Paul Firbank

How cute Paul isn't a lone ranger, he set up his own business in 2011 with his other half Lizzie. He also isn't your usual rag and bone man, hes an intelligent businessman/designer/lover of all things old fashioned. He has been collaborated in many of my fave magazines including my bible by life, Living ETC and i can see why.

Pauls work is fen-nominal, he is a master at looking at a piece of scrap and imagining it being a functional piece of furniture, like some epic designer wizard. He sources his material from his local scrap yards and local garages. 

I first noticed Paul when he appeared on Kevin’s Super sized Salvage on channel four,watching this inspired me so much but also made me want a big fat studio to play in so much. 

He was so resourceful and was so clever at finding materials that wouldn't be seen by the human eye and making them into some beautiful piece of function and design to be desired. He found gold from inside some of the planes circuit boards and designed and made pure gold cuff links designed into plane engines. He also made these stunning desk lamps from the bottom of the aisle seating and some of the aisle seating chair legs and made them look stunning with the highest of finish.

Big thumbs up for this guy, truly inspirational and ingenious. 

How I made my Shovel Table.

My train of thought with this was that I needed a table to go with the rest of my furniture and by this time people had found out where the local skips where and they were emptied with just these pallets at the side, I could see the potential in them and so took about three trying to get the same shade, width and length of wood.

 First I decided to make a coffee table out of pallets so I started making it but it look so shabby and horrible looked like a piece of junk literally, so had a paddy..Scrapped it.

 After walking around in circles and racking my brain I wanted something visually aesthetic and interesting so when I pulled them apart, the blocks that held them together had a lot to look and think about why=it the different distributers on, random nails picking out and the age markings all around them. I decided these would be the top of the table the bit where everyone nosies and looks at the most. Unfortunately I only had a few of these blocks and kept going daily but there was none that were the same or as good, so I only had nine blocks. I looked at it and it just looked too small to hold a brew never mind the plant and picture frame beside it so I decided to frame it with about two or three layers of wood around each side to make the base a little wider.

The legs were so annoying! I wanted to use these pool cues I got from a skip and have them all coming into a hole in the middle, so I sanded the cues down to give the unfinished effect that the pallet wood had. Then me a Bill just winged it, screwing holes at different angles all over the place and then this guy came in and said ‘doesn’t matter if is wonky if it had three legs like the milk maids stools’ I asked the smartass to explain himself, ‘Made originally for milk maids because they were unbalanced on the farm floor and three legs is best to find balance on the bumpiest of surfaces’. So then, thanks to the lovely smartass, we tried it with three legs but then I didn’t like the look of the pool cues against the pallet wood, just didn’t look right, too different. So I just decided to use more pallet wood along the sides, screwing them in with an electric drill, I wanted to use like them pin screws, like nails, where they look quite old fashioned and fragile, turns out they were fragile for this so I could only use screws.

So I always had the ideas of using old shovels for the drawers and found a small and big vintage Bulldog shovel (I didn’t notice this until I had cut it up though). I made little pallet shelves for the to just sit on so you could take them out and see them, I didn’t have much work for the small one it just slipped off the handle but the Bulldog one I needed to cut through the steel surrounding (bearing in mind I did weights at the gym the day before and couldn’t even change the gear in my car I was aching that much) so Bill and I took it in turns making sure Bill had more turns. It took a lot of swapping between us; I think I almost cried an all. But when I did that then, I had the mammoth task of sanding the cut off bit down so it was a little safer. So we placed them in and it was starting to take shape.

At that point I thought I was done but it looked a little sad and boring and I had spare parts from the shovel and spade so decorated the front with the handles. I used an electric drill to hold them all in place. I wanted you to see the Bulldog trademarking’s and the handle stood up, but we found engravings and wanted to show them off too so put them where you would see them most, from the top. I brassed the Bulldog sign up with something that looked a lot like a brillo pad and some oil and WALA. It’s finished. I would have finished it off with a glass topper to keep you from the splinters but I cannot afford anything! Can’t even afford an acrylic one but if I had the funds…I would have put a nice finish on it.

I didn’t think I would like it but it has grown on me and when I photographed it, it reminded me of a little Dada’ism, just them structure and trademarks, the collage of different materials. I love this table and would have it in my…garage. It’s just not that housey to me.

How I made my Stag head bike seat.

I’ve had this idea for ages, no idea where it came from; you know when you lie and look up to the clouds and see objects or faces in them? Well…I see this with everything I look at and I saw a head in the form of a bike seat. I toyed with the idea of doing a dog but from the position of the seat it would look more familiar as a stag head when you have it on a wall.

I wanted it to look very similar to the original stag head but with a playful charm using bright colours and memorable objects such as a bike seat. I always had my recycle? Upcycle brief in mind but in the end I had to use wire to hold up the antlers to stabilise and style them.

This wasn’t the hardest thing I’ve made in this project but it was fun to make and is great to look at.

My friend Matt kindly gave his bike seat to use and I collected a few bottle caps to use from work and at home, I sculpted the wire to the shape I wanted the antlers to look like and doubled it up so it was a little stronger because I only used thin wire, then I fed the bottle caps onto it leaving room for it to attach to the seat. Once fully widened the two wires so the caps didn’t slip off. Then with the bottom I wrapped the wire around the bike seat holder. I thought this would hold the antlers up but they were just a little heavier than I thought so I had to glue gun the antlers to the top of the bike seat.

Because of other projects I didn’t remember to actually finish my head so when you look at the photos, it Matts hand.  If I had the time I would finish it off by either outing it on a stand or on a frame to hang on a wall.

Max McMurdo

Max McMurdo is the dogs bollocks of design and paving the future green. He is a very successful and smart man with getting his dream job of designing cars in Germany, he has now set up his own business from being inspired by Germany. His business is called reestore and becoming a household name. 

I love his style of work and how he doesn't need to toy much with the original objects because he can see the natural beauty in them and adds, more than actually changes the products themself.
He has a great design mind with great knowledge on how things work, he keeps his work commercial with his stores and sales a success. To me, it looks like he must get alot of stuff donated from various companies because none looked actually used, damaged or aged.
I love the finish to his work, it may be really impratucall use of objects but he adds great finishes which make it loook clean and furnished like top  a table with a peice of glass and upholster with some retro pattern, some are his person choice but from an interview i heard him say it can be for a commercial side because a custmer wont buy if it doesnt have that nice pexce of upholstering or glass and thats the concept most artists struggle withnwether to just do something for the commercial side or eeep your vision asit is, but in Max's case it doesnt change much and actually adss t the peice of work.

Max has been my biggest inspraton to date, he is so clever with design and mamterials that i hope i could follow in his footsteps and try to be as orgional and successful as he is.

How I made my Shopping Trolley Chair.

Equipment Used:
Nail Gun
Staple Gun
Glue Gun
Cutting Knife
Sand File or..( A Filer Downer) to me.

'Hasn't it already been done?' NO PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN.


My first step was to get inspired! I took pictures from the Internet or up cycling gods and goddesses and just look at them see how they do things, do some artist research and get worked up for this hefty project.
Then we all went on a class trip....to Blackburn college skips, except...this has now become weekly and now we get looks.   -_-  Off or fellow students and our teacher was not at all impressed when we asked if we could bring back a kitten.....
(for all you animal lovers, its owner came and is now spending Christmas in a lovely home).
ANYWAYS.....after a few skip hunts i struck gold with a shopping trolley, its been in the back of my mind for a while since stumbling on a picture off the Internet.AND AND....its a Woolworth's Trolley can i get a holler for a vintage trolley?! HOLLER...
I wanted to do mine a little different, no downer on that designer its just i  wanted the tacky side to the trolley, the handles and the pound holder on mind, i never wanted to change the whole look of it, still wanted it to look like a shopping trolley but i didn't want it to look like id just saw it apart, i needed it to be neat and look like a chair aswel, keeping safety priority aswel.

Step two was to just do it. No regrets as Dappy from NDubz says...
I know i know, I'm supposed to meticulously plan it - with tonnes of writing but that's not me...i cant see how it will look until i start chopping away at it and seeing what i can do with it. So Bill gave me the tiniest saw ever, i swear it looked like it came from a Christmas cracker but by my it sawed through the shopping trolley well, i started with the bottom of the shopping trolley, the basket at the bottom, wear you put your toiletries and bleaches to separate from the food, so mama Cobb says. I started sawing with the tiny saw down it leaving enough bum room, to measure the bum room i squatted beside it and put masking tape were my legs started from my bum and kindly asked others to do the same so i could get a general feel for it, the saw'd where the most masking tape was.
One i had cute down both sides all that was left was the bottom, hanging down, this lead to ideas of a reclining shopping trolley chair, with a footrest attached, but it ran short quite a bit and just looked silly so I chopped it off.

And sanding the sharp edges off i decided that the child seat would make the back of the chair a bit bulky so i decided to chop that off with the Christmas cracker saw. Saw'ing it was a task in hand....

After this i decided to add arm rests on the sides. To plan these out i just measured the average arms (10 arms) with masking tape and added it to the trolley as like guidelines. I wanted them to all the way back to the chair but with it being a ready made there was bound to be some complications. At the back of the chair was these really thick steel rods holding the trolley together that i would of had to cut through to make the padding all the Way back so i decided to cut just up from the back. In doing this i had two sharp rods that would stick out so i had to pad it out to the width of the rods to make it safe to sit in.

At this stage i was contemplating taking the bar at the top off with the coin holder. I decided others may not love the aesthetics of it but i loved the fact you could see the Woolworth's sign and the coin holder just makes it a trolley, take those two things away and you lost the real raw aesthetics of the trolley.

To pad the chair out i first went with using loads of old rags and clothing to pad it out but i looked lumpy and horrible so i decided to use old insulation sheets and layer just one an another. I just used a cutting knife to cut it, measured it up to the MDF frame.

Since having this trolley idea Ive wanted it to be upholstered in leather because the toughness of the leather with the steel frame just goes like a harmony... you know what i mean... goes together well. but leather is so expensive so a teeny peasant student so first i used this grey material that i found in textiles but it looked like a hospital wheel chair, grim, so then i faked it with a roll of look-a-like leather from a recycle warehouse. It looks and feels just like leather, no shinny shinny but lush, smooth like Italian leather, i love it.

So i had some spare bits and i don't waste a things so i decided that the basket was perfect size for a foot rest, as i already made the chair leather i kept the strong theme going to the footstool with upholstering that leather too. To make this is used old MDF wood, made a cube and padded it out the same as the chair with the old insulation. Just gluing it on with a glue gun. Once padded out i had the challenge of getting the leather on, i wanted it to look seamless all the way around. We folded it and changed it around and then finally my friend helped me figure it out and we got it t stay, i needed it really tight so got a few volunteers to help me, i tried using a staple gun first but it was too thick so i used a nail gun and nail gun'ed it in, got a little trigger happy and just used loads to make sure it stayed at the bottom.

This wast my easiest but defiantly my best, i enjoyed every minuet of making and designing this and absolutely love the income. I achieved everything i wanted and stuck to my brief as much as i could. I am so impressed with the outcome and think it is original and technical design.

How I made my coffee bean bags.

I am a big fan of a local company that recycles pretty much everything that they can get their hands on purely with the arts in mind. They have a great selection of things that come from all over the world and come to that place to get recycled and turned into art, the owner dabbles in it herself with great examples exhibited throughout, sometimes I go just for inspiration. I got these coffee bean bags from sam and the reeked when I got them of like rotten bananas so I left them in my dad’s garage for a month to air them out.

I wasn’t exactly thinking of bean bags and cushions from the start but maybe using them for upholstering or weaving into a carpet but they are not very comphy and I would only use for astectic reasons. That’s why I made different and weird size cushions to show the impracticalness off them and how they aren’t really for your couch.

To make the cushions I cut across in three shapes, one with a wide and big size and two others with slim but long sizes. Then I used an industrial sewing machine to sew where I needed to make them like sacks ready to fill. I sewed from the inside out like a pouch so when you turn it inside out you wouldn’t see the sewn seems. Keeping with the upcycle theme I decided to use some of the old insulation I used to upholster my chair but because it quite hard and thick I decided to shred the insulation so it became weak and softer, the reason for not using this method with my shopping trolley hair was because it was in keeping with the strong structure and making it all cushy and not as hard would tar the strong and stable look I wanted to achieve which is quite the contrast with these bean bags.  I shredded it using a cutting mat and knife slicing the front and them ripping the many many many…layers away, tedious it was but became clear it was worth it. To finish I sewed the seems to complete the bean bag and keep the insolation inside using the industrial sewing machine.

I am really pleased with the outcome bearing in mind the material I used, hessian isn’t the softest material but for bean bags and placing your butt on they are quite comphy. I tried my best to keep it shabby but neat and believe I kept with the colours when sewing. I love the difference in sizes because it matches their individuality and quirkiness. I believe I kept to my upcycle/recycle theme to a cue with this one and using the only new material was the sewing string.

How I made my U-Bend lamp.

I heard about this abandoned building called Blakey Moor that the college owned but haven’t used in years and was completely shut down. I chased up a few of the college council and estates people and had to get permission of two people and set up for someone to show me round. I was lucky enough to be allowed to be shown round by a great guy called Ian and Bill the technician came too. I was actually like something from most haunted it was pitch black because it was boarded up and some people had broken in the week before and took all the cables form the celling out but when I walked in it was a little scary to see great long black corridors and hanging celling with creepy school pictures dotted around. It was so great to get a look at some local history and a fantastic haul for stuff to use, most of the rooms got emptied out when leaving the building but there were bits and bobs on every floor, I wasn’t looking for any big already made furniture but little pieces of crap like fan grid covers or the plumbing tubing.  The only thing I’m gutted about was not taking enough photos but I was just memorised by the building and finding some great things.

I found this in the last room at the end of the corridor on the third floor, you know like you have an everything draw at home? With loads of pens and bobbles and pennies? Well this room was an everything room, not jammed with stuff but just loads of random objects and I found this in the corner.

Totally gross but it was filled with mouldy, crusty reminisce from the sink so I had to clean and scrub it all out, this had to be my lowest thing from this project, even going in skips was more hygienic…. So this literally took my hours but when I eventually got the piping clean..and myself I just looked all around it, and I’m not a planner in words or sketches so I just thought for a few hours, ad see what it could look like in different positions and different furniture, what colours look great with it, where it would sit in a room, what I want to make. I knew I needed to make a light and decided to make it a table lamp.

I started rejigging some of the parts but they are all made to fit so there wasn’t any room to change the positions really, I wanted to keep the visual aesthetics of the U-Bend to relate to everyone, I mean…Everyone has a U-Bend in there house?! Right?! I think it just comes with the sink.. My decision was to tweak the bend so it faced out words and already found a light bulb that would fit cosy in there then the wire could follow throughout the blue bit so I would be a little neater.

So I was in B&Q for just over an hour.. Looking for how to make your own light is useless there, being the strong independent woman I am I trooped on but an hour later I came to the realisation of sometimes it’s just easier to get a man to help..  I think his name was ‘Barry’, Barry showed me that I needed a 2 Core Heat Resistant Flex, a 3 Pin Plug and a Lamp Holder to like sit your bulb in. They all came with great instructions and it was pretty straight forward on how to put it all together.

My ‘if I had more time’ comment would be more of a ‘if I had the money’ I would of made the chord to plug it in longer but it was already racking up for all the fittings and the only one I could afford was a 1 metre chord and it’s just a little short.

I am really pleased with the overall look I think it’s just a great fun little creation and it definitely connects with everyone being a household item made from a household item. I think it is a commercial product because it works, it’s safe and fashionable. So pleased. 

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe.

My longest memory of an insperational furniture designer actually studied as an architect, don't they all? This man is called Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. My memory occurs of his fabulous Barcelona chair, noticing this presteen white gem in a 'Living ETC' magazine one day it has stuck in my head like a teenagers first crush.
Im not trying to portray a romance between me and the chair as charming as it is but how much it inspired me to design like him, different, bold and use of strong materials.

He started off as an architect and i guess after mastering the exterior of a building, why not take on the interior? He was a socialist of the gallery heads and a man of many tricks and trades, he was also the last director of the Bauhaus, where he taught architecture. See....man of many talents..

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's work is still widely exhibited, currently holding a/his perspective in the  Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA).

I think his work is going to leave a mark on the art world for decades to follow, attempt but never master and will had made footsteps in the sand for all young aspiring designers to follow. I love his designs because of well....sounds stupid but because of how well designed they are, minimalist but with all the structure, style and strength they portray. They look as if its a 'don't take the pen off the page' drawing, so fluent and well connected. He upholsters his chairs in wicker, leather and skins, which provides longs wearing, fashiable and strength to his chairs.

Verner Panton.

This guy lived on two words...'what if?' he had so many crazy ideas that would strike the most complex mind, he lived on questioning the impossible.

Verner studied as an architect and was well talked about for his 'are your mad?! ideas such as his plastic house, cardboard house and collapsible house.
But he was highly praised mostly for his quirky but cleaver furniture designs, also for his textile designs, installations and many others.

His work, to me, is like someone on a hippie drug trip, its incredibly different and exotic, like its been shipped from another planet, i love it, why not? Its like a sum up of the sixties.  I cant find any fault or failure with his designs, i think they are fun, fantastic and fabulous, and to sum up my analysis, look like the

euphoria of comfort.

David Kemp.

British born and bred this Cornish artist is a phenomenon at making recycled artwork. David has made various projects from the tit and tat we chuck away every day and mold and sculpts them into quite fun and zesty creations. This guy lives and breathes his work, the sheer mass of things he’s done is huge!

 David uses literally anything and makes literally anything from rocks on the beach to a salad bowl showing them as characters with personalities, quite cheeky and happy characters. Hes not selective about what he uses, they can be all shaped and sizes and from all era’s.

 His dogs are exquisite how well made they are and how much they connect with one another. From material to protagonist, I love the personalities on them how they are moved around and how they are not all smooth, showing the natural structure of an actual dog.

His work is eye opening to an ammeter like me and so inspirational. He work is probed by the cleaness of a gallery, he work is raw, dirty and as they were found, this shows the age, surroundings and the journey they've made and gives them not only a sense of past but he makes them worthy of the present making them his own but keeping the rawness of the materials. 

I hope to create a similar quality with my project, using found objects but not taking to much of their originality away. 

"I make things out of things, big things, little things, old things and new things. I like to recycle things, and find new uses for things that have been thrown away. Some things say something about their surroundings, and other things become something else." Quote of David Hemp’s blog.