Ethical Design Spotlight: Elvis & Kresse

Everything we make eventually wears out.

I’m sure when you get rid of stuff at home you think about what to do with it. Recycling your day to day rubbish and acting bemused about what on earth you’re supposed to do with that old refrigerator or worn out rug.

But what about fire hoses? Office furniture? Or even Air Traffic Control strips? What the hell do you do with them?

I bring you ELVIS & KRESSE…..

Elvis & Kresse was founded in 2007 by James Henrit and Kresse Wesling. They started in London, but now collect this kind of waste right across the UK. Mostly using old fire hoses, they clean them up and turn them into beautiful bags, belts and other lovely little things to sell on, then they give 50% of their profits back to the Fire Fighters Charity.

To date they have recycled approximately 45 tonnes of waste in this way and their dedication to reuse extends to all areas of the business, even their packaging is recycled or reclaimed. Their labels are old air traffic control strips, the string old coffee sacks and they even re use old shoe boxes as packaging.

Their normal range is full of gorgeous, functional, everyday pieces, with a hell of a story, but recently they have partnered with art-eco-fashion brand ISSI to produce an Arts collection. Launched at London Fashion Week EstEthica exhibition in February the collection has bought together International artists Lothar Götz, Olivier Millagou, Paul Morrison and Simon Periton to create a range of accessories that are beautiful, practical AND eco friendly.

My favourites from the collection

This range is considerably more design led than the regular products featuring bags lined with parachute silk printed with images of volcanoes and the delicate yellow fly wing on the bag shown above. The Arts range is due to be launched at Selfridges in May if you have the funds and the desire to get your hands on a piece of recycled art for your wardrobe, or appears to be available on the Elvis & Kresse website right now.

Read more about the collection and the artists at the ISSI website