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    James Shaw’s light-filled London home is almost entirely underground

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    Lumpy recycled plastic furniture and circular skylights characterise this sunken London house, which designer James Shaw concealed on a 60-square-metre plot for himself and his family.

    Located in a conservation area in east London, the two-storey dwelling was constructed by Shaw and his friend, architect Nicholas Ashby.
    James Shaw built himself a sunken but light-filled homeThe neighbourhood’s planning restrictions required the pair to build all but 2.7 metres of the building out of sight from the street level, resulting in a sunken home with a large basement invisible from the outside.
    An open-plan kitchen, living and dining area feature in this underground space, which has exposed concrete walls interrupted by large, floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto a small terrace with a dinky plunge pool.
    The designer squeezed a bespoke sofa into one of the irregular cornersShaw and his writer-curator wife Lou Stoppard chose eclectic interiors for the home they share with their baby daughter – a collaboration that began with the duo’s 2022 London Design Festival installation of clashing furniture, created to poke fun at the tensions that arise when couples move in together for the first time.

    Made by Shaw, the pear-shaped walnut table from the installation features in the living area, surrounded by spindly stacking chairs first designed by furniture brand Blå Station founder Börge Lindau in 1986.
    Veneered MDF defines the kitchen cabinetsA custom aluminium bookshelf stretches across the wall opposite the table, built by Shaw to fit the unusual space. The designer also squeezed a bespoke burnt orange sofa into one of the irregular corners, illuminated by a large circular skylight.
    Known for his Plastic Baroque furniture made from recycled and extruded HDPE, Shaw placed a lumpy two-tone blue lounge chair next to the sofa – another piece that featured in his previous installation.
    The bathroom features Anni Albers-style mosaic flooringOpposite the living and dining area, the rectilinear kitchen cabinets were finished in veneered MDF, while the fridge was also fitted with a knobbly plastic handle.
    Stainless steel and pale blue HIMACS make up the worktops – one of which is on wheels to allow for flexibility when hosting.
    Squiggly pear-shaped sculptures top the bedpostsAcross the basement, a combination of oak finger parquet and raised-access metal tiles were used to create contrasting flooring. The silver-hued tiles can be lifted to reveal extra storage.
    Also underground, the bathroom was designed with a playfully patterned mosaic floor informed by the work of Bauhaus artist Anni Albers, including an abstract illustration of the couple’s cat, Rupert.
    The mirrored bathtub reflects and enhances the intricate flooring, while another rounded skylight adds natural light to the space.

    WillemsenU submerges house under the ground in the Netherlands

    An extruded blue plastic bannister snakes up the staircase to the bedroom – the only street-level room in the house.
    The Shaw-designed oak and brass bed features bedposts topped with squiggly pear-shaped sculptures, while the thin timber wardrobe was hand-painted with decorative panels by artist Marie Jacotey, who completed the project on-site.
    The bedroom is the only street-level roomStoppard’s vast art collection features throughout the sunken home, including delicate paintings by emerging artists Lydia Blakely and Mary Stephenson and antique artefacts from various travels.
    Elsewhere in London, Shaw’s trademark plastic furniture has also been used for retail projects. Footwear brand Camper’s Regent Street store includes bumpy yellow shelving by the designer, and a Traid charity clothes shop in Shepherd’s Bush has a wiggly bench upholstered in unsold clothes salvaged from the Traid warehouse.
    The photography is courtesy of James Shaw and Lou Stoppard. 

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      Space Available opens closed-loop design workshop and studio in Bali

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      Design studio Space Available has transformed a former warehouse in Bali into a workshop and office space featuring a mezzanine clad in offcuts from its plastic recycling projects.

      Situated in an industrial suburb of the island’s capital Denpasar, the building houses the first physical workspace for Space Available, which creates products and clothing from ocean plastic and other waste materials.
      Space Available has designed its own studio and workshop in BaliThe organisation, founded in 2020 by English designer Daniel Mitchell, wanted to create a studio that can act as a creative hub for hosting activities centred around the themes of recycling and closed-loop design principles that aim to keep waste materials in use.
      The space was designed to accommodate recycling machines, upcycling stations and a bio-design lab created in collaboration with MycoWorks – a Californian company that develops materials from mushroom mycelium for brands including Hermès.
      The studio makes products from recycled plasticMitchell and Space Available’s in-house architect Andika Permana oversaw the renovation of the 500-square-metre building, defined by typical industrial features including grey breeze block walls.

      “The raw warehouse space underwent a transformation of refinement to make it feel less industrial,” Mitchell told Dezeen.
      “We skimmed and painted the walls white along with painting the previously unfinished metal ceiling. Our aim was to create a clean, white, almost gallery-like atmosphere.”
      Offcuts from the production process were used to clad the stairsTowards the rear of the space, a double-height steel structure was erected to house the laboratory as well as an office on the upper level. This volume is clad in waste plastic offcuts that are repurposed from the studio’s homeware and furniture production.
      “The blue ‘marble’ structure stands out against the clean white backdrop, creating a dramatic ‘structure within a structure’ effect that really pops out as you enter the studio,” Mitchell added.

      Space Available and Peggy Gou create furniture from “heartbreaking” plastic waste

      The use of offcuts fits with Space Available’s mission to “change the perception of waste through elevated design”.
      In addition to forming the facade, the material is used to create shelving, furniture, speakers and other amenities throughout the building.
      The warehouse’s remaining open floor area functions as a flexible space for building and exhibiting projects or hosting events. Large shelving units at one end are used to store and display the studio’s furniture and archival products.
      The studio’s sheet material was also used to form various furnishingsSpace Available was founded during the coronavirus pandemic by Mitchell, who moved to Bali with his wife in 2014 after working in the fashion industry for several years.
      Shocked by the global plastic waste crisis that is evident in the volume of pollution washing up on Indonesia’s beaches, he wanted to develop a design studio that would explore circular design principles and revolutionise the perception of ocean plastic and waste.
      The organisation has recycled more than six million plastic bottles in its projects, which range from large-scale sculptural installations to furniture and fashion design.
      A shelving unit displays the studio’s furniture and archival productsIts furniture and solid surface sheet materials are made from waste plastic collected from rivers and landfills. The material is shredded, added to a mould and baked to create panels featuring vibrant colours and patterns.
      Space Available previously collaborated with South Korean DJ Peggy Gou to create a chair made from 20 kilograms of recycled plastic with an integrated compartment for storing records.
      The recycled plastic resembles colourful marbleIn 2022, the studio opened a dedicated gallery, recycling station and upcycling bar called Museum of Space Available in the coastal town of Canggu, which features
      The building features a facade made from 200,000 recycled plastic bottles and showcases the work of the studio alongside projects by other artists, designers and scientists.
      Another Indonesian organisation giving new life to plastic waste is Sungai Watch, which recently launched its first furniture designs made using discarded plastic bags.

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      James Shaw installs jumbo foot in London Camper store

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      British designer James Shaw has renovated a shop for fashion brand Camper on London’s Regent Street, which features a giant foot-shaped sculpture that functions as a till and a bench for trying on shoes.

      Located in a ground-level room within a building on Regent Street in central London, the store reopened last week.
      James Shaw has renovated the Camper store on Regent StreetShaw redesigned the interiors to reflect the Mallorcan heritage of Spanish footwear company Camper – a brand known for its bold and colourful creations.
      The designer constructed a 3.5-metre-tall sculpture in the shape of an oversized foot, which was covered in terracotta-hued wool and positioned on the shop floor.
      His design includes a jumbo footVisible from the street, the cartoon-like structure is multifunctional. It includes internal storage for products and a small booth that houses the till.

      Shoppers are also encouraged to perch on the jumbo toes while trying on shoes, making the foot a bench as well as a display unit.
      Shaw also created recycled plastic furniture”The foot is the key feature of our proposal. Somewhat surreal and unexpected yet fully connected to Camper’s sense of playfulness and whimsy,” said Shaw.
      “Reflected in the fully mirrored wall, it appears as a giant standing in the middle of the store.”
      Walnut was used to make display unitsThe designer, who works predominantly with recycled plastic, also created lumpy yellow shelving made from extruded slabs of the material, which – like the large foot – is reflected in the floor-to-ceiling mirror that makes up one of the walls.
      Shaw also combined his trademark gloopy plastic with walnut wood to create rounded stools, positioned underneath the yellow shelves.

      Diébédo Francis Kéré’s Camper pop-up store opens at the Vitra Campus

      On the opposite side of the room, the designer added smooth walnut display units mounted to the wall with twisted polished metal fixtures – also custom-made by Shaw.
      At the back of the store, shoppers can rest on geometric seating topped with textured mohair and clad in mirrored metal. The recognisable red Camper logo, positioned above the seating, was also reimagined with a Shaw-style, lumpy backdrop.
      The interiors are “a nod to mid-century modernism with a warped twist”Shaw created the store’s flooring using orange resin to match the colour of the large foot as well as the painted walls and ceiling, which are all finished in similar hues.
      The mix of materials is “a nod to mid-century modernism with a warped twist,” according to Camper.
      “Mediterranean roots are present in the colour scheme, where warm earthy tones meet shades of yellow and blue,” added the brand.
      Elsewhere, designer Jorge Penadés dressed a Málaga Camper shop with materials chosen to match the brand’s warehouse while architect Kengo Kuma created scalloped shelving out of concave ceramic tiles for a Barcelona branch.
      Shaw showcased pieces of his extruded recycled plastic furniture at the 2022 edition of London Design Festival in an installation he created with his partner, Lou Stoppard, that playfully explored tensions between couples who move in together.
      The photography is courtesy of Camper.

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      Eight interiors that feature reclaimed and recycled materials

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      For our latest lookbook, Dezeen has selected eight examples of interiors that were created with reclaimed and recycled materials, including a restaurant in Bangalore and a brick house in Ghent.

      Recent decades have seen more awareness and reflection on environmental and sustainable issues both inside and outside the design world, leading a number of designers and architects to choose sustainable design for their projects.
      From the use of unwanted items to the application of reclaimed bricks and recycled plastics, the eight projects in this lookbook present ways in which designers have rediscovered the value of waste.
      This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring sunny yellow interiors, beds that have been built into interiors and tiled kitchen worktops.
      Photo by Ishita SitwalaCircus Canteen, India, by Multitude of Sins

      Bangalore studio Multitude of Sins designed this restaurant interior, which was shortlisted in the sustainable interior category of Dezeen Awards 2022, to showcase a collage of unwanted objects.
      The salvaged objects were sourced locally from a donation drive in a few weeks. The studio categorised them, then organised them into a colourful, stylish interior.
      Find out more about the Circus Canteen ›

      Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre, Japan, by Hiroshi Nakamura
      The Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre (above and main image) was created as an eco-friendly community and educational space for recycling activities, and features a facade made of 700 windows donated by the local community.
      Architect Hiroshi Nakamura attached harvesting containers from a mushroom factory to the wall to be used as bookshelves. Unwanted objects were also collected from abandoned houses, previous government buildings and schools in the local area.
      Find out more about the Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre ›
      Photo by Sam A HarrisSilo, UK, by Nina+Co
      The dining tables of this zero-waste restaurant in London consist of flecked recycled-plastic tops and sustainably-sourced ash wood legs, with mycelium pendant lamps dangling above.
      The dining space also features a long bar counter made from recycled plastic packaging.
      Find out more about Silo zero-waste restaurant ›
      Photo by Magdalena GruberUrselmann Interior’s office, Germany, by Urselmann Interior
      The renovation of the ceiling in this Düsseldorf office was completed using poplar wood sourced from a tree felled in the nearby city of Krefeld. The studio preserved the existing wooden and terrazzo flooring.
      The refurbishment of the office, which is the studio’s own, also included the use of biodegradable materials, glueless joinery and cellulose-based cladding.
      Find out more about Urselmann Interior’s office ›
      Photo by Syam SreesylamWendy House, India, by Earthscape Studio
      This vaulted residence in Bangalore, which sits among eight acres of dense forests, was covered with recycled mudga tiles. Its glass walls were framed with recycled rods.
      Earthscape Studio also constructed the building with sithu kal bricks, a traditional technique that is currently not in use. This design revisited the neglected technique to help bring work opportunities to the local community.
      Find out more about the Wendy House ›
      Photo by Stijn BollaertGjG House, Belgium, by BLAF Architecten
      Built without supporting interior walls, this house was constructed with reclaimed bricks and features a curved form and brick bonding.
      BLAF Architecten designed the unusual curvilinear walls in order for the house to fit in between surrounding trees on the site in Ghent.
      Find out more about GjG House ›
      Photo by José Hevia10K House, Spain, by Takk
      In the context of global climate change and the energy crisis, 10K House was built on a material budget of only 10,000 euros and features rooms built inside each other to maximise insulation.
      Spanish Architecture studio Takk used recycled white table legs to lift one of the interior rooms in the Barcelona apartment, creating space for water pipes and electrical fittings without the extra cost of adding wall grooves.
      Find out more about 10K House ›
      Photo by Agnese SanvitoRylett House, UK, Studio 30 Architects
      Studio 30 Architects transformed an old carpenter’s bench into a kitchen island for this London house extension, which includes a living, kitchen and dining area.
      The extension was built on the site of a previous conservatory and overlooks the garden through a timber window decorated with plants.
      Find out more about Rylett House ›
      This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring sunny yellow interiors, beds that have been built into interiors and tiled kitchen worktops.

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      Nagami 3D-prints recycled plastic to mimic melting glaciers in Spanish boutique

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      Spanish design studio Nagami has completed a shop interior for sustainable clothing brand Ecoalf near Madrid that is almost entirely 3D printed from recycled plastic.

      Walls, shelves and display tables inside the store in the Las Rozas Village designer outlet are made from 3.3 tonnes of repurposed plastic waste, sourced mainly from hospitals and used to create transluscent surfaces that resemble melting glaciers.
      Nagami has 3D-printed the interior of Ecoalf’s boutique near MadridAdditive manufacturing specialist Nagami created the plastic panels using a robotic arm equipped with a custom-built extruder that can print complex 3D forms, with the aim of uniting design and technology to raise awareness about the climate crisis.
      “We wanted to highlight the melting of the polar glaciers due to climate change,” Nagami co-founder Manuel Jiménez García told Dezeen. “So the walls are meant to represent a glacier that is cracking.”
      “The 3D-sculpted texture is a reference to the way the wind and snow erode the ice over time,” he added. “The idea was to recreate the sensation you might have when walking inside a glacier.”

      The interior was designed to resemeble a melting glacierThe Ecoalf store is the first fully 3D-printed interior completed by Nagami. And García believes it may be the first in the world to be fully 3D-printed using recycled plastic.
      The project was completed with a very short lead time of just three months from design to installation.
      Almost all of the surfaces are made from recycled plasticAccording to García, the undulating forms that cover almost all of the store’s internal surfaces pushed the robotic printing technology to its limit.
      “The machines needed to literally dance to create all of these different angles,” the designer explained. “Traditional 3D printing uses layers. But we can change the angle of the robot to make the kinds of curved and wavy forms you see in this project.”
      The walls are divided into panels and joined using connectors that form part of the printed structure. This meant that the tolerances needed to be very precise so that the components can slot together neatly.

      Nagami’s first collection features 3D-printed chairs by Zaha Hadid Architects

      On the floor, natural stone tiles feature veins reminiscent of cracking ice to enhance the feeling of walking on a glacier.
      All of the components used for the interior can be disassembled and reused or recycled for future projects. The plastic itself is almost infinitely recyclable, losing just one per cent of its structural performance with each new use, Nagami claims.
      The shop is located in the Las Rozas Village designer outletBoth companies share an interest in sustainable manufacturing, with Ecoalf creating clothing, footwear and accessories using recycled materials including plastic bottles, discarded fishing nets, used tyres and post-industrial wool and cotton.
      Similarly, Nagami works with recycled plastic to create furniture, sculptures, interiors and architectural elements as part of a closed-loop production process.
      The studio’s previous projects include several window displays for Dior, as well as a mobile toilet cubicle called The Throne and a collection of 3D-printed chairs by designers including Ross Lovegrove and Zaha Hadid Architects.
      Nagami used special robotic arms to 3D-print the panels. Photo by NagamiDuring the coronavirus pandemic, Nagami also made use of its quick-fire production process to 3D print face shields for medical staff.
      “We see 3D printing as one of the most sustainable forms of production,” García explained. “You don’t have to produce stock, it doesn’t create any fumes and it’s very versatile so you can create things on demand.”
      “In the future as we expand we want to have production sites around the world making things locally and reducing our carbon footprint even further.”
      All photography is by Alfonso-Quiroga unless otherwise stated.

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      Ace & Tate uses colourful terrazzo made from local plastic waste throughout Antwerp store

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      Amsterdam-based eyewear company Ace & Tate’s shop in Antwerp has interiors clad with terrazzo made with colourful chips of recycled plastic sourced locally by Dutch startup Plasticiet. Ace & Tate collaborated with sustainable materials company Plasticiet for the shop in Belgium as part of their push to become more sustainable. The brand has pledged to […] More