Cornelia Weinmann: Portfolio: Upcycling furniture

May 12, 2016

Upcycling furniture

This piece of furniture came from a garage sale in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It had been hand built by a father to hold his children's clothes. And of course, it was painted white.
I changed the background colour and had nice contemporary handles made to match my painted design. The chest didn't have any feet; I added castors instead. The name Rote Kommode refers to the vibrant red I chose.

Wood, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish, steel. 1998
66x48x97cm

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About my work

I have always been a maker of things, for as long as I can think back. My innate sense for colour, shape and balance first found expression in painting on glass, making linocuts and collages, assembling three-dimensional scenes in cigar boxes, sculpting with papier mâché and weaving. All these creative skills were put aside when I embarked on a career in the ivory towers of university. However, the call to be a maker rather than a university teacher did not remain unheard. I integrated academic experience with creativity and started working as an exhibit designer in my birthplace Munich, Germany. Making things became my profession after moving to British Columbia in Western Canada, where I opened a home based studio for functional art in the Upper Fraser Valley near Vancouver. I started painting furniture and fabrics. My work was part of the rapidly growing trend to refinish and reuse creatively: I mainly used vintage furniture and transformed it into bright focal points for unique interiors, complemented by my hand dyed, hand printed fabrics. These pieces, with bright colours and abstract designs, were shown in exhibitions and window displays.

I have since moved back to Europe and lived for a long while in the West of Ireland before taking up residence in Wales, and since 2014 in Perthshire, Scotland. During that time my focus shifted from functional art to more decorative work, to printmaking and painting applying a variety of techniques.

Then came the moment when I was asked to help promote the idea of reusing and repurposing materials by running classes in vintage furniture painting. This task reconnected me with expertise acquired in the past and led to many contacts with organisations and projects advocating waste reduction, recycling, the need to introduce new economic models of sustainability and circularity.

Learning how the fashion industry that we are familiar with harms the environment and fashion workers rights, and how much waste we produce because we treat clothing as throw-away items gave me a veritable shock. My response was to start altering some of my clothes rather than buying new ones - and I rediscovered my love of sewing. I attended sewing and embroidery classes and eventually decided to make textile art the new direction in my creative practice.

Now I hand-tailor unique garments made mainly from repurposed fabric and contribute to the production of sustainable fashion of high quality, and thus to a section of the circular economy. I feel proud that I was able to transition my small business in this direction, and I definitely like being noticed when I wear my own creations showing flamboyant colours and contemporary designs in my unique signature style.

My studio is located near Coupar Angus in Perthshire (check the business hours on my Facebook page). I sell from my studio, from my own web shop and and from my Perthshire Artisans shop.

For an easy overview of my work visit my website:
www.corneliaweinmanndesign.com
www.perthshire-artisans.scot

Or my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CorneliaWeinmannArtist