Recycling Skateboards With Style

Looking to get rid of those old skateboards? Rather than throwing them out with the trash, put them to good use and give them to Beck Hickey.  She’s the creative mastermind behind the innovative line of skateboard handbags called Sk8bags.  Hickey began her company after being fired from a waitressing job.  Inspired by her love for skateboarding and its surrounding lifestyle, she envisioned combining old skateboards with posh fabrics to make hip and stylish handbags, and already had some ideas of what it would look like as a final product, but needed a little help.  She called upon a few friends to get a prototype together, and it ended up looking even better than she had imagined.

A lot of work and effort goes into each individual bag, which is really what makes them so unique.  Each bag originates from its own board, making it a one-of-a-kind product - essentially, no two bags are the same.  Hickey makes sure that during the process the skateboard’s design withholds its original character, which is really, the main part of each product.  From her New York workshop, she uses tools such as drills and large table saws to cut and put skateboard parts together, and a sewing machine to stitch it all together with fabric.  She hand-produces each product, which is very time consuming in the end.

Business has quickly picked up for Hickey in the three years since beck(y) was established, mainly because of her distinct style and because she uses recycled goods. As of right now, beck(y)’s Sk8board line consists of three women’s handbags, two messenger bags, and an assortment of belts, belt buckles, and money clips.

Recycled skateboards are what keeps beck(y) going, so in order to keep them coming in, Hickey has established a program called Boards 4 Bowls, whereby for every used board she is given, she donates to a non-profit organization dedicated to building and maintaining public skate parks.  It began for the sole purpose of getting access to more boards, but now she feels good about being able to do something positive and give back to the community.

beck(y)

The Baja BBQ Firepack by mike and maaike

This product has nothing to hide, and what you witness in these photographs is what makes it such a bold work of genius. From San Francisco design duo mike and maaike, comes the Baja BBQ Firepack (patent pending), which offers a dramatically innovative and environmentally sensitive approach to outdoor grilling. Mike Simonian and Maaike Evers designed the Firepack for Design Annex/Lazzari, a San Francisco-based cooking fuel company in business since 1908, with the hopes of making an American pastime, a cleaner and more practical process. By housing 2 lbs of natural lump coal within a burnable structure made from 100% recycled biodegradable paper pulp, the product will burn when lit from the bottom, and virtually transform itself into working coals within 15 to 20 minutes. It obviates the need for starter chimneys or polluting and (and toxic) lighter fluids, to say nothing of the drudgery of cleaning up a messy fire pit or grill at the end of the night.

Just in time for those Dog Days, the Baja BBQ Firepack will surely be a practical addition to a summer party or picnic where grilling takes place. The Firepack is currently available at gourmet supermarkets. For more information on this product and the designers themselves, please visit mike and maaike.

(All photographs courtesy of mike and maaike)

Getting Material With Paper

“Papercraft” or paper models are printed and assembled by many as a hobby. Some enthusiasts are scratchbuilding their own using programs like Adobe Illustrator. Templates can be found all over the internet, ranging from quite simple to really complex. We recently stumbled upon this robot from Star Wars available for download here…

Humanscale releases a new keyboard system containing recycled content

The new Platinum 5G keyboard system from Humanscale incorporates a mechanical arm containing 30% recycled content. For more information about the Humanscale environmental policy click here.