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Have you ever wondered what to do with all the things that sit unused in your home? Do you have an attic full of old furniture, lamps, and clothing? Instead of tossing it in the bin, what if you spent your time off this holiday creating original works of art. A leather coat could become a throw, a lamp shade could be turned into a beautiful dining room light, or Grandma’s old tea pot could be restored.

Inspired by this idea, Lisa Widén and Anna Irinarchos formed playful design duo Wis Design in 2006 after both graduating from Beckmans College of Design, in Sweden. This design duo became an almost overnight success producing work for big-name clients such as Design House Stockholm and Casamania, to name but a few. You could say they’ve become the darlings of the Swedish furniture design scene.

Modern Design, Recycled

Having previously shown their functional and playful designs at the Green House section of the Stockholm International Furniture Fair, this year Wis will be teaming up with other Swedish design outfits as part of the design collective, Camp Site where they will be designing and producing the Design Bar 2009 at the furniture fair.

What Was Old is New Again

Earlier this year Wis decided that they should use the platform of Salone Satellite within the Milan International Furniture Fair to launch their latest collection, Not Everything Has To Be Brand New. When designing for the new collection, Wis loved the idea of exploring the “possibility of recycling not only materials, but also common shapes and past times,” which could then be transferred into a modern design piece.

The Collection

Looking at the three unique designs from the collection, Decades, Shady, and Vanity, you get the sense that Wis have almost gone back to the future. Decades is a stunning, eclectic side table that houses old misfit drawer fronts from years gone by and encases them in a beautiful contemporary frame.

A collection of old lampshades that are skewered together to create a new retro light shade gives us the cute and colorful Shady, leaving us to only be introduced to the final piece, Vanity. Vanity, my personal favorite from the collection, is a modern armchair with a decorative throw made from old leather jackets that are cut into a pattern resembling the scales of a fish.

Tell me, what do you have lying around the house that could become treasured once again?