Israeli design shop, Studio Groovy, transforms recycled items into functional products imbued with new-found style and funky flair, (car rim fruit bowl, above).

A telephone handset gives birth to a retro-designer bottle opener for a different kind of communication.

Moroccan themed end tables created from laser cut vinyl record albums.

This lighting fixture (above) was created from 4 colorfully authentic Israeli metal soda bottle siphons.

via the very groovy: recyclart

Every once in awhile something just catches our eye…this antique image of a man walking hand-in-hand with a tiny bear says a lot of different things about our relationship with nature and other creatures.  The 8″ x 8″ handmade lightbox is back lit by an energy efficient 40w compact fluorescent bulb.  Hang it on a wall or place it on a table.

$95 @ munstre’s supermarket shop

Owner/designer Shane Larson’s Ore Containers creates modern, functional, and sustainable, containers, seating and firepits from recycled steel and aluminum.  The Salt Lake City design firm makes durable garden products that have a minimal impact on our environment.  Ore utilizes sustainable raw materials such as recycled steel, recycled aluminum, reclaimed hardwoods and eco-friendly de-greasers which makes everything they create 100% recyclable.

Many of Ore Containers recycled steel pieces are finished with a natural rust patina.  Steel has the strength to handle (more…)

Designer Francois Royer’s Stanker Collection always features something cool created from reclaimed and rehabilitated shipping containers.  Francois created the custom MixMob mix stand for DJ Martin G.  The base is formed by two recycled steel barrels.

Related:  previously on altCon
Stanker Boozbox (10.7.08)
Stanker Collection Updated (5.7.09)

Ah…an eclectic assortment of funky recycled objects converge to become art.  Here’s a new member of Reclaim2Fame’s Tin Type Robot series made from recycled and salvaged items, including: in Space Baby Beebo’s case, a vintage alarm clock helmet, an American tin canister for its body and a bunch of other stuff. (more…)

It’s always great to see art rise up out of our consumer debris. French artist Junior Fritz Jaquet creates the figures (above) from pieces of recycled cardboard.  The masks at right are created from upcycled toilet paper rolls.

via: recyclart

Chicago’s Defy Bags makes great looking bags from an eco-friendly combination of recycled materials and great graphic art.  Each handmade, small-run bag keeps a chunk of a vinyl billboard out of a landfill and gives you the opportunity to add that touch of arty style you may be currently lacking.

The water resistant bags come in small, medium and large, ranging in price from $115 to $125 – and Defy’s designers have created a wide variety of great images with which to adorn your bag.

These are hand-stitched, custom bags so allow 2 or 3 weeks for delivery.  Defy will also execute your own custom design.  see more designs @ defybags.com via: trib.com/gear junkie

We just got our hands on the first issue, (summer ‘09) of the reborn ABOVE Magazine and it’s a beauty. Nicolas Rachline has transformed the former glossy fashion mag into a stylish statement on sustainability – with a focus on eco-friendly art, fashion, design and innovation.

The 240-page, book-like issue is brimming with tightly written, informative articles – each immeasurably enhanced by great photographs and imagery.  A must-read for fully evolved environmentalists, eco fashionistas, style junkies and fans of green design.

Published quarterly, ABOVE, printed on recycled paper with organic inkmore, is well worth its $10 U.S. price tag.  This is one magazine you’ll want to hang on to.

view a digital copy of ABOVE @ above-magazine.com

Concert goers today can green up their acts a bit, if show producers have their green acts together.

Case in point:  New Orleans-based, Don Kelly Productions’ upcoming Project 30-90, dubbed the intersection of sound + sustainability, scheduled to take place in New Orleans on September 5th.  Gates open at noon, music begins at about 2:30 and ends at around 11pm.  With a total of 8 acts, including: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Ghost Land Observatory, The Generationals, and Benjy Davis Project.  Check out the show producer’s impressive level of green-ness and how concert-goers can purchase a Green Ticket.

This lift from their Website explains, why the name, Project 30-90?
“Project 30-90 was the end result of hours and hours of diligent market research, brainstorming, therapy and meetings on synergy and search engine optimization. Seriously, we just like the name. It’s based on the latitude and longitude our hometown, New Orleans – 30.2 degrees North latitude, 90.1 degrees East longitude.”

via: The Lazy Environmentalist

Take one gnarly looking bike chain ring add a heaping helping of recycled wood-grain fabric and you’ve got the perfect timepiece for that Lance Armstrong-inspired man-cave of yours.

32 very reasonable bucks @ the 1byliz etsy shop

As a lover of handbags, shoes, and the environment, I can appreciate designers who make an effort to reduce waste by recycling clothes.  Both pre-consumer textile waste (by-product materials from the textile, fiber and cotton industries) and post-consumer textile waste (garments or household articles that are typically disposed of into the trash and end up in municipal landfills).

Mandinka ecofashions men’s suit coats into attractive and useful, upcycled handbags. With popular, one-of-a-kind (more…)

Remember Obama’s Hope, Progress and Change posters?  Created by controversial mixed-media artist Shepard Fairey, his latest work promotes clean renewable energy in his inimitable style.

Fairey’s hitched his easel and Power Up Windmill to moveON.org and several other organizations, hoping to “cover September in windmills.”

($20/each) @ obeygiant.com (MoveOn gave away 300,000 free stickers of the poster.)

Demo Design Clinic creates these fun-looking steampunk lamps from select, repurposed galvanized plumbing parts.

The Kozo lamps are sold at the Design2009 Etsy Shop prices range from $169 to $229.

via: recyclart.org