2019-08-01_Homes_&_Antiques 2

Salvagingandrecycling

datesbackcenturies...hereare

veofourfavouritepioneersin

early waste management

In theearly1800s,Thomas

HancockfoundedtheBritishrubber

industry.However,earlyintohis

career,herecognisedthevast

quantityof wastehewascreating

andsoughta solution.In 1820he

createdhis‘PicklingMachine’(now

knownasa masticator)to shred

thewasterubberforusein other

formats,onebeingartificialleather.

AmericanMonroeWertheimer

startedhiscompany,LongviewFibre,

in thelate1920s,afternotingthe

wastewoodproducedbya large

sawmill.Hethenusedthesurplusto

createpaperandcontainerboard,

aswellasbeingthefirstto use

sawdustin papermanufacture.

In 1946,theBA3chairby

ErnestRacewasexhibitedat the

VictoriaandAlbertMuseum.The

revolutionarydesignusedmaterials

suchasrecastaluminiumfrom

redundantaircraft,andupholstery

fromrecycledRAF lightweight cotton

duckfabric.

CharlesMacintosh,in theearly

1800s,wastryingto finduses

forwasteproductsgeneratedby

gasworkswhenheusednaphtha,

a byproductof thedistillationof

coaltar,asa solventforrubber.By

sandwichingthisbetweentwolayers

of fabricheformedthematerialof

hisiconic‘Macintosh’jacketdesign.

Around1813,BenjaminLaw

invented‘TheShoddyProcess’.Rag

andbonemenwouldcollectold

clothesandragsthathegroundand

respanwithfreshwoolintoyarn.

By1860,hislocaltownof Batleyin

WestYorkshirewasproducingover

7,000tonnesof recycled woollen

material a year.

EARLY

INNOVATORS

people’sminds.ButI thinkthat

mindsetisslowlychanging.I tryto

use‘waste’whereverI can,asthe

resultsarejustasgoodasworking

withvirginmaterials.’

LineofBeauty

Whilethesedesignsareproofof

progress,theissuesaroundwaste

stillexistandit ismoreimportant

thanevertoensuresustainability

becomesanintrinsicpartofdesign

anddoesn’tremaina short-lived

trend.HenrikMarstrand,founder

andCEOofMater(materdesign.

co.uk), startedworkingwithwaste

materialsovera decadeagoand,to

him,theaestheticmustrunparallel

withsustainability.‘Asconsumers

andarchitects,weprioritise

aestheticsaboveeverything.We

decodedesignwithoureyesandour

senseofbeauty,thereforewemust

havea determinedfocuson

launchingcollectionsthatdeliveron

aestheticswithnocompromises.But,

asmanufacturers,wemustseeknew,

responsiblematerialsthatplaytothe

strengthsofthesedesignsand

incorporate them from day one.’

1

FROMTOPOneNine

EightFive’sCamoand

Labyrinththrows,£165

each.Theyaremade

usingcottonsalvaged

from garment factories.

August 2019 Homes & Antiques 59

LivingECO DESIGN

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Images;

Private

Collection/

©Look

and

Learn/Bridgeman

Images;

©Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans; World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo