Sustainable Life: Upcycled Furniture from Found Materials

In the spirit of Earth Day on April 22nd, we were sitting around one day in early April at Pitusa HQ discussing how to go beyond just doing the recycling in our homes. If you’re conscious and awake in 2018, you’ll know we all have a personal responsibility to implement sustainability into our lives in one way or another. There’s no one right way to do it. Whether you choose to compost your food, stop eating meat a few days a week, pay to reduce your carbon footprint or choose to only support sustainable brands—there are myriad choices and something for everyone. We are at a point where climate change worsens year-over-year, and it’s up to us to modify our behavior as responsible citizens and compassionate human beings. One thing that isn’t as obvious when it comes to sustainability is the idea of actually implementing sustainable furniture pieces into your home. It’s brilliant and so easy to do, yet not the first choice for most people.

At Pitusa we have always been committed to sustainability in every aspect of our lives (and our business) – and that means doing more than just the bare minimum. As we continued our conversation about Earth Day, the environment and what small actions we take to be sustainable amongst our staff we realized—by pure coincidence—that somehow we all have our own piece of recycled furniture! These design pieces are either a part of the zeitgeist (you heard it here first), or there is something in the water at Pitusa – we’re just that passionate about found materials and upcycled furniture.

Clara, our founder, and CEO has a coffee table made out of a B777 airplane wheel – a large piece of glass is placed on top of the mammoth structure to make for a gorgeous piece of sustainable design. This industrial look is perfect for a minimalist aesthetic; it’s easy to put together and a surefire conversation starter for any dinner party. It just so happens that Sara, our DigitalMarketing Manager also has an industrially inspired sustainable coffee table in her living room, too. Her husband crafted the beautifully designed piece from an Audi A6 engine.

And it doesn’t end there! Our resident designer, Andrea has a beautiful piece made from old luggage that is now a chest, and an art piece plastered onto her wall made from the pages of a book – formed to look like a beautiful prism.

Inspired by all this synchronicity, we put it out to our wider Pitusa fam, and it turns out one of our former beloved staffers made her bed out of upcycled wood pallets. She somehow managed to make it look beyond dreamy – like you could lie down and sleep forever in her sheets. What’s impressive about this is that it doesn’t look cheap or shoddily crafted – if anything, it could have been pulled right out of the glossy pages of an interior design magazine.

This got us thinking – what else can you craft from used pieces – whether from large pieces of industrial equipment or from found pieces (which may be more easily accessible)? What if we could make a commitment each year, instead of buying some plastic piece from IKEA that will most likely fall apart in a couple of years, we were to implement some piece of furniture made from found materials instead? It’s a fun way to go shopping because it adds creativity and something to do with your loved ones (and kids LOVE a project)! This amazing blog, Funky Junk Interiors, has all manner of DIY instructions to get you started on your quest. Join our challenge for a more sustainable life in 2018! Send us your pics of any pieces you have, too and tag us with the hashtag #pitusaupycles.