A guide to buying up-cycled furniture by Dave Nemeth.

As with many trends, as soon as something becomes popular or is in demand many individuals and companies will quickly jump on the bandwagon to try and make a quick buck. Up-cycled furniture and decor has been a trend for sometime now, and due to its   Positive impact on the environment, will continue to gain momentum as more people appreciate the uniqueness of these products and the story that every genuine piece tells. There will always be something intriguing about an old item that is converted into another completely different, yet functional item. In some instances multiple items are combined transforming them into a functional piece of art, rather than a generic mass produced item that lack these "story telling “qualities.

These up-cycled pieces, often take a painstakingly long time to create and require a fair amount of finishing for them to be truly functional as well as practical. Many people will look at the finished article thinking that they could easily create this on their own as a quick DIY project, and whilst many simple projects can be done the more elaborate pieces should certainly be sourced from the professionals. Many people confuse refurbishing with up-cycling, which are in fact two completely different things. Taking an old armoire and stripping it down, painting it bright red and putting glass handles on it, is simply refurbishing whereas taking a whole lot of old classic coke bottles and wiring them with light bulbs and creating a chandeliers is what we refer to as an up-cycled piece.

With the demand of these kinds of products rising in popularity, we are seeing more and more retailers looking for these kinds of products to add to their assortment and create a unique and exciting addition to their ranges. The problem is however and something essential to be on the lookout for, are products that are manufactured in the East and made to look like real up-cycled products. The east are so good at creating replicas that I recently came across glass products that were supposedly made from recycled glass, but were in fact just manufactured to look like that. The key when buying these goods is to look for imperfections and flaws, which will identify the product as being a genuine artisanal piece rather than a production run.

Purchasing items like this require a host of questions to be asked:

·      Where was it made? (Country of origin)

·      Who made it? (Look for info tags)

·      Is it labeled as a  "unique" item, genuine items will generally have a whole write up on the item, and in some cases even give the background on the thought process behind the actual item.

Follow these simple guidelines and you will be guaranteed you are buying something that was created with thought and creativity.