A good Upcycler changes the way we sees what is possible in the world. Every day discarded items + imagination = beautiful new items. While most of us think that upcycling is taking your discards down to Vinnies and feeling virtuous as we drop them off, Upcyclers look at discards (at Vinnies, the tip and anywhere really) and imagine what might be.And Upcycler shops look less and less like the corner of Vinnies Boutique (not that there's anything wrong with Vinnies) and more like any other products you'd see on High Street. Better in many cases. Anyways, you be the judge.
Hatrik is such a simple idea that takes a heap of style to pull off. Sophia Athas completely reinvents and personalises clothing that she finds or your clothes that would otherwise sit in the corner of a wardrobe by embellishing it. Her way or to your custom design.100% hand embellished beading, sequining or embroidery on vintage pieces of jeans, skirts, wedding outfits and all kinds of jackets.
Gas bottles are one of those things you think go on forever, constantly being refilled, but some become damaged and get tossed. They are a major liability in landfill, especially if still partially filled. Li'l Gas rescue and repurpose damaged and discarded gas bottles and turn them into these fabulous bowls. Simple and gloriously stylish.
It seems that anyone who ever got something delivered on a pallet is a pallet furniture maker, but making something cool that looks good, is functional and doesn't leave splinters in your ass is not so easy.
Boy and Girl Co in Canberra are both a maker of incredible household and office pallet furniture and now also a rental company of all things pallet for weddings, events, festivals, anything.
Anyone who follows us knows that we are obsessed with sail upcyclers. There's a good reason - you simply can't recycle sails. Some sails, very few, are onsold, but if you have ever looked out over a cove in Sydney harbour or toward the horizon off St Kilda beach or Port Melbourne on a race day, you'll know there are literally thousands of sails going to nowhere but landfill.
Sails are made out of a woven PET fibre, impregnated with resins during the manufacturing process, to further waterproof the material and to guard against mildew and UV light degradation. The resins, along with all the metal fittings and other materials used to construct a sail make it impossible to recycle sails once their time is up.
Many companies have tried to work with sails recycling and Sailormade, based in Manly in Sydney are one of the big survivors. They make all kinds of exquisite bags, bunting and home decor out of sails.
Jeans are well documented as being very very emissions greedy to make and still remain one of the most staple items of clothing in a wardrobe. At the end of their life, some are cut into shorts, skirts, patched or sent to Vinnies, but many more are discarded. And there are not many great designers working specifically with upcycling jeans.
One of the great jean upcyclers has been JEANBAG who are based in Brisbane and make a range of Home Decor items including bean bags, aprons, bunting and cushions.
Technically, Upcyclers reuse discarded things in ways that creates a useful product of higher quality or value than the original. The rules of upcycling are really more to do with a lack of processing - think for instance of Econyl, a fabric made from old fishing nets & other consumer waste. It is a kind of lycra made using a closed loop, but chemical intensive process. The end product bears no resemblance to the original material it was made from. That's recycling.If those same nets were upcycled, someone would take those fishing nets and turn them into a garden screen, a dress or hanger or something still recognisable as the original. Presumably after a wash.