Rest assured, each dreamy bed is handmade by artisans in the USA using reclaimed woods. www.dryadsdancing.com
Green Living
Reclaimed Design
Artisans inspire eco-awareness with creative, functional design.
BY
Beth Campbell
PHOTOGRAPHY
Kelli Baxendale

Living an eco-friendly lifestyle is within reach. If you’ve ever wondered how to incorporate earth-friendly, natural design that is both beautiful and useful into your home, consider transformed or “reclaimed” items as an option. A surprising number of “creative types” turn otherwise unusable resources into meaningful, functional works of art from discarded or unwanted materials.

Eco-conscious design is a movement that is growing and changing as artisans continue to push the limits of creativity, with finished pieces speaking to us about our relationships with nature and our impact on the environment. Each piece may be beautiful, thought-provoking and functional but also carries a secondary message that encourages us to be mindful of our ways and consider selections for our homes that are both unique and renewed.

“Go beyond art for art’s sake and embrace the art of sustainability.” 
- The Green Girl

With that in mind, talented eco-minded artisans and furniture designers are using reclaimed woods on steel bases, for example, to create artful furniture that is both stylish and functional.

Local wood turner, Bernhard Voss, has long urged other woodworkers to think environmentally about where they obtain their source materials. Voss creates beautiful lidded boxes, bowls and vases from wood left over from tree-trimming jobs. “I refuse to buy wood because there is so much useful wood currently being ground up for mulch. Rainforests are being depleted when perfectly good sources are all around us,” he says. “Missouri has a wonderful variety of trees that provide different wood colors, textures and patterns,” Voss adds.

Bernhard Voss’ work is available locally at www.american-visions.com.
 

More Green Artisans
St. Louisans Kim Kleine and Diana Hoffman use the plastic coverings that protect newspapers, along with plastic shopping bags, to make eye-catching eco-friendly totes. “We collect bags from the recycling boxes now inside most area grocery stores,” says Kim, describing their rather unorthodox method for sourcing raw materials. The artists melt the plastic bags to create the new totes, and each one is a unique piece of functional art.