Artsy Fartsy Wednesday ~ Reduce, Reuse, Re-Create

Over the past couple years I've been trying to be more conscious about what I do with my garbage. I recycle at home, but there are no recycling bins at work, so I started taking my recyclables home from work with me. I'm trying to become as green as I can one step at a time. But there are some people out there doing something more than just throwing their recyclables into bins, they're creating with those recycled objects. Today we're going to look at some creative objects that were made not just for the sake of art, but objects that have practical uses as well.

Here are some creative uses for newspapers and paper tubes. They can be found at Ecoble:

Artist Sumer Erek is using newspapers not only to create an interesting interior wall design, but the newspapers also act as insulation.



Architect Shigeru Ban has built many things out of paper tubes, including this bridge made out of 281 cardboard tubes as well as recycled paper and plastic. It rests on a foundation of wooden boxes packed with sand. The bridge can hold about 20 people at a time.

Click here to see more things like this at Ecoble.

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Take a look at this furniture made out of carpet samples over at Design Swan:

This is called the Carpet Sqr'd Chair. It takes 60 carpet samples to create this. Used carpets and rugs generate up to 2.6 million tons of waste per year, I'm glad somebody is putting it to good use.



This one is called the Green Screen. This one takes over 150 carpet samples to make and can be put together easily with some simple tools. It can be used to separate living areas and dampen sound. It could also probably be used to "fishbowl" a drummer.



This one is called RUGBURM. Looks comfy!

Find more interesting objects like these ones by clicking here.

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Here are a few more things found at the Web Urbanist:

This lighting fixture was created by Castor Canadensis. He has taken old burned out florescent tubes and given them new life. Even though they don't work anymore they can be used to diffuse light and emit a warm glow perfect for a comfortable atmosphere.




These chairs and stand are made out of crushed aluminum cans. They were created by Amir Zinaburg. I would have linked to his website, but he doesn't seem to have one, but I found a quote by Amir that says, "In nowadays, in urban surroundings, the only nature that is available to us is an artificial one, one that is manufactured, like city gardens and traffic islands. Waste has become an integral part of our modern lives, a kind of urban nature, and that is why it can be regarded as a raw material like any other."





These tables are made out of old bike rims and were created by Andrew Gregg. He also makes chairs, benches, love seats, barstools, and accessories out of old bike parts.

Find these and other objects by visiting the Web Urbanist by clicking here.

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Last, but not least, my friend Natalie (who I've mentioned on this blog before) has been making her own jewelry and other products out of recycled objects. She has a bunch of stuff for sale on her Etsy page which can be found here. She is also selling water bottles. 100% of the proceeds of the water bottle sales will go to charity: water. I talked about them last month. So remember to recycle and if the creativity bug bites you, don't smush it! Thank it, and then go out there and create!