Ezra Waltermauer of Little Fish Furniture finds a new use for library rejections:  the bookshelf

There is a special kind of beauty that is created by using a common material in a new way. We are treated to a gentle awakening as we learn to see the mundane differently. The late interior designer John Dickinson treated common and overlooked materials such as canvas and galvanized tin sheets in this way, and sent them to fine furniture workshops where they were treated as a Saville Row tailor would treat silk. The result was no less than delightful. We learn that anything can be made significant and beautiful if it is crafted with care and respect.

Utility Canvas – Canvas is a general name given to a tightly woven textile that may be made of cotton, linen or hemp. Canvas was once the dominant textile used in demanding applications such as sails, tents, and flooring. It is also the substrate which artists most commonly use to paint upon. The word canvas itself is derived from the word cannabis which is the proper word for hemp, the plant that produced the fiber from which early canvas was woven. 

Utility Canvas produces a line of apparel and products for home that are made solely out of their namesake material. As the designers Hal Grano and Jillian Kaufman-Grano explain, "Canvas is a sturdy, tightly woven material. It has a history as an industrial material. Its simple construction makes it naturally water resistant and durable. When we quilt it and garment dye it, it can actually be soft and cozy and still retain its durability. It lasts, and inspires us to create designs to match."

Check out www.utilitycanvas.com

Cards of Wood – The word veneer may have a tarnished image to it as people associate it with a façade of superficial and deceptive attractiveness. Perhaps this connotation is unwarranted. Veneers are commonly applied to more stable wood and that their use conserves precious natural resources. Wood veneer was used by furniture makers in antiquity, but the material came to prominence in Europe during the 17th century when the wide blade saw was developed. Cards of Wood produces incredibly thin paper-backed wood veneers, and as an additional service the company can cut and print the veneers, transforming them into greeting cards, stationary and business cards. Which wood grain would you choose?

Go to www.cardsofwood.com

molo's softwalls fold up to the thickness of a book. Photo courtesy of molo

Everything from business cards to wedding invitations can be made out of the beautiful veneers at Cards of Wood.

Moving blankes redux: the cozy and lovely utility canvas throw.

molo softwall - Tissue is a word derived from the Middle English tissu which is a type of fabric. In the textile industry the word refers to a fabric that is lightweight or sheer, but we commonly use the word to refer to paper products such as facial tissues (such as Kleenex, which are the disposable paper form of woven handkerchiefs), and tissue paper which is often sheeted and used to gently wrap articles that are placed in a larger box or wrapper. The Canadian architects Todd MacAllen and Stephanie Forsythe have designed softwall, an accordion-like expanding paper wall made from 400 layers of honeycombed translucent white, black, or brown fire-retardant paper bonded with wool felt ends. Softwall works like a screen, dividing a room, but it is so much wider and more materialistic. It really is its own kind of design phenomena.

For more information go to www.molodesign.com

Book Bookshelves – Books

Some of us have so many books that they have morphed into other things. Piles of books create sound insulation, while stacks of books become free-standing sculpture. But it took designer Ezra Waltermauer of Little Fish Furniture to make books shelves out of actual books! As he explains, "raised on a small farm in the Hudson Valley, I was indoctrinated into the world of 'use what you have/use what you find' at an early age.  Later, living in NYC and getting an MFA at the School of Visual Arts, I brought that philosophy with me and was a card carrying member of the elite society of dumpster divers. Much of the artwork I produced in those years was inspired and or dictated by things otherwise destined for the landfill. When I began to discover hardcover books with interesting covers or odd titles in the trash, I began collecting them and the pile soon became unmanageable. One night in 1997, the idea hit me - Book Shelf."

For more information go to www.littlefishfurniture.com