Rethink Recycling: Why Today’s Best Designers Are Digging Through Your Trash

Long before smoke-spouting power plants were relegated to the remote outskirts of the industrial city, large-scale energy generators were common sights in urban landscapes.

In 1981, Londoners Anthony and Gillian Blee purchased the ultimate fixer-upper.

In Santa Monica, California, where pools are plenty but not always eye-pleasing, Padraic Cassidy lifted one 30 inches off the ground—dramatically elevating its aesthetic appeal.

The tale of the Emeco’s 111 Navy chair is that of a phoenix rising.

For Brussels-based furniture designer Christiane Högner, inspiration comes less from glossy design mags than the castoffs she finds on the streets of Belgium.

What do you get when you give a couple of designers unlimited creative license on a very limited budget? For Andrew Dunbar and Zoee Astrakhan, the possibilities were limitless.

In the eastern Netherlands, resourceful recyclers 2012Architects have built a house almost entirely out of locally sourced scrap, from old billboards to broken umbrellas.

The recent history of Janna Stark's San Francisco flat, located in an 1890's Victorian house, is literally burned into the wall.

Designer Barbara Hill transformed the derelict building into a sophisticated and slightly rough-around-the-edges retreat. Below, she gives us a first-person account.