Remember my upcycled chandelier tutorial? I had listed the fruits of that project on Etsy, and a couple of the pieces were purchased by designer Robert Delpazzo of  iCrave Design in New York for “a little cafe project” he was working on. It turns out that the project was The Collective, at trendy ONE Little West 12th in the Meatpacking District. Everything in the space is made from salvaged materials, mostly sourced locally in NYC, and I recognize a number of the upcycled-art pieces as coming from other Etsy artisans. It’s a gutsy, artistic, and soulful slow-design concept in a world of interchangeable and boring bistros.

Interior of The Collective, MePa, NYC. See the green light fixture next to the graffiti wall? That's my SCOOPED chandelier, made of laundry scoops from the ReUse Centre! via Gothamist.

The interior design does look extremely busy in the preview photos that I’ve seen on the web – many commenters have been unkind, and one reviewer called it The Hoarders meet Metropolitan Home. However, I have a feeling that when you’re sitting in the space and it’s packed with people, you can’t see so much of it, and all the details that fight for attention in a photograph can be appreciated in a more intimate way. The lego-patched brick wall idea has gotten bloggers excited previously, and the styrofoam ceiling treatment is really ingenious. And you can’t argue with results: the design was inspired by both environmental and fiscal concerns, fully reflects that, and was completed for a fraction of the $2M budget typical of such projects. Judging by its reviews on Yelp, it seems it’s drawing the youthful, hip demographic that it targetted.

Here’s a roundup of articles I found about the space:

- New York Times‘ Home and Garden section

- Fast Company

- Gothamist (includes some very kind comments from restaurant patrons who describe the space as creative and inspiring)

- Martiniboys (didn’t like the decor but praised the menu)

- Zagat Buzz

- Eater

- Derek Loves Shopping

- Joonbug

- Haute Living

Lately, I’ve been really intrigued by Slow Design, which is a cousin of the Slow Food, traditional skills, and voluntary simplicity movements, and the Zen Buddhist concept of wabi-sabi. The published Slow Design Principles (Strauss and Fuad-Luke, see www.slowlab.net) are couched in academic language, and the case studies cited mostly involve the design of objects or artistic installations. However, the principles and practices of Slow Design are tools that are useful to sustainable designers, decorators, and artisans of all disciplines. To summarize (and loosely quote) that document’s main points:

Slow Design:

• facilitates ’slowness’ and provides a balance to the industrial-consumerist model of design.

• seeks to shift the user’s awareness and attitudes about materials, processes, time, and natural environment.

• reveals experiences and materials that are often missed or forgotten.

• strives for truthful, exposed use of materials and process (so the hand of the maker is visible).

• facilitates creative interaction between the user and the object or its location.

• makes users think about where the object came from, inducing contemplation & ‘reflective consumption’.

• allows the object to change, grow, or alter over time to reflect its history and usage, and continue to be used; and reflects its history prior to its current usage.

• comes from open-source, collaborative, transparent, and evolving processes.

• focuses on localness and community, through collaborations and co-design with the local community and local artisans, mapping and using local knowledge, reflecting local values & visual vernacular, and using affordable local materials, to give the finished design an authentic sense of place.

• celebrates diversity and pluralism by engaging a large range of stakeholders in the planning process. (For example, the charette process used in LEED building projects.)

• recognizes the urgent need for stewardship of the natural environment and resources, as well as honoring local knowledge and traditions, and encouraging engagement with place.

To try to illustrate what these ideas mean in everyday life, I brainstormed this list:

Slow Design is: Slow Design isn’t:

authentic                                                                    mannered, artificial, phoney

heirloom-quality                                                      semi-disposable

refurbished Victorian homes                                NeoVictorian subdivisions

modern (while respecting the past)                     like living in a museum exhibit

gardens                                                                          outdoor living rooms

rain barrels & watering cans                                     automatic irrigation systems

clotheslines                                                                  tumble dryers

timeless                                                                           trend-driven

cedar shakes                                                                 vinyl siding

handmade                                                                     machine-made

reupholstering & refinishing                                   buying new

Etsy                                                                                  Ikea

personalized and creative                                         impersonal and off-the-shelf

local                                                                                  imported

reduce, reuse, recycle                                                   buy, buy, buy

limited-edition or one-off                                            mass-produced

renewable                                                                      fossil fueled

So, what do the principles of slow design mean to you? What would you add to my list? How are you incorporating slow design into your home or decorating projects?

Detail of one of the upcycled bulletin boards I've made. Read on to learn how.

Lately, I’ve been inspired by cork. Why, you may ask?

Well, I found a huge, huge stash of wine corks at the fabulous ReUse Centre run by the City of Edmonton. Nearly half of them were those horrible plastic-and-foam abominations – which is a terrible shame, since making wine corks is both a traditional employer and a sustainable industry, without which the unique cork oak woodland ecosystem would be irreparably damaged. Contrary to rumour, cork is not going extinct: making wine corks or cork flooring actually prevents the extinction of cork oaks. So, I wanted to repurpose the old wine corks in a way that would be functional, while celebrating their traditional purpose and history.

I’ve also been trying to think of a good way to upcycle the dated, disposable ‘art’ that’s readily available at any charity shop or thrift store (The ones pictured below all came from Goodwill).

Consequently I’ve been working on a line of upcycled cork items for the home, which will be available for sale locally and through my Etsy shop (in the Quirks N Corks section). Here are instructions for how to make a couple of different styles of upcycled corkboards. (more…)

SCOOPED limited-edition pendant lamp, 1/20, colour: Spring, of discarded laundry detergent scoops, photographed without flash

SCOOPED 2/20, colour: Stripe, installed in its permanent home at Lucid Lifestyle

I’m excited to have recently added handmade pendant lamps created from upcycled materials to my portfolio. (Most materials are “downcycled”, degrading in quality and value, as they are recycled into new products – an oft-cited example of downcycling is the recycling of paper fibres from cardboard into office paper into toilet paper. “Upcycling” is the opposite of this, creating an object of beauty and increased value from a material that would otherwise be discarded.)

VESSEL:FLARE limited edition pendant light, 1/30, colour: Clear

While my creations are available in my Etsy shop, I’m only one person, and there’s a lot of discarded plastic and glass out there waiting for a new life. So, to celebrate Earth Day, I’m posting photos and instructions for creating your own lamps created from reclaimed materials readily available in your local thrift shops and reuse centres. (more…)