Tag: Upcycled

Remember when VHS tapes were the gold-standard in movie rentals? Seems like forever ago, doesn’t it? And where are all those VHS tapes now? I mean, besides my packrat parents’ basement? Landfills? Well, Etsy shop niftyrecyclables is doing their part to reduce, reuse, and recycle by selling VHS tapes that have been transformed into little planters.

I’ve never really gotten the appeal of Louis Vuitton’s fashions. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, but you have to walk around with somebody’s ugly brand logo stamped all over your stuff. The way I figure it, they should pay you for the free advertising.

Between its circular bridge and oblong warp nacelles, the Starship Enterprise is one of the most iconic spaceships in the history of science fiction. Whether you love the NCC-1701 in its original or its many other variants, they all share these common elements.

If these NES trophies existed way back in the day my shelves would be lined with them. I’m not afraid to say that I kicked butt on the old 8-bit Nintendo. I mean, sure I hardly saw the outside world and didn’t know what a girl was until I was like 25, but still.

This antique chair restoration is all kinds of cute and hilarious. Redditor reallylovely saw a beat up chair at an antique shop and immediately saw it’s potential. The Adventure Time was already there, it just needed to be brought to the surface.

Gabriel Dishaw is back and this time he has created some amazing upcycled Boba Fett Helmets. Boba should totally call this guy if he ever needs a complete makeover.

Curtains come in all shapes and sizes and colors. They even come in sheer fabrics to let a bit of light in. But maybe you want something a little more colorful, that will the light through while looking unique.

So you’ve got a couple of dead old video game consoles lying around. While you could just throw them in the trash, it’s better for you to recycle them. And what better than to turn your old game systems into Batman’s Tumbler?

There’s no denying that cats like technology. Whether they’re playing Fruit Ninja, stepping all over your keyboard, or playing the synthesizer, cats and tech go together like peanut butter and chocolate. So why fight this natural phenomenon?

We’re so used to seeing Darth Vader dressed in all black, but his iconic helmet really works well no matter what color it’s done in. Heck, even Hello Kitty Vader was pretty imposing. But I think that this version of Vader, built out of old bits of reclaimed electronics and other junk looks really awesome.

I’ve seen some unusual audio gear over the years, but if you’re looking for a truly unique stereo for your living room, I’m betting you haven’t seen one that looks like this.

There’s something about old speaker housings, especially from the 60s and 70s. They are usually thick, big things that have a great look with design appeal. These speakers made from discarded old speakers that have been upgraded with new components.

I never thought about reusing a spent airbag for much of anything, but it does make sense to upcycle this kind of durable material if you can. Toronto-based Mariclaro makes them all into backpacks and carryalls that are quite different from others that I’ve seen.

If you regularly use an inkjet printer, you can certainly try and recycle your cartridges by refilling them with more ink. But get real – most of the time, your empties just end up in the dumpster.

Looking for a unique dock for your iPod? You might want to check out Speaker Bot, a dock that looks like a retro 1950s robot. The 18.5″ tall Speaker Bot is an “assemblage robot”, or in layperson’s speak, a robot made from old junk.

Next time you need to go to a semiconductor semi-formal (see what I did there?), you might want to grab a pair of these clever geeky cufflinks made from old circuit boards. But unlike those shiny new 2010 Olympic medals, you can actually tell that these were upcycled from old circuitry.