified as food safe.

 

food-safe plastic, Invicta Group recycled plastic, injection moulding technology, toxic plastic bottles, health issues, toxic plastic food containers, Bisphenol A plastic, recycled materials, polycarbonate plastics, toxic additives

There are a few toxic ingredients in plastic which can leach from packaging into food stuffs, the most common being Bisphenol A, or BPA, which can interfere with the bodies hormonal processes.

The trial stage of this new process has taken around four years and millions of pounds of investment  but it is hoped that it could herald a new drive forward in the use of recycled materials in industry.

And with Coca Cola, Guinness and Reckitt Benckiser already involved in the testing of the process and products, it could not be too long until you will be sipping beverages from a 100% recycled bottle…

(image via inhabitat)

recycled plastic lights by Sarah Turner

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Every year, Ecobuild gets bigger and bigger – to the point that it gets a little eye glazing as you wander around discovering the latest tech in solar panels, biomass boilers, paint finishes and prefabricated buildings. Every now and then however, you turn a corner and see something quite unexpected, just like these fantastic recycled plastic lights by Sarah Turner. 

plastic light 1

Describing herself as both an artist and designer, Turner takes very standard plastic bottles and with a bit of reshaping, cutting, perforating and reconstruction, turns the otherwise recycling bin fodder into quite stunning lights and sculptures.

Ranging in size from desktop to absolutely huge, Turner’s recycled plastic lights have been featured in fashion shoots, events and were also included in the interior design of one of the Olympic cafes where Coca Cola commissioned a chandelier using their empty bottles.

plastic light 2

The melted plastic bottle chandelier at Ecobuild was absolutely beautiful and had a real glass like quality as the light filtered through the plastic.

But our favourite of the recycled plastic bottle lights has to the Ella – which includes over 300 bases which have been sandblasted to create a solid yet sculptural piece at over 1 metre wide.

Daisy 12

At Ecobuild, Turner was actually showcasing the connection methods she employs making these beautiful lights and it was very interesting to see how the structure soon took shape.

But as well as the large scale, very statement pieces, there is a range of smaller recycled plastic lights on her online store, so there will be something for everyone…

(images via claire potter and sarah turner)

Weekend Colour Inspiration – a wall of coloured tiles

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This week on Weekend colour inspiration we are going all out with one image we found on Pinterest. It is a complete riot of colour, and we think it would be a fantastic scheme to utilise perhaps a whole range of coloured tiles which are end of lines, left over from other projects, or possibly even factory seconds?

Peyton & ByrneLondon

The most important thing with this type of colour scheme is to choose only coloured tiles in exactly the same size – the colours themselves are something which is far less important.

You could take all the colours you have, arrange them carefully to ensure that there are no strange colour clashes, then apply then to the wall, but unfortunately this can create a really contrived look.

Do not worry about which coloured tile goes where. Grab one, apply one. There will be happy accidents of great combinations and some really odd ones. This is the magic of such a scheme.

This is also a perfect way to fill one wall to create a really impactful surface as it could get a little bit too kaleidoscope for a whole room.

So, take a look at your tiles and mix it up a bit.

(image via Coloriz)

SPOTTED – the leather book shelf…

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Whilst on our travels, finding great stuff for our clients, we find loads of things which are just fantastic and that we want to take home ourselves. These items we tend to Pin onto our Pinterest boards, which we use as future reference boards for projects. When we spotted this clever book shelf made from leather, we pinned it instantly.

The eclectic or industrial interior relies on interesting pieces in key materials (metal, timber  leather etc) and this book shelf from Rocket St George really delivers in a very unusual way.

Leather Book Shelf

Constructed from leather straps, the hanging book shelf is supported from a metal wall bracket which swings it out from the wall surface, creating a real statement in storage.

It would not, of course, hold a library, but if used to highlight a few key books in a living room or as a bedside book storage unit it would work brilliantly.

If placed face on, as in the picture, you do not see the spines of the books very clearly, but if you place it on a wall at a right angle to your sofa / bed / chair, you see the spines, so it would be worth considering the location before you drill holes in your walls.

A lovely, raw book shelf design which shows a very different way of displaying books – perfect for the industrial interior.

(image via Rocket St George)

Recycled and prefabricated – a simple house project by ARCHI7

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Any architectural project has to overcome a huge range of issues – site restrictions, weather hold-ups, build quality, air tightness, waste materials, delayed materials and client deadlines to name but a few.

One way to have more control over some of these elements is to use a factory built, prefabricated system which is just pieced together on site. Delays can be controlled and the actual time spent on site is dramatically reduced ensuring that the build can be factored around adverse weather and be weather tight as soon as possible.

Prefabrication also ensures that the build quality can be scrutinised prior to the panels leaving the clean environment of the factory and that more complicated methods of construction or unusual materials can be considered.

This house by Swiss practice ARCHI7 has recently been built in Rechy, after being prefabricated off site, using lots of local and recycled materials from the cladding to the interior spaces.

The house is designed with a very small footprint, so there are no deep rooms ensuring that the light which enters the building reaches far into the spaces, limiting the need for artificial light.

ARCHI7, MMR, OSB, Colorful, family home, Mélèze, local materials, bold colors, Switzerland, Architecture, Daylighting, Recycled Materials, Green Lighting,

The interior spaces are clad with recycled OSB, giving a warm feel to the walls which is offset by a range of bright colours. Hidden storage ensures that the space feels uncluttered even though the house itself is not palatial and translucent doors help the light filter from one room to the next.

We like the fact that the recycled materials in this project have been left exposed and honest as the finished surface rather than being covered and it is good to see the advantages of prefabrication being joined with the advantages of using recycled materials in architecture.

(image via inhabitat)