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Couple taps into Mexico City’s creativity with frugal design

When Óscar and Daniela found a crumbling adobe building in Mexico City, they were inspired to use salvaged materials to transform it into their design studio and home for their family of four.

Using materials found on the street and bought by the kilo (mainly metals), they rebuilt a long, railroad-style home creating their own space-saving furniture, like lofted bed “nests” for their children. They transformed a section of the structure where the roof had collapsed into a live/work lounge. With flooring scraps from former projects, they created a wooden patchwork floor and wall. With reclaimed doors and windows they rebuilt an entire wall which now resembles stained-glass art.

Recovered items serve new purposes: an old door on the property is now the kitchen table; a tipped-over filing cabinet is a mobile dining table with storage. Daniela used 120 recycled soda bottles to create a green wall of plants to add nature to the kitchen. She cut a hole in the bottoms and used their own tops to connect them in long rows so the watering can be done in a loop.

The couple used to work in design firms but grew tired of the creative restraints so launched their own upcycled furniture/jewelry/clothing business called Eclectik. Their work is certainly diverse: they’ve turned broken skateboards and old coins into jewelry, broken mirrors into tables and wood scraps and blenders into lamps. Their latest concept is a recycled tire plante, and even their children have gotten involved in the process.