Kuttlefish - New Online Upcycling Community and Marketplace

Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day 2015! To celebrate this day, marking year-round efforts towards more sustainable ways of inhabiting our planet, I wanted to share a wonderful new online community and marketplace for goods made of reused, recycled and upcycled materials called Kuttlefish. Whether looking for a gift, decorating a house or seeking some DIY upcycling inspiration, Kuttlefish is a super site to visit and get involved with. Each product listed on the Kuttlefish marketplace must contribute to waste reduction, most commonly with recycled, upcycled or reused content. For community members, the Kuttlefish platform also offers social networking capabilities such as mail, discussion forums and idea sharing. It also seems super easy to open a shop on Kuttlefish! There is only 1% commission on all sales for the first 12 months of operation and no other additional fees. Starting from the second year of a shop's operation, there are still no listing fees, but the sales commission goes up a little to only 3% and there is a $0.50 cent 'sold item' fee for every item sold. Kuttlefish offers a great opportunity for upcyclers to share and sell their creations in an easy, affordable way and I really hope it keeps growing. Here are some of my favorite finds available on Kuttlefish, but hop on over and take a look for yourselves!

Recycled Factory Offcut Leather Front Pocket Bag by What Daisy Did

Tropical Colours Statement Necklace with Tassels by Liene Berzina

Recycled Fish Food Sac Bag by coll.part.

Recycled Cotton T-Shirt Braided Necklace by dizajneko.pl

Upcycled Poncho made from Scarves by Substantielles Minimum

Green Tiffany Lampshade by Donna Walker Design

Bird Wall Clock by Upstairs Studio

Scented Beer Bottle Candles by Nina's Unique Reflections

Beer and Soda Cups Whistles by Ioranscruggs

Broadway Armchair from Retired Aluminium Traffic Signs by Eco Artwear

Recycled Chair Back Coat Hanger by Eco Artwear

Plastic Seconds UPCYCLISTED!

I have meant to mention here that sometime last November Plastic Seconds was 'UPCYCLISTED' - i.e. featured in the lovely site that is the Upcyclist and then listed in their upcycling artists directory. Thank you Upcyclist! Well worth taking a look at the Upcyclist website as it showcases lots of great ideas and design in the fields of upcycling/recycling and they also have a community/forum feature via which you can discuss with other visitors to the site.

THE PLASTIC SECONDS PROFILE PAGE ON THE UPCYCLIST DIRECTORY

THE POST ON PLASTIC SECONDS ON THE UPCYCLIST BLOG

Plastic Seconds guest speaker during Wake Up Campaign event at Rich Mix

‘Conscious Swap Shopping’ taking place this autumn at Rich Mix London as part of the London Design Festival is an initiative created by the behavioural change social enterprise Wakeup Campaign.

The events will be an exploration of our consciousness through the way we consume, behave, shop and feel by introspectively debating on identity, habits, behavioural patterns and the psychoanalysis of our shopping rituals.

Not only will you have the opportunity to bring your clothes and swap them for new ones, there will be a Q&A session where influential guest speakers from the sustainable fashion, lifestyle & academic sphere will be discussing their work, debating on how we can all contribute and help within the re-using/up cycling marketplace. Plastic Seconds has the pleasure to be one of them, while other guests include Zahra Mansouri, Grassroots and Nicholas ODH, part of the research-led collective, SAINT H.

The space will be filled with interesting sections for people to become immersed in fashion for change. There will be a section where people can get their clothes customised by a professional costume designer, engage with visual stimulants for people to interact and engage with, there will be raffles to be won, loads of goodies for sale and not forgetting the fabulous clothes people acquire when they swap!

Venue: Rich Mix 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, London, Greater London E1 6LA (nearest station Shoreditch Tube Station)

Date: 17th September 2012, 6-11pm

Tickets: £8 online (buy your tickets here) £10 on the door

For more information please visit:

Website: www.wakeupcampaign.co.uk
Email: info@wakeupcampaign.co.uk
Twitter: @WakeupCampaign #consciousswap #LDF12

Here are some post event photos:

Founder Viviane Williams

Consciously swapping at Rich Mix

Vintage collars by Grassroots - could not resist buying myself one :-)

Plastic Seconds goes to LA with Thank You For Creating and Britweek - via The Stitch Project

Between the 12th and the 29th of April Plastic Seconds was in LA! The Sticth Project team, with whom I have collaborated before, invited me to exhibit one of my pieces next to lots of other paintings, sculpture, photography, printmaking and video art, at the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Los Angeles, as part of a T4C (Thank You For Creating) show in collaboration with Britweek, in an effort to promote the spirit of unified competition amongst the British and Angeleno creative communities.
This year, T4C celebrated the 2012 Olympics theme 'On Sustainability' by challenging artists to create works that express his or her unique vision on this topic.
Some ideas for consideration were on environmental, societal, cultural and economic degradation; issues to do with climate change, waste, recycling, biodiversity, inclusion, cohesion and regeneration; sourcing art materials with low-embodied carbon; re-use of materials and found objects.



The Venue: Farmers & Merchants Bank, 401 South Main Street • Los Angeles 90013



Plastic Seconds Printer Pendant 2011 by Maria Papadimitriou

Plastic Seconds Printer Pendant 2011 by Maria Papadimitriou