Cool Factory

CoolPlanet supports the wave, which challenges the production of new and favors repurposing old instead. Re-using old findings from the attic or waste basket in ways that are imaginative and innovative is highly sustainable and creative – and for the addicts, a lot of fun, too.

Find out from CoolFactory, how to produce Seal the Deal! pins and t-shirts under the guidance of Jean-Paul Knott.

Learn also to re-do your old textiles and artifacts to something completely different – find tips on this page!


FROM WASTE TO TASTE

Fashion is one of the concepts most often associated to changing the whole wardrobe many times a year. How about your home then, should you re-decorate it over every season? Hopefully some ideas here will help you cut the shopping for new and prevent you from throwing out the old.

Trashion is a common name for jewelry, fashion and decoration made from thrown-out elements; repurposing elements is often referred to as upcycling. In order to be a trashion icon, you don’t need a lot of investment or previous skills; most of the materials are easy to attach by glue, steam-iron, simple needle and thread, or sometimes only a pair of scissors is enough.

By looking carefully at things many people would define as “junk”, you can become an artsy-craftsy designer yourself. A trashionist is open to fantasy and looks for beauty in things that most people would throw away. Making earrings from old microchips, twisting age-blackened teaspoons into a chandelier, slashing old T-shirts to fit the attitude of punk… You set the limit!  
 
Giving new life to something that is in shape but not to your exact taste is often more satisfying than just getting something new.

Whole societies have grown in the web around the art of trashing and upcycling. You can search for inspiration and easy tutorials from for instance Trashionista’s blog or Cut Out and Keep community.

You can try searching for tips to reuse old cassettes, vinyl records, bottle caps, soda cans… or empty that drawer where you store everything under the category “miscellaneous”, to see if there is something you wish to transform to a pair of cufflinks or earrings – or something nobody has tried yet!

Cool Tutorials:
•    MITTENS
•    HOBO BAG
•    SLIPPERS
•    SHOPPING BAG
•    WIND CHIME
•    VINYL RECORD BOWL