Up-cycling is the new buzzword for designers all over the UK who are turning old or damaged objects into something new and fabulous.  Up-cycling is taking waste and making it into something that has equal or greater use or value. unlike recycling, it improves the quality of the materials rather than reducing them.

The phrase was coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, and it has inspired artisans and designers to create desirable objects from material that would otherwise go to landfill.

Don’t recycle, up-cycle!

http://blog.shophandmade.co.uk/ features designers from all over the UK, including Esther Coombs who says of her creations from old china  “These drawings in discarded ceramics and glass started as a one off commission and quickly became an obsession… mostly retrieved from a lost life.  Her lovely china creations with delicate under-glaze drawings would make an unusual addition to your mantelpiece.

Find out more at

http://www.esthercoombs.com/page3.htm