Upcycle Hawaii Blog

                  As I observe the world around me, it is hard to deny that we find ourselves emerged in a throw-away culture and living in a single-use society.  Plastic water bottles abound in our daily lives, packaged foods dominate our diets and trends come and go in the blink of an eye.  As we all know, this is a huge contributing factor to our global waste and pollution problem; moreover, I believe there are additional far-reaching consequences to our current way of consumerism.                   One of my largest worries is that we have lost the value of everyday items in...

As you may have read in “Our Story”, admittedly, my passion (and knack) for creativity is something that has always been a part of me.  I have been making, tinkering and experimenting since I was a child; and, a lot of that was done with old materials and items.  Going into my 30’s, I realized that I wanted to make a commitment to working exclusively with reclaimed and repurposed materials; but, why did I decide to “upcycle” at all? My obsession with upcycling began when I successfully figured out how to crochet aluminum can pop-tabs some 10+ years ago now. ...

The more I analyzed my own carbon footprint and consumption, the more I began to rethink my art.  A lot of the material and processes I was working with were certainly far from sustainable.  At the same time, I was getting more and more frustrated by the quality of several products that I was purchasing as a consumer.  I knew that there had to be a better – and more sustainable – way.  It was at that point that I made a commitment to change through creative repurposing.  A journey down a rabbit hole from which I still have not returned… and had resulted in the creation of a new business and, I hope, a new way of thinking.