We’ve come across many things made from road...

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Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

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[Background on, & press coverage of, Unconsumption can be found here and here.]

Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

Unconsumption is free.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

* * *

Alumnus & Unconsumption logo creator: Clifton Burt, graphic designer, Portland, OR

Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

1:38 pm - Sun, Feb 19, 2012: 70 notes

High-Res

We’ve come across many things made from road signs, including this fence, but nothing as intricate as artist Greely Myatt’s “Quiltsurround,” a 32-panel public art installation in downtown Memphis.

Using about 700 speed-limit, caution, and stop signs (and even a few Memphis City Beautiful signs), Myatt designed traditional quilt patterns in 4-by-12 foot panels. The panels … hide a chain-link fence and City Hall’s heating and cooling system.

“We didn’t have a very good budget for this, and the idea of recycling is part of quilting, so I had the idea of taking the street signs that the city was going to recycle,” Myatt said. “I knew that material would withstand the outdoors.”

Art students from the University of Memphis, where Myatt teaches sculpture, helped fabricate the panels.

(Via Quilts Made From Street Signs @Craftzine.com blog. Photos via Jenean Morrison; quotes from Memphis Flyer.)