The Bower: Traders of the Lost Artefact

 

Coffee table was once a

bicycle

Throw a truck tube over your

shoulder

Techno light

A music bowl

 

Remanufacture

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ReManufactured Product Websites

As part of a 'remanufacturing' project funded by the NSW Community Waste Grants and administered by

the NSW EPA, we developed a line of new products to see what was possible with reclaimed materials.

We visited many websites to get a good sense of what other people were up worldwide and what was

being created from reused materials. Below is a list of some of the products being remanufactured from

discarded goods into completely new products. These are mostly reused materials, in that they remain

inherently the same ‘material-wise’. It is only the function and the product that is recreated afresh. In

most cases, though not all, the material resource is not reprocessed (recycled) through a factory facility.

NB: The first three photos above were taken of Bower products by local photographer and reuse jeweller

artist Mike Buick.

Goods

Flat-packed self-assembly waste-paper bins and magazine racks made from large billboard posters.

From Goods of the Netherlands

Bedrock Tableware

Plates and platters made from textured glass light diffusers taken from government buildings

Vinylux

Designer Jeff Davis rescues scratched 33 rpm vinyl records and transforms them into functional bowls

and clocks.

Ekologic

Hats made from reclaimed woollen clothing

Motherboard

Transforms circuit boards from TV sets, audio components, phones and computers into new and useful

products. With more than 6 billion circuit boards manufactured in the U.S. last year, Bevan and Weaver

have plenty of raw material. Bevan estimates that Motherboard recycles hundreds of thousands of pounds

of discarded motherboards each year.

Imbenge

Zulu tribes people in Natal, South Africa, weave traditional baskets from untraditional material --

recycled PVC-coated telephone wire.

Used Rubber USA

Wallets, bags, and planners are made from reclaimed inner tubes, a high-quality industrial rubber.

Mostly they use truck tubes. They also incorporate car, motorcycle, and bicycle tube into some products.

All of the rubber is post-consumer waste.

Urban Boomerang

Australian company offering bags made from reused rubber tubes and folders from old licence plates

Cappellini

Coffee table made with terracotta flowerpots turned upside down and stacked with a glass-top. From

Italy.

Resource Revival

A group of designers creating new uses for discarded materials. They make everything by hand in a

Portland, Oregon, design studio where they recycle thousands of pounds of used bicycle, car, and

building parts every year.

Jims Junkyard

Jim Powers of Gage, Oklahoma creates Giant Insects, Life size Buffaloes. Elephants and Dinosaurs made

from the metal of scrapped cars.

Bonnie Meltzer

Pins cut from circuit boards, painted and then embellished with beads, computer discards and other

recycled objects.

John Dilbeck

Steel roses ‘that never wilt’, made out of old car body panels.

Zuss

Hand-made from re-used rubber. All clothing, hats and bags are one-of-a-kind Zuss Fashion Designs.

Vulcana Rubber

Recycled Rubber Hand Bags and Shoulder Bags made of recycled tire rubber. The sheet rubber used here

is made from de-vulcanized tire rubber that has been reprocessed through a patent-pending system into

a thin, water proof sheet form that remains stretchy and highly durable much like new rubber. Some

reused rubber also some products.

Lizard

Recycled rubber bags by Vulcania suit all types of purposes and tastes. Made in Mexico City by fair trade,

these unique stylish bags are 100% recycled goods.

Close the Loop

Recycled vinyl records made into popcorn bowls and hearts.

Splaff

Make a recycled tire sole, used bicycle upper, chipped tire footbed. Natural also sports hemp fabric trim

(black is all rubber). NASA fabric enforced toe bar. No waste—all materials used in manufacture are

reused or recycled.

The Flat Bottle Company

Focus on the reuse and value adding of waste bottles. Squashed Clock, the Sushi Platter, and the

Gourmet Cheese Platter.

Recycled Tire Mats

USA company making safety non-slip rubber mats from machine shredded lengths of car tyres

Reel Furniture

Timber Furniture made from Cable Reels in the UK. Coffee Table style is GBP 275 and armrest chair at

GBP325. Also Bookcases made from shipping pallets for GBP 125. Self assembly using bolts.

Reuze UK

A collection of sites on reuse activities in the UK. Has photos of other reuse products from around the

world including belts made from colourful computer data cables.