Member Article

Celebrity Upcyclers out in Force at Grand Designs

Four of Britain’s top upcycling talents will come together to host a series of unique workshops at the country’s premier design event, Grand Designs Live. Max McMurdo, Wayne Hemingway, Harry Dwyer and Charlie Waller will host a combination of demonstrations, talks and workshops at the prestigious event, showcasing their upcycling expertise to the show’s 100,000 visitors.

Organised in partnership with Yorkshire-based Remade in Britain, the UK’s first dedicated upcycling marketplace, the salvage workshops will teach visitors how to turn their trash to treasure as part of the new-found craze to improve and re-use items instead of throwing them away.

Founded by Harrogate businesswoman Donna Fenn, Remade in Britain launched in November 2014 and now boasts more than three hundred independent retailers selling products through the site.

Grand Designs is now in its eleventh year and is the premier destination for the country’s best and brightest designers, led by renowned TV personality and keen upcycler Kevin McCloud.

Renowned upcycler, entrepreneur and TV presenter, Max McMurdo, will host a live demonstration on stage while TV personality and designer Wayne Hemingway, the founder of iconic British fashion label Red or Dead, will engage in a panel discussion on upcycling. Stars of Channel 4’s Supersize Salvage, Harry Dwyer and Charlie Waller, will host demonstrations and workshops, showing the audience how to create furniture from the parts of decommissioned aircraft.

Both Max McMurdo’s Reestore, which specialises in creating highly stylised furniture, and Harry Dwyer and Charlie Waller’s Aircraft Workshop, which creates furniture from aircraft parts, sell their unique creations on Remade in Britain, along with hundreds more independent retailers, some of whom will also be taking to the stage at Grand Designs Live.

Donna Fenn, founder of Remade in Britain, said: “Our salvage workshops at Grand Designs Live are something we’ve been tremendously excited for since our partnership was announced a few months ago. To be able to call on such well-regarded and high profile upcyclers to come along and showcase their craft is really fantastic for us.

“I know those fortunate enough to attend will get a wonderful insight into the world of upcycling. With the growing popularity of upcycling we are excited to see what kind of things people will be inspired to make themselves.”

Max McMurdo added: “Grand Designs Live is a wonderful event and a key date in the design world and I’m really excited to be working alongside Remade in Britain at the show. They’ve been doing some brilliant work since their launch in creating a community and have now really established themselves as the home of upcycling in the UK”

The rapidly expanding trend of upcycling has been championed by celebrities including Kirstie Allsopp, Kevin McCloud and Livia Firth, with a growing number of UK companies tapping into consumer enthusiasm for upcycled products. Although official industry statistics are still to be produced for the UK, countries including the US, Germany and Sweden have seen a huge surge in demand for upcycled products. The popularity of repurposed and vintage items is particularly clear on online artist marketplaces like US-based Etsy and Artfire where products tagged with ‘upcycled’ rocketed from 7,900 in 2010 to 216,024 just four years later.

Remade in Britain provides a platform for retailers to sell upcycled products through their own online shop. The site is designed to be a hub for the upcycling community, offering a place to advertise courses, events, items available for salvage and upcycling supplies. Find out more at www.remadeinbritain.com

Grand Designs Live runs for nine days from the 2 – 10 May and is held at the ExCeL Centre in London. For more information, or to book press passes, please visit www.granddesignslive.com/press

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca Jackson .