Street Seats is a furniture project developed by...

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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.

9:36 am - Sat, Apr 28, 2012: 66 notes

Street Seats is a furniture project developed by Bade Stageberg Cox for the Pier 94 Coffee Bar at The Armory Show. The 50 chairs, found abandoned on the streets of New York, were repaired and given a new life with a coat of taxi cab yellow paint.
Like the city’s residents, the chairs are an eclectic mix, migrating throughout the fair during its five-day run. The bottom of each chair is stamped and documented with the date and location it was recovered.

Having been converted into art for an actual art show, the chairs are of course now for sale. (I gather they’re going for $500 each.) More at Street Seats.
I have slightly mixed feelings. There’s no question that this is an impressive instance of object transformation that has as much to do with story/context as it does with, you know, yellow paint. But there’s something almost … commercial … about this execution. Or maybe that’s just me? If you have an opinion, leave a comment.

High-Res

Street Seats is a furniture project developed by Bade Stageberg Cox for the Pier 94 Coffee Bar at The Armory Show. The 50 chairs, found abandoned on the streets of New York, were repaired and given a new life with a coat of taxi cab yellow paint.

Like the city’s residents, the chairs are an eclectic mix, migrating throughout the fair during its five-day run. The bottom of each chair is stamped and documented with the date and location it was recovered.

Having been converted into art for an actual art show, the chairs are of course now for sale. (I gather they’re going for $500 each.) More at Street Seats.

I have slightly mixed feelings. There’s no question that this is an impressive instance of object transformation that has as much to do with story/context as it does with, you know, yellow paint. But there’s something almost … commercial … about this execution. Or maybe that’s just me? If you have an opinion, leave a comment.