Recycling, upcycling, repurposing.

By now I trust you've already noticed our overwhelming passion for upcycling and repurposing all kinds of "waste" and unwanted objects. This way of doing things has quickly evolved into a lifestyle, and now we find ourselves applying it to nearly everything that we do and produce. So, for those that aren't very familiar with these relatively new eco terms I'm going to try to explain them very quickly.

Let's take, for example, a shabby old chair. If you want to recycle it, you'd have to shred it down to it's raw material - wood - and then use that material to make something else. Yes, recycling helps us to reduce the amount of raw materials that we extract from nature, but it is not an entirely ecological activity, because it involves (in most cases) complex industrial processes.

Let's say you are happy with the overall design of the chair, and just want to upgrade its look - in that case upcycling is the thing to do! Strip down the old paint, cover the seat with a funky new material, add embellishments and give it a new soul while keeping its basic structure!

If, however, you are not interested in changing how the chair looks but what the chair does, repurposing¹ is the word! Who says that you can only use a chair to sit on? Who says that a box can never become a bookcase? Yes sir, a VHS case can indeed become a shelve! A cheese grater makes a great lamp shade, and a wine rack makes a great display for accessories! You just have to use your imagination.

I hope these definitions inspire you to look at wasted objects from a new perspective, but if you'd rather have some "hands on" inspiration just pop into our shop and have a look around. At Hubbard's Cupboard you'll find not only stacks of awesome eco-minded products, but also fresh upclycling and repursosing decoration ideas! You're more than welcome to pop in :)

¹ A lot of people might argue that upcycling and repurposing are the same thing, but I disagree. The first one involves transformation and the second only requires imagination.