‘What ya gonna do with all that junk, all that junk inside your trunk?’ You’re going to upcycle it, that’s what you’re going to do.
As much as I love contemporary design, I rarely buy a brand new piece of furniture or product for my home. That may have a little to do with the great expense of a brand new product, but generally (and honestly), it’s more fun turning something you don’t want into something you do. You just need a good eye for potential and a little patience. I moved into my London flat 2 months ago and with a little budgeted creativity, turned it into a lovely home. However, there are still furnitureless spaces to be filled. I could go to Ikea and pick out a nice affordable coffee table, maybe a couple of bedside cabinets… but that would be lazy, and a little bit boring (although I’ll still happily go for the Swedish meatballs and jelly). Instead, (with a little bit of encouragement and a large cup of coffee) I got up at 4.30am to go to the country’s biggest bi-monthly antiques market. Fuelled with a cheese and tomato toasty I trolled the grounds of Kempton racecourse, hawk-eyed and ready, ready to wage a price war on an unsuspecting dealer for the perfect 1950’s pointy legged chest of drawers. After 4 hours I found… nothing. The market was rammed with chinsy shabby-chic cottage style furniture, but not a decent piece of classic 50’s carpentry in sight. I went home (drawerless) but not defeated, and I did pick up some beautiful textiles. Patience really is key to finding unique pieces that you can bring to life. Whether it’s restoring something old, and giving it a contemporary twist or starting from scratch with recycled junk and a few casters, it takes time to find the perfect base, but you’ll know it when you see it.
Really crate furniture design by Frank Ryan
Former surfer, Brazillian designer Carlos Motta creates furniture from reclaimed wood
British designer Karen Ryan reassembles objects and furniture found in thrift shops in the U.S.A
Italian company Marama constructs furniture by repurposing materials from shipping crates & old wood
This recycled light is made of 15 desk globes outfitted with lights and suspended from the ceiling’s firmament by French designer Benoît Vieubled
Australia-based modernist furniture restorers at Retro Modern source and restore worn mid-century sideboards, buffets and tables, and recreate them into stylish and functional pieces with a cool modern-day twist.
Recycle your plumbing - faucet lamp with LED lighting, designer unknown
Californian based design company Skate Study House recreate classic and popular furniture designs using old skateboard decks.
When it comes to furniture you’ll find it hard to beat 20th century classics. Practical, timeless elegance which suit any style of decor from a 1930’s boudoir, to a highly contemporary 21st Century urban condo.
Hail Brittania: Ercol vs Conran - Classic British design.
In 1920, Lucian Ercolani started his own business in High Wycombe, the chair making capital of England. He developed a technique of steam-bending wood in large quantities to form the famous Windsor Bow, and discovered how to ‘tame’ elm; a beautifully grained hardwood other furniture makers considered impossible to work with.
Terence Conran, the man responsible for some of Britain’s most iconic furniture design, also gave us the duvet, the wok, and the paper lightshade. Conran founded Habitat in 1964 which grew into a large chain selling contemporary homewares and furniture.
These iconic designs have left their mark, inspiring other contemporary British designers to use vintage and retro styling in modern design.
Below: The Isokon Furniture Company was founded in 1935 in Chiswick by Jack Pritchard, a great admirer of the Bauhaus. Pritchard hired the former Master Carpenter of the Bauhaus workshop, Marcel Breuer, as a designer and although Isokon produced furniture with many designers, it was Breuer who gave the firm its iconic fame. Today, designers such as Michael Sodeau continue to encapsulate the proud history of Brit furniture design.
I knew since my very first home economics class in school, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life sewing but it’s taken me 12 years to discover how to use my love of stitch to create something practical, and useful. After studying textile design in college I decided to continue into fashion and began my studies in clothing design and garment construction, soon after graduation I became a designer, and worked briefly with my favourite British surf brand. This should have been my dream job. But apparently, it was not. Being stuck behind a computer desk for 10 hours a day designing clothes with a mere click of a mouse was not quenching my thirst for creativity, and I realised that it wasn’t just my mind that wanted to be creative, it was my hands too. What use is a brilliant and beautiful idea if you don’t have the opportunity to bring it to life yourself, using your own two hands and some hardcore labour… that’s right, some good old fashioned love, sweat and tears.
Over the last few years I developed a love of homewares, and I started to think about how I could combine my love of sewing with home interiors. For me ethical production and sustainability have always been the most important aspects of design, and it’s my aim to show people that eco and ethical products can be sophisticated, and stylish. I started collecting interesting second hand materials, fabrics that looked as if they had a story, sad pieces of furniture that were aching to be loved once more, and slowly I have began to stitch, reupholster and paint life back into them, creating remarkable one-off pieces to treasure, thus The Corduroy Cat was born. It’s been a huge learning curve for me, but I have never been more content or at peace creatively than I am now. Currently I am blessed with a lovely little part-time job in a family run patisserie, and the rest of the time I’m busy working on The Corduroy Cat. I am moving to London this year, with the intention of furthering my experiences, developing new ideas and pushing boundaries… and to prepare for world domination. ;)
These beautiful floor tiles have been re-worked from vintage leather belts by TING, a London based design company devoted to making luxury products using sustainable materials and ethical production. This attractive and hard-wearing surface is also suitable for table and bar tops, walls and feature areas, as well as floors.
“Each belt is hand selected to ensure a high grade of leather and then the belts are stripped of their metals, hand cleaned with chemical free substances and prepared for use. The vintage belts for each tile are carefully designed in-house as the colour and patterning on the belts is sensitive to each tile. This means no two tiles will ever be the same.
Ting makes every effort to produce locally where possible. We have a highly skilled team in the UK for European distribution…” Ting
For more information on TING’s sustainable products, visit http://www.tinglondon.com/
Up-cy-cle
tr.v. up·cy·cled, up·cy·cling, up·cy·cles
- Converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.
- Reusing a material or product in a fashion that does not downgrade it’s quality.
- Reusing old products in a new way decreasing the environmental impact of manufacturing a brand new product.
I’ve been picking up old and tired bits of furniture from all sorts of places. Reclamation centres, front yards, the road side, the tip…etc, and breathing life back into them using brightly coloured paint, fabrics (recycled of course!) and a little bit of love. Sadly I haven’t been able to record much of this as I don’t own a camera, but with the help of a lovely friend lending me theirs, I’ve been able to take some snaps of a few finished (and almost finished) pieces.
Below: I revived a 1950’s dressing table I found in a junk shop for £15, turning it into this stylish set of drawers, perfect for a hallway or study. This was my first restoration project and the process was very simple. I removed the mirror and sanded down the original teak wood, taking off any varnish on the surface. I then selected the colours I wanted to use (I used basic wall emulsion as I couldn’t get hold of wood paint in my desired colours. Emulsion is fine as long as you’ve primed your surfaces before hand and then add a coat or two of varnish when the emulsion is dry). I painted the body of the dressing table in my favourite subtle putty shade of green/grey, and then painted the draws in white, red, and two shades of blue. When the paint had dried, I added a protective coat of varnish with a smooth satin finish. I found the hand painted draw knobs at a seaside shop in Swanage for £2.00 each.
A warm welcome to my new eco sister blog, The Felted Frog! Run by thrifty artist Lizzie Ault (soon to be Lizzie Long!) You can find her on Twitter @lizzieault, and to follow her gorgeous tips for stylish sustainability, visit http://feltedfrog.com/
I’ve been thinking a lot about practicality lately, product design which is both beautiful and highly functional. It’s something which is very important to me, to have in my home something aesthetically pleasing to the eye, which also helps my day to day living.
This month The Corduroy Cat admires…
The ‘Fatty Container’ - by Harri Koskinen for Schimidinger Mobelbau
The ultimate in practical storage! These birch containers are stack-able, and lined up they create the perfect seat to perch upon.
£165 each - aplaceforeverything.co.uk
‘Paperback’ Bookshelf - by Eric Sloot and Paulien Berensden for Studio Paradise
I’m a book lover and very proud of my collection. I display them in order of colour around my living room, and love the idea of this minimalistic, modular unit to showcase all of my fabulous reads!
From £280 at spectrumdesign.nl
Upcycled Strorage - by Rupert Blachard
For me, upcycled furniture is the creme de la creme! There are so many beautiful pieces out there waiting to be lovingly restored, or in this case pulled apart and reassembled in to something new and fresh. I found these particular pieces in vintage furniture shop Elemental, Spitalfields.
DIY idea
Have fun upcycling and get creative with wooden fruit crates, stack, wall mount, attach casters to wheel them around… You can usually salvage wooden fruit crates from outdoor food markets, health food shops, car boot sales and ebay.
A little bit of All American Old Style from Oswald’s Mill, an 18th century Germanic house mill in the heart of Pennsylvania.
http://www.oswaldsmill.com
Summer’s finally here! It’s no surprise it’s raining in Old Blighty, but we’ll brighten things up with this month’s favourites!
This month The Corduroy Cat loves…
Mini Modern’s ‘Whitby’ nautical wallpaper - stylish and eco friendly, printed in the UK using waterbased inks on paper from sustained forests. £45 per 10m roll http://www.minimoderns.com/
Mango wood ‘Mixed Up’ side table by House Doctor DK at Rose & Grey. £425 with free delivery http://www.roseandgrey.co.uk/
Create your own stain-glass window with Purldeco’s stunning adhesive films. Choose from Art Deco, Art Nerveau, Victorian, and contemporary designs, all you need to do is add soapy water and apply them to glass. £45 per m http://www.purldeco.com/
‘Lush Landscape Bedding’ at Anthropologie. A riot of petals in a cacophony of colours grows wildly across the fluffy terrain of cloud-soft voile, nearly camouflaging the jungle wildlife who prowl and flap about. £28 - £128 http://www.anthropologie.eu/
‘Karakoram Rug’ at Anthropologie. Plush tufting and skillful flat weaving create exotic textural contrasts on this striped-and-diamond-scattered rug, whose hues recall outposts along the Silk Road. £398 http://www.anthropologie.eu/
If you would like anymore information on the products featured in this article, please contact me at jenniferchristie@live.co.uk
The Corduroy Cat was originally created to promote a range of handmade textiles for the home, made from recycled and vintage materials whilst sharing with you some creative, stylish and innovative product design currently on the market. The first samples are currently in production and I’ve been very tempted to post up a sneaky peek, I’m refraining, so instead I’ll share with you a little visual inspiration behind the project.
I’m moved and excited by contrasting colours and textures, layers, and depth; I love the expressiveness of it. The thick and fierce brush strokes of an Expressionist fuelled by passion, peeling paint, corrugated iron, torn pages from an old book, spilt coffee or red wine, rusting boat sheds, wood worn by the sea, exotic feathers, weather worn leather, sea shells, old shoes, vibrant patterns, stripes, film noir, musty museums, wild flowers, etc…
They are simple things I have made a connection with, simple things I treasure, and simple things that comfort me, so what better inspiration for creating beautiful products for the home…?
Images and Artwork that are not my own have been sourced from Getty, Flickr, National Geographic, Wolfgang Bloch, Robert Raschenburg and Joseph Cornell - If you would like me to remove an image please contact me directly at jenniferchristie@live.co.uk
