Zaragoza is one of Spain’s hidden treasures for its authentic tapas scene, so delicious small plates definitely guided us to the city. However, the big vintage plates we found were equally memorable. For those, like me, who delight in the thrill of a vintage...
Move to Barcelona, start a design studio, and rescue thousands of square metres of materials from a historic stone yard slated for demolition. This isn’t your usual relocation, but this is how it happened for Leleni Studio. This episode of the Reclaimed...
Retrouvius: Contemporary Salvage: Designing Homes from a Philosophy of Re-Use by Maria Speake, published by Rizzoli A sculptural monolithic fireplace salvaged from Somerset brings rural England into this Notting Hill home, photograph © Kim Lightbody ‘There are moments...
We wanted to be ambitious with the kitchen, so although it took us two and a half years to renovate, I started sourcing reclaimed and salvaged elements as soon as we moved in. Living in our flat and gradually collecting kitchen pieces—some of which have been stored in...
Mirror - midcentury, Swedish sofa - 1880s, pendant light - 1980s. I am fond of an interior design remix, but getting it right can be tricky, so I called upon experts dealing in everything from architectural antiques to vintage, textiles and art to help master...
I found myself staying on Courage Yard this week as we moved out of our flat to renovate the kitchen. Naturally, I’ve been thinking about my first reclaimed renovation when I transformed the kitchen into a walk-in wardrobe, and strangely, remodelling the kitchen has...
From the walls to the worktop and the floor, your kitchen renovation may offer the perfect playground to use reclaimed materials. It is an ideal space to be ambitious as most of us spend a lot of time in our kitchens, and reclaimed elements have already passed the...
We are at a precipice moment for the planet, living through precarious times, so what is it like running a small business right now, let alone a sustainable fashion brand? I first met Sophie Dunster over five years ago. I interviewed her just three months into...
‘Our lives don’t need more things, things need to be given more lives’ read a corkboard beckoning me into the exhibition by Burniture, a new collective working with furniture that is skipped, unwanted, broken, about to be burnt… I am no stranger to street-found...
Spring heralds new stories, and a group of antiques dealers that were born, branched out or set up shop in the last couple of years are set to share theirs at the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair in March. What may have seemed like a moment for antiques attracting...
“I didn’t really decide myself. People saw me in the street picking up umbrellas and said it was like Mary Poppins. I had the idea of Marypup because it’s funny,” says designer and eco-activist Melanie Iudica, as she recalls how the name of her upcycled rainwear brand...
So far, I have salvaged an Arts and Crafts hall stand and the below late sixties lithograph poster from a Chagall exhibition at the Maeght Foundation in St Paul. I knew the Edwardian hall stand had value, but it was not until I researched the poster that I found it...
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” a friend messaged me in response to my “weekend working on the floor with my husband.” Despite distractions, including mould and moths, our renovation is moving along. We now have reclaimed terracotta roof tiles for...
My new flat is the equivalent of workout leggings. It’s comfortable and a little styling goes a long way, but I am anxious that renovating at a slow pace will be the home equivalent of a hard transition out of trousers with an elasticated waist. My current sense...
As the leaves start to fall, it’s time to feel again with a plethora of physical decorative antiques fairs in the diary. The last eighteen months have been challenging, but thanks to an unwavering business drive, digital community (and sales!) the architectural...
Save the dates 16 - 19 June 2021 because the original architectural salvage fair has found its new home, with the best bits of the virtual and real world to toast Salvo’s 30th Pearl Anniversary. Seven years ago I hadn’t even stepped foot inside a salvage yard, so my...
Wearing accessories from my new carbon conscious label ethazon When Beck and I first came together to create ethazon we desired an eco fashion place for people to dress for the world they want. Fast forward two years and we have seen a flurry of fashion trying to...
Had I not already left my heart in San Francisco in 2015 when I met the man I would marry seven months later, Love Street Vintage would have stolen it. Sustainable gems are dotted in many neighbourhoods, but High on a hill, Haight Street calls if you are after a...
Is it me or are haircare ads stuck in the 1950s? Can the contents of one plastic bottle really deliver on all of those promises? And are we even looking for those things at the end of a good shampooing? Hair diaries of women with great locks usually involve a lotta...
I didn’t see myself squeezing into another capsule challenge so soon - having spent 6 of the coldest weeks in just 6 items of clothes for Labour Behind the Label at the start of the year - but this was too good to resist… 10 items, 10 days, easy right? Ah, but this...
If you’re looking for proof that magic exists then Kimaya's ethical elegance will suit you. After more than a decade working on fashion planet aka Paris, Anne-Sophie Planet swapped city life for southern India to realise her dreams as a designer. Following her...
I know Sex in the City has been relegated to box-set territory but sometimes I refer to my flat as sustainability in the city, because like Carrie Bradshaw, I keep sweaters where my stove would have been. Reflecting on the moment I decided to turn my kitchen into my...
Having spent a few days working away in Brighton - the town where I grew up - talk turned to where I might ultimately set-up home if my husband and I decide we have out-grown our little garden flat barely made for two. Back home in London, I dropped-off my luggage to...
Today’s eco-warrior is less hemp, more hot. I don’t mean to do a disservice to the durable natural fibre, but hemp clothing is still building a new rep amongst fashion seekers that have discovered sexy and sustainable can coexist - as they do in the #ecohot label...
I definitely didn't expect snow when I picked mainly dresses for the six items to see me through six weeks. ©Photograph courtesy of PHIPPS - a newly launched menswear brand founded on the principles of respect and curiosity for the natural world. They're exploring...
At the risk of sharing TMI, I just got back from a romantic trip to Bruges which perfectly coincided with my period. I don’t normally write in acronyms, but having found a new solution to life’s unmentionables, I feel like my pre-teen self experiencing a period for...
I recently discovered that my nickname at university was the swan. Okay so I have a long neck, but my friend suggested that it was more likely to do with my perfect hair. Rest assured, I also dislike the woman with the “perfect hair” my friend described, as...
Sometimes less is more. This is the approach of designer Laura Ironside, who set-up her label with the aim of creating seasonless garments, thoughtfully, through sensitive and sustainable manufacturing. For some, sustainable fashion is a contradiction in terms, and...
Whether you're into antiques or not, Tallboy Interiors takes a new approach to old interiors that can inspire us all for the cosy season ahead. On his 18th birthday, Matt Dixon of Tallboy Interiors was given £1000 from his parents to spend as he wanted. Instead of...
Part-time harpist, educator, occasional snowboarder, and driving force behind phannatiq, Anna Skodbo takes a “clothes for people” attitude to designing. Attracting people from the likes of musicians Kate Nash, Harper and the pavement population with her city...
Laura Ironside / Tallboy Interiors
Ever practical, I chose a glazed 1940s staff noticeboard reclaimed from London’s Kings Cross station from SalvoWEB to style as my kitchen cabinet. Not that I was intending to consume as many tubes of tortilla chip Pringles as the decorators, but soon only pretty...
I know I am not the only one to have jewellery boxed-up in drawers, saving it for best. The same goes for antique silverware, often passed down through family, brought out for special occasions when firstly, we remember it’s there, and secondly, we can digest more...
One year ago I left my corporate fashion job to follow a more conscious life. My job gave me pleasure and pain, and enabled me to buy my first home in west London. Like a secret diary, I started to blog about my journey into a more sustainable existence (shoe...