From shabby furniture getting a funky facelift to threadbare dresses finding a new lease of life as cushion covers, the art of upcycling is very much alive in Singapore.
Upcycling is the process of converting old or discarded items into something of better quality, usually something useful or creative.
Home-grown furniture companies, such as Hock Siong & Co in Kampong Ampat and Designed in Geylang, say they have seen a “gradual” increase in the sales of furniture created out of discarded items.
Hock Siong, for instance, has seen a 10% increase in overall business this past year.
But the upcycling business has its challenges, says Hock Siong’s founder Toh Chin Siong, with a nod to how it takes time to transform old goods into new ones.
Some firms have struggled to stay afloat.
The now-defunct furniture store Artsyfact, which opened in Everton Park in 2012 and turned old things into furniture and decor pieces, shuttered after just two years in the business. Co-founder Aaron Koh, 35, says they found it hard to make a profit. While people thought their products were “cool” and took photos of them, this did not always translate into sales.
It Takes Balls, a retail business that promotes knitting and sustainable fashion production, creates knitwear out of yarn salvaged from a textile factory in Turkey.
Founder Adeline Loo, 35, who registered the business in late 2014, says she was inspired by the maker movement and the Fashion Revolution, which called for greater transparency in the fashion supply chain when she was in Britain four years ago.
Meanwhile, textile artist Agatha Lee, 43, says her habit of upcycling old clothes into new ones is not just about being environmentally friendly. It is also about “having your own style”, unlike what people get in “cookie-cutter malls”, she says.
Ms Lee adds: “I want to change the idea that upcycling is difficult or takes a long time… Some ways of upcycling (fabrics) don’t have to involve a sewing machine.”
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Source: The Straits Times, 28 April 2018