Remag by chloe.e.f

Quarterly review of contemporary culture

RE: Made

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RE:

Upcycle Verb; Reuse (discard objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher value that the original: “The opportunity to upcycle trash or turn it into new products was vast” Adjective; Upcycled “upcycled furniture”

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RE: Green

g n i l c y c p U s y ’ t h i W aving h . . s . i t n e m o m Britain produces 280m tonnes of waste each year, but savvy homeowners are increasingly refurbishing old furniture Words By Lucy Denyer

ot long after Laura McDonald and her boyfriend Daniel moved into their own flat in June this year, Daniel came home one night with a broken dressing table that he’d found in a back alley. Rather than chucking it straight in the bin, however, McDonald, 26, mended it, sanded it and painted it, and the piece ended up in pride of place in their bedroom. The dressing table was followed by a chest of drawers, then a pair of bedside tables, then a dresser in the living room, which acquired a chevron design to its front. After spotting an expensive mirror adorned with toy cars on a website, MacDonald decided to make her own for a fraction of the price. She spray painted

lampshades and revamped picture frames. Her home is now a riot of lovingly refurbished pieces, each one unique. So successful has her hobby become that she is considering starting to sell her upcycled pieces. “I love doing it,” she explains. “And, at the end of the day, you get something that’s totally personalised and unique, nobody else is going to have the same chest of drawers as you.” Call it a backlash against the consumerism of the boom years, call it a return to the make-do-and-mend culture of the war era, or blame it on Kirstie Allsopp, but upcycling is having a moment right now. Television is awash with programmes showing us all how

to turn a bannister into a coat rail or a sewing machine into a storage unit. It’s now much more fashionable to fill your home with items that come with the patina of age and style than the latest lot of mass-made flat-pack furniture from China. The number of products on Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade goods, tagged with the word “upcycled” increased from about 7,900 in January 2010 to nearly 30,000 a year later, and the figure now stands at 211,014. Last month meanwhile, a new website, remadeinbritain.com launched as the first dedicated shop window for businesses re-purposing some of the 280m tons of waste the British produce each year. More than 300 retailers have registered already, selling everything from furniture to lighting. Its founder, Donna Fenn, says she has been overwhelmed by the response, but not entirely surprised. “We all know the figureson how much stuff is thrown away, and we all want our homes to be individual!”Of course upcycling is hardly a new invention. Reusing found objects has long been a big part of folk art, and came of age in mainstream culture during the 20th century through artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Joseph Cornell. Historically, in the home, things were not thrown away but reused or turned into something else, be it old sheets into rag rugs or holey buckets used as planters. Needless to say, the trend has been big in America for a while, where there are hugely popular websites such as Hipcycle.org, an online retailer selling everything from tumblers made of old vodka bottles to salt and pepper shakers that were once glass insulators. lamp or an old tired pallet becomes a coffee table. At its most basic level, upcycling can be

2. repainting an old piece of furniture.. Annie Sloan is the doyenne of painted furniture. Shedeveloped her own chalk paint in 1990 has written 20 books on the subject. She says that she has seen the trend rocket. “Financially it’s sensible and it’s also very practical because old furniture is generally nicer, well made and incredibly endurable.” But the upcycling look doesn’t have to be folksy or cute, incorporating older pieces into an interior is a very old-school, grand British tradition – as a nation, we like that old, slightly faded glamour look, complete with beautifully frayed silk curtains and peeling paint. Sure enough, even at the top end of the market, designers are incorporating beautifully made upcycled pieces into their work. The interior designer Sarah Stewart-Smith, for example, creates beautiful benches from ancient wood and Perspex with copper inserts that wouldn’t look out of place in the most chichi of interiors magazines. Others are trying to subvert the whole idea that a newly revamped interior has to mean ripping everything out and starting again: Victoria Meale set up her interior design company in 2009 with the specific aim of trying to drive change within the industry by conserving existing resources and reducing waste in projects. Inspired? If you want to do it yourself, all you need is a little imagination, a bit of time and an experimental attitude. “The important thing with upcycling is not to be afraid of doing it again,” says Clio Wood, aka Clio The Muse, who runs her own upcycling business making pieces, running classes and carrying out interior design projects. After all, she adds, “you’re upcycling”

ks Laura’s handmade key hoo

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RE: Rebecca

Meet the hands behind Red Shed restorations... How many of us have had the experience of wanting an adorable shabby chic item, but find ourselves wishing it fit our colour palette just a bit better or wishing the top of the piece had a more durable finish? Words by Jamie Ashley

ebecca Stephens is an artist that has been creating, thrifting, and experimenting with upcycling for as long as she can remember. Rebecca knows no limits, her creativity can be found on Facebook at Red Shed Restorations. Tell us about the upcycle lifestyle and you, have you always been a creative person? I have always been creative, for as long as I can remember. I would always look at something and think to myself, “I can MAKE that!” So, instead of paying top dollar for an item, I found a way to make it or something similar myself. I was not always successful, but trying gave me experience and courage to try more new things, mediums, styles etc. My experience in upcycling came from teaching art with VERY limited funds. I had to learn to use what was on hand. Making rain sticks from paper towel cardboard and beans, or just painting a rock. And it worked! Tell us more about Red Shed Restorations – What is Red Shed all about? I am lucky enough to be selling my goods in two local stores. I specialize in smalls which is home décor type items. I love seeing an item at a salvage yard, thrift store, garage sale, etc. and giving it new life with a few tweaks and a coat of paint. I can see something for what it

CAN be rather than what it currently is. Some of my favourite recently restored items are an old window turned rustic chalk board an old lamp base turned chunky, shabby chic candle holder, and old, gutted sewing machine turned sweet little table. I also love to hand stamp silverware. I do custom orders and several wedding sets that include Mr/Mrs Forks and Just Married stamped cake servers. Frames are also easy a coat of paint in your favourite colour, maybe some distressing and voilà! I have mine hung on a chalkboard wall and change out quotes regularly.

I would always look at something and think to myself, I CAN MAKE THAT! REad more @ www.re.mag.co.uk

RE: Kirstie

hile I am not an interior designer, property W has always been my thing. I am convinced that the key to creating interiors we love, is to

personalise our homes with unique items that reflect us. The best ways to do this? Looking to the past, to items that are, worn in and ripe for reinvention, plus making unique items by crafting them ourselves. I like the sense of ‘re-use’. Now, in the markets, you’ll find that tea cloths have been made into cushions, nightie covers and all sorts of alternative uses. I find upcycling very satisfying, especially with handmade vintage finds. I’m often asked about my love affair with vintage, and why I choose to pepper my home with antique treasures and retro hand-me-downs. Now, this does sound slightly shallow, but I just can’t resist the bargain element of it all. When I actually find something that is a good deal it really is quite exciting! I probably should give a more romantic answer than that,but for me, a bargain is the best thing about buying vintage. Ultimately, my message is this: the past and crafts go hand in hand because they’re both about seeing the potential in things for your home and giving them a new lease of life. Whether it’s painting an old chair, displaying vintage tins or making cushions from period fabric, if you surround yourself with things you love, you are creating a beautiful home that reflects who you are and what you are all about.

-Kirstie Allsop

Furniture reuse in the UK diverts 90,000 tons of waste from landfill per year

UK landfill space is expected to run out by 2018

10 million items of furniture are thrown away in the UK every year, 3 million of these items could be easily re-used

4 million children in the UK live in households that cannot afford to replace worn out or broken furniture and three million children live in households that cannot afford to replace broken electrical items REad more @ www.re.mag.co.uk

RE: Free-cycle

Can Free-Cycle ever really work in the UK? The dilemma I recently gave away my kids’ bunkbed via Freecycle. The recipient was ungrateful (and wanted me to deliver it). Do people value things less when they haven’t paid for them? Is the whole idea counterproductive? Words by Jamie Ashley

’m still not sure if there’s any such thing as a free lunch, but the Freecycle Network, set up in Arizona in 2003, has proved that there are many gratis computer desks, mattresses etc. waiting to be re-homed. Today there are local Freecycle chapters in all developed economies, helping to readdress the fact that the life spans of everyday objects are so short. Similar schemes, such as Freegle, have also come along. The goal is to keep usable items out of landfill, extend the life span of products so new ones needn’t be manufactured from scarce and polluting resources, and loosen the grip of consumerism – which is wildly out of kilter with the planet’s ability to regenerate. Your ungrateful recipient confused Freecycle’s altruistic approach and the moon-on-a-stick expectations of consumerism. There’s always one. Shaylesh Patel of Healthyplanet.org recently held a successful Stuff For Free give-away in west London (look out for further events). Over three days he saved 25 tonnes of stuff from going to landfill. Hundreds of people went home happy – bar one man who wanted a bike earmarked for a charity: “He got annoyed,” says Patel, “even

though I explained that the charity would allow multiple people to use it.” “We have been consuming in the same way for hundreds of years, so some may take longer to convert to a more collaborative model,” Debbie Wosskow points out. She runs lovehomeswap.com, which helps people exchange holiday homes, and this month is launching Collaborative Consumption Europe, a network of businesses promoting the “share economy” – a marketplace based on swapping products and services. We have underplayed consumption as a driver of environmental degradation – and now it’s time to wake up. There are opportunities to prevent dinosaur-like behaviour. For example, because Patel had been loaned a warehouse for Stuff for Free he was able to house 127 bedrooms’-worth of fixtures and fittings from a local hotel refurb for his event (refurbishers often pay the landfill charge to dump such “waste”). “When you begin sharing things, you look at them differently,” says Wosskow. “What could this be worth to someone else? What can I barter?”

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let one rude Freecycler derail your fine intentions,

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RE:

Words by Juliet Davis

NGS

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Wallp aper i s enjo vintag ying a e pap reviva er in d look. S l and n rawer ample ot just s a n s d ward on wa , unus will cr lls. A p ed hal robes eate a f anel o i s r m o a l ix-and n easy ls and Home f -matc s a (www c n r d a p i n h feel s e .vinta f r x o countr p m sec ensive . Clare ge-ho y for v ond-h Brown me.co a intage n online d , f . shops ounde uk) in treasu , inclu r of Vi Oxfor res, an ding o d n Sande s t a h d ge ire, sc dd rol sells a rson r ours t ls of w w osebu i d e h updat allpap e range d desi e has er suc of hom gn. ‘If door p h e to the a t w s h ares the ra e piec anels outsid re Fift e of fu and s e too,’ i e prefe r i s d n es, th iture says C rable en yo you w lare. ‘V to ach u can wallp ant to i i e n ve an tage w a apers d d w a a a w uthen llpape llpape ith a m co-ord tic loo r r wou att fin inated k l . d i O s b patch h t effect e h . e I rwise f you work.’ ive, es have o , use m pecial Old m use ne n oder n l y l a y ps and scrap on fur w vers s, tr y niture newsp ions o tea, th a with a apers r phot en jus natura look e ocopi t give a piec l e q w s u them ‘antiq ally ood fi e of sa a coat ue’ the nish. Y fety g protec o o m f u m w c l a an att var ith a s ss cut t antiq olutio nish. A to fit t ue wa n of he top nothe llpape r idea of a si r or fa deboa is to u bric u se r d ndern or des eath. k to REad more @ www.re.mag.co.uk

www.hipcycle.com

www.etsy.com/uk

www.remadeinbritain.com Call Us : 0330 880 8282

Hobby Craft

www.reestore.com

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RE: Max

; o d r u M c Max M Best ’ s n a Briti r e l c y c p U n know Words by Jennifer Green

ax McMurdo became Britain’s best-known upcycler after he appeared on Dragons’ Den in 2007. His company Reestore had been going for four years and, while he’d won awards for his innovative designs, sales were perilously low. Initially he faced mass scepticism from the Den panel, but within minutes had won two judges over and got a vital investment of cash that saved his business. Being on TV has also changed his career completely, the camera likes Max and he’s gone on to work on programmes with George Clarke and Kirstie Allsop.

Shamelessly, I’m going to have to start by asking the question I’m guessing you get asked most. Talk us through what Dragons’ Den was really like. What actually happens on the day? It’s really different from all of the other TV I’ve done, because for legal reasons it has to be real. For example, when I arrived there was a panic because one of the Dragon’s cars was there and they said it was vital I was physically kept away from any of the judges. You can’t meet anyone beforehand, because the view is that if any of the judges have any prior knowledge of your business they would have an unfair advantage

Anita Bath Tub Chair by Max McMurdo -Retails at £925

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Let’s put this into context. You set up your business after you had been working on car design in Cologne and seen how upcycling was prominent in German culture. Why did you have to go in the Den? When I set the business up I was totally naive and had no business knowledge whatsoever, which is a problem for 95 per cent of design graduates in the UK. I thought I could just come up with a good idea and a million quid would arrive in my bank account shortly after. I knew nothing about pricing, marketing or distribution. So I was working out of my mum’s back garden using my dad’s old tools; the ideas were great but I wasn’t earning money. It was my then girlfriend who put me forward for Den and I wasn’t that nervous because I was so convinced it wouldn’t work. I was prepared and knew my numbers, and I was also able to be myself and that was why I think they gave me funding. Working with the Dragons was massive – they changed the business and me. I realised that I was in a commercial world. Now if I come up with an idea I question straight away what price it is and what retailers will want for their margin. That means 9 times out of 10 I veto an idea that doesn’t work at the moment and they go into a drawer for use later, if they’re viable Doesn’t upcycling break into two different strands, though? There’s commercial manufacture, but the other side is just about people working on stuff at home. Exactly. And the nice thing about the designs I

do on Kirstie’s show [Kirstie’s Fill Your House for Free] is that they don’t have to be commercially viable. That means I can be wackier and go back to where I was before Dragons’ Den and also, without sounding holy, I love inspiring people to do their own upcycling – and that’s to be honest, about what I’ll do with the business, because I’m realising the thing I enjoy most is showing other people what they can do! So what are your top tips for people who want to upcycle but don’t know how to start? The main thing is to not be scared of the materials or tools. No one is born with the ability to use a hammer; you have to give it a go and you’ll get better. There’s a lot to be said for starting with an old dining chair that you can take apart and remove the upholstery. As you do that, you’re learning how it was put together and understanding the processes. You can paint, wax or distress your chair and then use a new fabric on it – you’ll learn a lot of basic skills doing all that. The first one won’t be perfect but that’s okay, you can’t get it right first time. On the next TV series I completely mess up a prototype and I think it’s great they left it in the edit, because it’s important to show that. I’m not a big fan of art. I think making things that are functional like a bookshelf or a coffee table is great, because every time you use it you’re reminded that you saved it from a skip. Also, I like it if it’s not so transformed that you can’t see what it was originally. I like it if people say, ‘Oh, this is beautiful’ but then say;

16.

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RE:

Editor er Chloe Fost .magazine.co.uk re f@ e chlo r Art Directo rson e st E n o o.uk Sim .magazine.c simone@re Twitter ne @remagazi m ra g a Inst mag @regram_ g.co.uk a .m e .r w ww Publisher ing Park Publish