We received an astonishing 208 entries to our upcycling competition, hosted on with great pictures on Guardian Witness. This fantastic response ranged from furniture to fashion, gardening to lighting, bags to books.
After some deliberation, our judges – Bebe Bradley of UK Handmade magazine, Hannah Silvani and Rosie Scott of New Craft Society, Claire Dawson of TRAID, and Emma Herian, a textile artist and blogger – narrowed the entries down to a shortlist of six, from which an overall winner was selected.
Shortlist
Upcycled wool frockcoat
Upcycled Wool Frockcoat
Grey wool coat with pinstripe upper, pleated skirt, celtic button & tartan fastening. I wish to offer a huge thank you to Scottish Grannies without whom this coat and many others would not exist. Thank you for their investment in quality natural fabrics, their love of tartan & tweed, for supporting local business. For their patient attention to garment care. For donating their beautiful pleated skirts, jackets, trousers & jumpers which have inspired me to upcycle. Your clothes live on!
Ready cassette go
Ready cassette go
New life to broken plates
New Life to Broken Plates
Old china and ceramics can hold both memories and history, whether from your childhood or in fragments found in lying hedgerows or ploughed fields. I use the shards from broken cups and plates to create unique jewellery by reshaping the pieces, smoothing the edges and making silver bezels and fittings. I also try to use recycled silver whenever possible. Whether modern Scandinavian or Victorian porcelain, the colours and patterns that people have loved and lived with can continue to be admired for years to come. platejewellery.com
Milk bottle lampshade
milk bottle lampshade made using 84 bottles
Upcycled inner tube & jumper makeup bag
Upcycled inner tube and jumper make up bag
This is a make up bag made from cleaned upcycled punctured inner tubes which would normally go into landfill. They have been stitched together and then complimented with contrasting sewing. The lining is an old stripy jumper. As well as being really durable inner tubes also offer a fantastic vegan alternative to leather.
And the winner is...
Remade Armchair and Offcuts Assemblage
My partner Michael Ferguson makes furniture from reclaimed floorboards and sometimes upcycles neglected armchairs he finds on the street like this one. He strips off the dog eaten upholstery and lines the frame with floorboards, keeping their original colour, and then adds a little of his joie de vivre. He works under the business name Not A Wooden Spoon.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition, and congratulations to the shortlist and winner.
Interested in finding out more about how you can live better? Take a look at this month's Live Better Challenge here.
The Live Better Challenge is funded by Unilever; its focus is sustainable living. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion