Upcycled Furniture

I hear the term upcycled furniture used a lot these days. To clarify its meaning I went to an expert resource. Chris Plaisted of Hammer and Hand has been designing and importing upcycled furniture for years. According to Chris the term upcycled means to take an item such as a vintage door and use it to construct a new piece such as a cabinet. So at Hammer and Hand you will see upcycled furniture.

 The majority of the pieces come from the area near Jodhpur, India, which is referred to as The Blue City. Many of the buildings in Jodhpur are painted in shades of blue. In turn much of the furniture from the area has remnants of the blue paint of the city.  As old buildings are being demolished to make way for the new elements of the old are salvaged to create new pieces from the vintage.

The large nail heads on the cabinet hold the layers of the doors together. Originally they extended out farther to keep the elephants from leaning in to and wrecking the pieces.

Larger trunks are cut down to a more usable size.

The interiors of trunks are also constructed of vintage woods.

These vintage doors conceal the new mirror behind them.

I like the idea of taking a large trunk and cutting it down to make coffee tables.

Even the smaller items have been upcycled and given new life.

Upcycling creates beautiful new furniture from discarded pieces. To upcylce is to recylce. It is sustainable and green.