Inhabitat » [RE]DESIGN: Sustainable Design in London

September 24, 2006

[RE]DESIGN: Sustainable Design in London

London Design Festival, [re]design exhibition, sustainable design, old truman brewery, brick lane

Our favorite part of London design week this year is [Re]Design: Good and Gorgeous? - London’s only design event dedicated exclusively to recycled design. Focusing on good, gorgeous, sustainable home design, [Re]Design “supports designers who don’t want to make landfill…” Shouldn’t we all support that?

We went to the opening on Wednesday night with high hopes, and we were not disappointed. Here’s what we found…

Guy Arzi’s reclaimed cinema seat Rocky Chair was general favorite at [Re]Design - it took the best in show award

Ryan Frank’s reclaimed plastic bag Inkuku chair was another favorite

ww.modcon shelves for life, london design week, redesign, coffin
We also really liked ww.modcon’s humorous Shelves for Life - shelves that turn into a coffin for when your time has come.

Light made from a section of a bike frame, by Frida Kallstrom/Fridasform.

RD3 Chair by Cohda. 100% recycled waste plastic is homogenized and reformed using “Cohda’s unique energy-saving URE process.” Reminiscent of Patrick Jouin’s SOLID pieces made with stereolithography, but more sustainably-minded, and significantly more affordable (the RD3 is available through their site for 240 pounds, or roughly $480)

NYC design maven Kimberly Oliver snapped these great photos for us. To see more, check out her
Flickr feed >

6 Responses to “[RE]DESIGN: Sustainable Design in London”

Maggie van Rooyen Says:

October 12th, 2006 at 11:03 am

I find this simply ugly and would never buy it.

Geek Friendly » Currugated Cardboard Laptop Case Says:

October 16th, 2006 at 5:19 am

[…] For this fall’s [re]Design exhibit in London, Giles Miller of Farm Designs decided to put a sustainable spin on something many of us use and rely on every day; the common laptop case. Taking cues from Frank Gehry’s Wiggle Side chair, Miller designed and built an elegant and sturdy looking carrier for his Apple PowerBook computer out of nothing more than every day recycled currugated cardboard and some scrap leather. Although the piece might not be the most practical of cases, it once again shows that sustainable and environmentally friendly design can be just as functional and beautiful as products concieved of less green ideals. […]

Inhabitat » Blog Archive » ROCKY CHAIR by Guy Arzi Says:

October 25th, 2006 at 5:11 pm

[…] Currently making a big splash at the [Re] Design 06 exhibition in London, Arzi’s vibrantly refinished Rocky chairs are stealing the hearts of nostalgic cinema-goers as well as anyone else who just plain appreciates smart, quirky and environmentally sensitive design. […]

Jonathan Howkins Says:

December 7th, 2006 at 10:52 am

Hi there, just came across your blog site - great stuff. Actually we were also exhibiting at the ReDesign show. Whilst our furniture does not have some of the more obvious eco friendly visual clues, it does have its own sustinability story (extract from our press release).

The sustainable circle.

As designers, we prefer to work with materials that age well and come from sustainable sources. We use a very restrained aesthetic to complement different interior styles, and we build in flexibility to accommodate changing technology.

As manufacturers, we try to minimise the environmental impact of our work wherever possible - from recycling manufacturing waste to using solvent-free finishes and returnable/recyclable packaging.

While Pause ll, our first range of furniture, is 98% recyclable, we are far more interested in its sustainability. We would rather refurbish one of our pieces, than recycle it. It would be unthinkable to recycle a Chippendale or a piece of Charles Renee Mackintosh, and that’s how we feel about our furniture. It is not for the moment, it is for our time.

We accept, however, that our time is not necessarily infinite. Circumstances change, we move around, we change direction. Our possessions may not always suit were we are going.

So committed are we to the concept of sustainability, we would rather you invest in another one of our designs that suits your new environment, and take back the piece you first purchased from us. We would then refurbish the first piece, and resell it on your behalf.

Surely this sustainability in its purest form? It preserves what is good, and promotes what is new.

Inhabitat » RECYCLED PLASTIC RD4 CHAIR: Handmade by Codha Designs Says:

May 12th, 2007 at 11:37 pm

[…] correct. We had previously shown an earlier version of the chair called, appropriately enough, the RD3 here at Inhabitat, so it’s great that they have continued exploring and improving this […]

Inhabitat » [Re]design Chair Exhibition At 100% Futures London Says:

September 29th, 2007 at 12:30 am

[…] displayed an array of sustainable seating that were as green as they were gorgeous. Expanding on last year’s installation, the [re]design collaborative design crew returned with sixteen items that epitomized good seating […]

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