Recycled – Fabulously Green

Tag archives: Recycled

ART | If Warhol Had Recycled, His Icons Might Have Become Superheroes

15Aug08

All American Blonde, Schimmel Art

Fans of the late pop artist Andy Warhol take note: Sandy Schimmel’s portraits of the rich and famous can lay claim to one thing Warhol’s canvases can’t. They’ve got a bit of superhero in them: having rescued postcards from the edge, and homeless, post-season Christmas cards from the depths of disposal. Trash to treasure never looked so bold, emotional, raw, and mosaics never looked so modern.

Schimmel’s masterpieces call upon junk mail, other discarded ephemera to create something eye-catching and tactile. A self-proclaimed “art room brat,” she traveled to Turkey to master the art of mosaics. She was looking for a way to create the look of stained glass and after experimentation perfected her signature method. Check out this video interview with Schimmel to learn more.

THE METHOD TO HER MADNESS

First she paints a portrait. Jimi Hendrix. John Lennon. Twiggy. Even you (for a custom fee).

Next, she dives into what I imagine to be Olympic-sized collection of paper ephemera to create her palette of colors and textures. Schimmel hand cuts each piece, applies them to a painting, and well, you can appreciate the rest.

I discovered Schimmel’s appropriately enough, through my mailbox. She mailed me a postcard from her Phoenix studio and I was drawn immediately into her world. You can view the full collection and learn about gifting a custom artpiece at Schimmel’s website.

ON EXHIBIT

Sandy Schimmel is on exhibit across the U.S. See the events calendar for more information.

>> DIY STYLE FILE | Office Wall Art

Filed under Art+Graphics, Recycled, Unique, Urban Style, Videos| Tagged artists, creative art ideas, DIY with paper, modern art, Recycled | 2 Comments

DIY DESIGN | Secret Salvage Yards

19Mar08

Photo courtesy of Salvage One

Sometimes the most precious pieces are ones are those you find in unexpected places. The antique mirror you scored at a flea market, the Phillipe Starck chairs you got for $69 each at Hotel Surplus Outlet, the handsome used Eames Lounge Chair knockoff bought on eBay for $50 (yes, it’s true. The lounger is in my friend Michael’s apartment and what I wouldn’t give to steal it away). If you have an eye for spotting a diamond in the rough, you might consider checking out another insider source: salvage yards.

What’s so special about salvage yards?

These are forgotten pieces of mid-century modern furniture, perfectly good kitchen and bathroom fittings, abandoned fireplace mantels replete with mosaics of cracked paint, and collectible flotsam covered with abstract, oxidized patinas.” – Christopher Brown, Senior Editor, Dwell

Thanks to Christopher Bright’s post on his favorite salvage yards, I parsed out a few favorites of my own to share:

Salvage One: Chicago, IL

The crème de la crème of salvage style can be found at the Salvage One store in Chicago. Lots of collectible furniture, lighting, as well as architectural elements, vintage sinks and clawfoot tubs. With so many pristine pieces, it seems a shame to call them salvage.

OLD GOOD THINGS: Manhattan, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Hallandale, FL; Scranton, PA

Old Good Things has a good selection of handcrafted tin mirrors, and decorative tiles.

EARTHWISE, Seattle, WA

Earthwise gets more into salvage materials (like the wall paneling above) but also offers a good selection of tiles, doors, wrought iron and antique tin mirrors. The website pretty easy to search for items (we’d love to see a “view all” button). There’s also a “Fun” section for those looking for inspiration on how to design with salvage.

Ohmega Salvage, Berkeley, CA
Nice layout of categories, lighting is broken out by decorative period. Seems to be the most user-friendly website of the bunch
Gems include tiles, doors, cabinets, metal lockers, display pedestals from art museums.

HOW TO MAKE IT MODERN AND FABULOUS:
If you’re new to salvage style you may want to start with these ideas: mirrors, ceramic tiles as coasters or tabletop decoration.

Cast iron or brass floor registers: Powdercoat paint them white, black, silver, peacock blue, or a fire engine red and hang them as wall art.

Filed under Furnishings, Furniture, Interior Design, Kitchens+Baths, Lighting, Materials+Finishes, Office Style, Recycled, Vintage| Tagged clawfoot tubs, Eco-friendly, Recycled, salvage one, salvage style, Tile+Stone, vintage furniture | 4 Comments

ARCHITECTURE | Hybrid House for a Briard

13Mar08

[slideshow id=1801439850954218563&w=475&h=320]
If you’re in the Los Angeles area this March 14-16 weekend and love modern design and architecture, don’t miss the 5th annual Caboom Show: the largest showcase of independent, contemporary design on the West Coast. On the list of special home tours includes one project particularly close to my heart and had the opportunity to work on: the Residence for a Briard designed by Sander Architects.

Three years ago, the clients Thomas Small and Joanna Brody threw down a gauntlet: to build the greenest house that had ever come out of the Sander practice. They wanted a house that was modern, green, and Briard-friendly (a very, very, large dog).

On a very tight budget. The challenge called for innovations on many fronts: beginning with the use of prefab components for the frame of the house, to our experimentation with materials. Insulation made from recycled denim jeans, wall boards made from sunflower seeds — surprisingly gorgeous enough to leave exposed sans paint. We had even talked about using cheap red wine to stain the concrete floors.

Whitney Sander, the principal, found his design inspiration from a painting by George Braque. I remember in my second week of work, being sent off to research Venturi roofs (to promote “natural” A/C) and every possible green product under the sun. It was the crash course of a lifetime — and was in part, the foundation of knowledge I used for the birth of Fabulously Green (thanks Whitney, Catherine, Thomas and Joanna).

Green Strategies and Materials:

greywater system (for capturing used water and reusing it for landscape irrigation)
passive heating and cooling strategies
a cistern to capture rainwater for watering landscaping
recycled denim insulation, bamboo flooring, Marmoleum, structural steel frames from recycled steel

To see the house in person, sign up for the Saturday Westside House Tour. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Related Links:

For tickets and home tour registration visit the Caboom V website
Homeowner Joanna Brody blogs about the designer’s challenge at G Living

Filed under Architecture, Interior Design, Materials+Finishes, Recycled| Tagged caboom, design shows, Eco-friendly, home tours, Hybrid House, Linkedin, modern homes, Pre-fab, prefab architecture, prefab homes, Recycled | No Comments

Optical Chandelier by Stuart Haygarth

04Dec07

Optical Chandlier by Stuart Haygarth

Here’s a new one from British designer and Fab Green favorite Stuart Haygarth whom I love for his ability to transform castoff objects like plastic wine glasses and plastic containers into high style lighting here and here. This time he’s used old prescription lenses to create an enchanted chandelier called Optical.

Closeup of Optical Chandelier

The 1.5m diameter chandelier, which contains 3,000 lenses from unwanted eyeglasses, was premiered at the Trash Luxe exhibition at Liberty in London last month.

Haygarth has dabbled with recycled eyeglasses before — as seen in the above 2006 stunner that used both frames and lenses.

According to dezeen, Haygarth gets his lenses from from a charity that ships used spectacles to the developing world. I’m hoping this means these are cast-offs of the cast-offs, otherwise it sounds a little odd to take lenses away from the needy to design a high-end light fixture. Note to self to write the ingenious Haygarth myself.

Note: According to the January 2008 issue of Metropolis Magazine, the glasses were those deemed unusable by the charity.

Spotted at curbly via dezeen

Filed under Interior Design, Lighting, Refashion+Refurb| Tagged chandelier, modern lighting, Recycled, Stuart Haygarth | No Comments

Holiday Style File | Getting Ornamental

14Nov07

Photo courtesy of splityarn

Here’s an easy idea for tree ornaments. Make them for you or send them as gifts.

Design it yourself:

1. Get your blank canvas: a package of class glass ornaments from a crafts store (I get mine at Michaels).
2. Be innovative: use whatever lovely leftovers you can find. This is the fun part. Consider it your own designer’s challenge. Channel your inner Martha. In the famous words of Project Runway’s Tim Gunn: make it work.

Odds and ends or unexpected textures work best and can even tell a story. Yarns from knitting projects, ribbons from birthday parties, confetti in your hole puncher, toothpicks, rubber bands, scotch tape (sculptor Tara Donovan’s work might inspire some out-of-the-ball thinking here). Or use your hole puncher to make confetti. If you have a paper shredder, you can create ribbons from virtually any paper source like magazine ads, old photos, etc. The more your reuse, the greener it is.

3. Fill ‘em up and you’re done!

Variation: Wishful Thinking
I made these five years ago for family and in-laws from used leftover vellum. Three different colors. I composed a one sentence wish for each member. Then I cut them into ribbons placing each person’s wish into the respective family ornament. People loved them and spent an hour shaking them up and reading their individual wishes. Martha would have been proud.

Big design day ahead. Until tomorrow!

Filed under Gifts+Gifting, Handmade, Refashion+Refurb| Tagged Christmas, DIY Style, Eco-friendly, Handmade, Holiday Style, make your own ornaments, Ornaments, Recyclable, Recycled | No Comments

Ask Fab Green: Decorative Bowls

27Jul07

Hi Fab Green,
I’ve been looking for little baskets made of some kind of re-used plastic, have a weave-like look and available in lots of colors. Have you heard of anything like this? Please let me know where to find them if you have. Thanks, Liane

Dear Liane,

Thanks for writing! Recycled plastic is becoming a more popular material for a host of things from baskets and bowls to handbags. I personally lean towards contemporary style pieces by designers like Yaron Elyasi. Made from melted strings of plastic and recycled plastic, these Kacoon bowls are swirled in to existence–in the expressionist spirit of say, a Jackson Pollack.
I can’t say that melting plastic doesn’t pose its own environmental pollutants–any chemists out there know?

No two Kacoon bowls are the same. They are available in seven colors at an affordable price ($42). You can find the Kacoon here.

Filed under Budget Decor, Furnishings, Handmade, Indie, Interior Design, Refashion+Refurb| Tagged bowls, chic, design+architecture, Eco-friendly, Handmade, Indie, Interior Design, modern style, Recycled, shopping, sustainable style, Tabletop | No Comments

Fish Lips Designs | Under Wraps

11Jul07

I’m enraptured by these gift papers by Fish Lips Designs. Bold graphics printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Oh, and the dyes are soy-based and chemical-free. As a former graphic designer I will say that going green in printing and paper is no easy feat. And the prices for papers are pretty reasonable.

DIY tip: Having seen these papers in person (owner/designer Kimi Rutkin dropped by some samples), they are handsome enough to frame as wall art. Buy a large sheet and create your own tryptic, or cluster a few patterns together of varying shapes and sizes to create a composition.

Other Fab DIY Possibilities:
* Book Covers
* Drawer Liners
* Scrapbooking
* Placements
* Handmade greeting cards
* Lampshades
* Switchplates – if you know how to decoupage

See the whole collection at the Fish Lips website. Go ahead, get wrapping!

Filed under Budget Decor, Gifts+Gifting, Lifestyle Tips, Recycled, Stationery+Cards| Tagged Eco-friendly, Fish Lips Designs, gift wrap, Kimi Rutkin, Non-toxic, Recycled, recycled wrapping paper, retro gift wrap, Stationery+Cards | No Comments

Unplug, Recharge | Solar Juice Bags

09Jun07

Thanks to Fab Green reader Carly for turning us on to these sporty, sun-powered bags and portable chargers by Reware. The Juice Bag (shown above) gets is “juice” from the sun, thanks to thin, flexible solar panels stitched to the bag’s exterior. Perfect for charging up mp3 players, cell phones, PDA’s and digital cameras while you’re on the go. How cool.

Geek Chic: According to the website, the fabric behind the ES Series Juice Bags is made from recycled 2-liter soda bottles then stitched to meet military standards for virtual indestructibility. Juice Bags are available in either a backpack or a day pack, either can hold your laptop, but not charge it up. Yet. It’s in the works. Prices run from $229USD and up.

The Pocket Charger is a folding charger for your gadgets that can fit in your glove box, or bag. Lie back, enjoy the sun, and listen to the music.

See the full line of Reware products on their website. For other sun-squeezing alternatives check out the Solar Backpack by Voltaic Systems.

Thanks again Carly for the fab find!

Filed under Bags, Fashion - Men, Gadgets, Lifestyle Tips, Recycled| Tagged Eco-friendly, Energy Savers, Juice Bag, Recycled, solar powered accessories, Solar powered bag | No Comments

Fab Friday | Interior Finds

30Mar07

TGIF! Some fabulous finds for the modern home discovered on the web…

BEAUTY [re]COVERED

Lounge Chair, Lotus Bleu
Vintage chair reupholstered with a French floral print linen

Spotted at Lotus Bleu

YOU KEEP ME IN STITCHES

Stitched Felt Coasters, $16 for set of four
Biodegradable felt on top, sustainable cork on the bottom
Spotted at ELSEWARES

MADE TO DEGRADE

Eco Ware, Tom Dixon
Made of bio-degradable plastic, 85% Bamboo
Spotted at Tom Dixon

RAISE THE RED LANTERN

DIY Style: Origami Lights
Little lanterns made from recycled magazines
Spotted at Curbly, via everything@once

Filed under Furniture| Tagged curbly, Eco-friendly, Furniture, Lighting, lotus blue, Recycled, Tabletop, tom dixon | No Comments

Etsy Find: Plantable Greeting Cards

23Jan07

Here’s a great way to spread a little love this Valentine’s season: Plantable Greeting Cards from round robin press. I discovered them on Etsy after buying my refashioned poker chip necklace from stinkycretingirl (beautiful jewelry, the name however…).

Wildflower seeds have been embedded in organic cotton paper and will sprout when planted. If I had a yard I’d test it out. Anyone out there game to try?

And the love birds? They’re letterpressed using soy-based ink, and enveloped in a 100% recycled Kraft envelope.

Love Birds, roundrobinpress, $6 on etsy. A variety pack of four is available for $20.

Filed under Gifts+Gifting, Indie, Lifestyle Tips, Recycled, Stationery+Cards| Tagged Eco-friendly, Etsy, greeting cards, Indie, plantable, Recyclable, Recycled, roundrobinpress, Stationery+Cards, Valentine's Day, Vegan | No Comments

Fabulously Green