RECYCLED DRESSES

GARY HARVEY

Ethical fashion designer Gary Hemingway created this dress out of throw away packaging. To see more of Gary Hemingway's work click HERE.

SUSAN STOCKWELL

Susan Stockwell's dress titled "Colonial Dress" was made out of world maps, wire and glue. To see more of her dresses click HERE.

WAYNE HEMINGWAY

This green union Jack dress was designed by Wayne Hemingway for 'Green Britain Day' made entirely from recycled fabrics. To see more of Wayne Hemingway's work click HERE.

JOHN PETREY

A dress made out of bottle caps by sculpter John Petrey

Visit the website to see more, by clicking HERE

JOLIS PAONS

I know I have featured this dress before, but I really love this one made out of telephone books by Jolis Paons. To see more images of this stunning dress click HERE.

CLOTHES, CAMERA AND COFFEE

Above: I love that Roz of Clothes, Camera & Coffee has used old negatives to recreate a 1920's flapper dress. To read more about How Roz created this dress click HERE.

JANE LAWRENCE

Comic Strip dress by Jane Lawrence. To see more of her work click HERE.

MELISSA FERREIRA

Above: this dress is made from reclaimed stretch wool sweaters by Melissa Ferreira. To see more of her work of clothes using quality recycled materials click HERE.

LIRA LEIRNER

Lira Leirner has made this fantastic dress out of an old Royal Mail bag. For her website click HERE.

ECO BAGS

I have selected 7 of the best eco bags made out of all sorts of products that would have otherwise been tossed into landfill. Recycled bags are no longer what they used to be, these bags are all very stylish in design, very durable and ecologically friendly.

FIRE HOSES

ELVIS and KREESE

Discarded fire Hose bag from Elvis & Kresse. This innovative Fire-Hose range is made exclusively from genuine de-commissioned British fire brigade hoses which, after a didtinguised career fighting fires and saving lives, would have been destined for landfill. To see Elvis & Kresse website click HERE.

DISCARDED BANNER VINYL

ELBOW GREASE DESIGNS

Eco bags designed by Jenny Hurth of Elbow Grease Designs are hand sewn from discarded vinyl signs and banners. Originally printed for trade shows, conventions, etc. These banners would otherwise end up in landfill. To see Elbow Grease Designs click HERE.

COFFEE SACKS

YOUNG BRITISH DESIGNERS

A reversible upcycled luxury eco tote bag made from fair trade coffee sack with contrasting lining found on Young British Designers website. To see the eco bag click HERE.

To see the Young British Designers website click HERE.

CAR SEAT BELTS

BELT UP BAGS

Eco friendly designer bags made from real (some recycled) seat belts with beautiful inside fabrics.

Available from Belt up Bags. For their website click HERE.

CAR INNERTUBES

RE-COLLECT

Handcrafted bags made from upcycled car innertubes & strap from recycled car seat belt. Designed by Katcha Bilek of Re-Collect. To see her website click HERE.

ROYAL MAIL BAGS

LIRA LEIRNER

These Royal Mail Sack bags by Lira Leirner are show stoppers! They come in a variety of colours, and are sturdy yet supple, lined and architecturally supported and structured with fabric tape and fastened with magnetic studs. Created by Lira Leirner in collaboration with the designer Stuart Bannocks. To see the website click HERE.

CAR LICENSE PLATES

LITTLEARTH

Bags created out of old license Plates. You can actually send your old license plate to Littlearth and they will make it up into a bag for you. To see their website click HERE.

GREEN POST

Above: Mini eco card set - 5 folded cards with handmade envelopes.

Kendra Zvonik makes 100% recycled handmade papercrafts. Her company GREEN POST was created with the intentions to re-use, recycle and upcycle all the "junk" paper that comes into our lives (such as junk mail, useless bills, receipts, tags, etc). As Kendra says, "Paper is one of the easiest and most forgiving materials to work with and to recycle. Paper is everywhere and can be re-used (possibly) infinitely."

Kendra makes the most wonderful Eco plantable gift tags. Tags that you can use and then later plant to grow wild flowers! A really creative eco friendly wedding/party/business favour. Made from recycled papers (created out of "junk" paper collected by the artist). Seeds are incased inside the pulp paper. The paper is then pressed and air dried. They hang on a 12" piece of natural hemp twine through a punched hole. They are then stamped on the back with SOY INK. All the contents is 100% recycled.

You can buy Green Post products via the Etsy shop HERE.

KELLY SWALLOW

"A swatch of vintage fabric is a little piece of history"

Stunning armchair by Kelly Swallow (above & below) - has just been made and the first time this particularly piece has been seen.

I have recently discovered the work of Kelly Swallow. A fantastic source for creatively recycling fabric pieces. Kelly's chairs & Sofas are made by using individually sourced vintage pieces of fabric. Each piece of furniture is a one off and with its own unique charm. The personality of every piece is rediscovered by painstakingly and lovingly choosing an exciting collection of fabrics to create unique pieces with newfound splendour. The fabrics range from vintage to designer including: Kenzo, Zoffany, Liberty, Andrew Martin, Designers Guild, Osborne & Little, Lorca, Mulberry - an eclectic mix with exciting and surprising contrasts.

Kelly has always collected fabrics (in fact, her house is full of fabric pieces!). She says that she cannot pass by a fabric shop without buying a remnant. She loves using vintage fabrics and also pattern books and is a big fan of Designer's Guild. The company Zoffany also now gives her all their amazing off cuts.

Kelly Swallow, based in Hertfordshire, specialises in doing bespoke pieces, involving the client to achieve stunning results which are truly tailor made.

To see more of her stunning work click HERE.

Kelly Swallow's grain sack armchairs.

VINTAGE SIMPLICITY

Have you ever thought of hiring Vintage China to give your party/wedding a real twist? Vintage Simplicity are a company based in South West London and they supply an eclectic mix of unique vintage china and accessories for Weddings, Corporate Events, Garden Parties, Productions & Photo Shoots.

If, like me, you are crazy about vintage china and unusual pieces all mixed together to make up one stunning set, you love this web site. Great photos of past events in their News Page page with yummy pieces of vintage china. It will make you think twice from now on when she see one lovely cup and saucer in your local Charity shop.

Really recommend this company to give your wedding or special party a stylish vintage feel.

For more information on their website click HERE.

LARGEST RECYCLED ARTWORK

In a bid to encourage consumers to recycle their cans and bottles the world's largest recycled artwork was created. 200,000 aluminium cans were used to create this piece in East Sussex to mark Recycle Week June 2009. Transforming thousands of used aluminium cans collected from around the UK, the sculpture, called Precious Metal, took a team of artists a week to complete and can only be fully viewed from the air. The artwork is inspired by a classic 1949 summer poster from the Coca-Cola archives of a swimsuit-clad lady relaxing in the sun. It was led by the award-winning Cornish sculptor Robert Bradford.

MODERN VINTAGE

I have just spotted these great bangles form Modern Vintage in USA. Crafted in a state-of-the-art polyurethane resin, slices of recycled cans have been embedded within each bangle. The cans themselves are made from 51% metal that has been previously recycled,

Each bangle is a unique work of art. No two are identical. When you order, you can expect the overall effect and colors to be the same as pictured, but the details vary.

Completely hand-cast from a custom mold in my workshop, lovingly finished, and polished to perfection.

To see more or to buy, click HERE.

BRISTOL VINTAGE WEDDING FAIR

For those Vintage lovers out there - The Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair is coming soon! 20th March 2011 - at the Pavillion, Bristol Zoo Gardens. For more details click HERE.

MARY QUITE CONTRARY

I love the work of Mary of 'Mary Quite Contrary'. With her scalpel and a pile of papers she creates fantastic cards. I am really impressed with how neatly she uses the scalpel. For the amount of work that goes into each card I think her prices are very good. If you are looking for something different I really recommend her cards. You can buy her cards and artwork from either of her shops by clicking here:

ETSY/SHOP/QUITECONTRARY or FOLKSY/SHOP/QUITECONTRARYCRAFTS

JEMIMA LUMLEY

I love the use here of recycling and it has been done with such a beautiful way. Jemima Lumley who is a silversmith also makes fantastic jewellery out of old watch parts. The combination of of the inside mechanisms of the watches and her silver smith work gives the pieces a wonderfully fresh contemporary feel.

Jemima part owns a shop called Fig on Gloucester Road, Bristol where you can buy her work, or you can buy from her website by clicking HERE. Her particular clock pieces will will on display at the Clifton Rocks during October 2010