Grain puts a ring on it
For a line of rings called Electric Love, Seattle-based sustainable design firm Grain repurposes a rather unattractive/unassuming used building material: Electrical wiring.
Thu, Jul 08 2010 at 5:07 PM EST
Creative upcyclers and DIYers: Have you ever wandered around the house and encountered a potentially repurpose-able item that’s stumped you; something that leaves you thinking: how in the world can I reuse this old [insert item here … think colander, pillowcase, fish tank, etc.] instead of throwing it away or letting it sit and collect dust?
Old electrical wiring is one item that I imagine wouldn’t be particularly easy to work trash to treasure magic with. I mean, c’mon it doesn’t exactly have that sexy DIY upcycling allure to it. Or does it?
Enter Chelsea Green and James Minola of Grain, the Bainbridge Island, Washington-based eco-design house best known for the Ty Shower Curtain. For Grain's newest line, a foray into personal accessories called Electric Love, Green and Minola work with reclaimed electrical wiring as their source material. The line is all about rings (for men and women); simple, stylish, and, above all, sustainable rings.
Says Minola:
Electric Love gives a second life to something that was headed for a landfill. It is a small gesture but one that we always consider in our design work.
The hand-knotted rings are $19 each (available at Grain’s online store) and come in a variety of colors including blue, green, orange, red/pink, yellow and white. Although Green and Minola didn’t source the old electrical wiring from their own homes (it comes from a used building materials supplier in Seattle) the Electric Love line is inspirational to at-home DIYers looking to make ugly into lovely.
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