Luxe Redux
ReMAKE ReSTYLE ReUSE offers a recycling program that inspires real change
By Meghan Murphy Gill
Published: May 13th, 2008 | 1:35pm
"I always feel good when I leave the store, " goes a lyric from a new song by Fergie, written for the upcoming Sex and the City movie soundtrack. It's just the kind of song lyric you'd expect from a current pop culture icon in the U.S. where we tend to be consumer driven and image obsessed. In this world, it's easy to overlook both the value and potential of the simple things we already own.
Even the current green revolution (or at least as it is being conveyed to us in both home and fashion magazines) tells us to buy new things to make our clothes, our bed sheets, or our floors more earth-friendly. But what about all of the used things that end up in landfills when we make the choice to go out with the old and in with the new? "Going green" seems more so an economic issue than an ecological one.
With nary a mention of the g-word, Sonia Lucano, a graduate of the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris, offers a different take on eco-friendly design. Her new book, ReMAKE ReSTYLE ReUSE, shows you how to recycle basic household items – saving them from a fated end in a landfill and saving your bank account from dipping too low. With gorgeous photography showcasing the completed projects, illustrations meant to inspire, and simple, easy-to-follow instructions, Lucano's book is the kind of resource to keep going back to for fresh ideas guaranteed to dig anyone out of a design rut. Each page features muted colors with occasional pops of red, pink, or bright green, and there are images for copying and stenciling if free-handing drawings isn't your forte. Most of the "ingredients" for each project include everyday items: bath towels, sheets, pillows, extra fabric, plates, vases and glass wear, etc. Extra tools for updating these items include paint, embroidery floss, and occasionally, a sewing machine. Simple projects include a embroidering a vase cozy which requires a mere needle and thread and some leftover fabric, reusing old picture frames to showcase dainty wallpaper samples, and painting and stenciling used furniture to give it a quaint look that says farmhouse in the French countryside.
Despite laying claim to the words basic and easy, many of the techniques employed in Lucano's projects require, if not some already honed, crafting skills and at least a good bit of patience. While there is a page briefly explaining some simple embroidery stitches, they seem to function more as refreshers or the impetus for a little trial and error. The projects that update basic glassware and vases require semi-advanced crafting supplies, a glass engraving tool, as well as a particularly steady hand and safety gear. Still, the results are beautiful, and if you can master even the easiest of the techniques employed in this book, the reward is much more than visual. That feeling of satisfaction Fergie claims to get when leaving a store? Imagine that times 10.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
ReMAKE ReSTYLE ReUSE: Easy Ways to Transform Everyday Basics into Inspired Design (Watson-Guptill)
by Sonia Lucano
144 pages
$19.95
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