Three New Things, Made From Stuff Headed For The Bin

There's a pile of offcuts under my bench that used to just be scrap. Too short for a belt, too thin for a bowl, not enough left of any one rope to make anything on its own. It sat there for months while I worked out what to do with it. This week three new things came off that pile and the cutting table, and I want to tell you what they actually are, not just flog them at you.

All three are made from stuff that was heading for the bin. All three come out a wee bit different every time, because the material decides the colour, not me. Save this one for gift season, because that's exactly what it's for.

Recycled Climbing Rope Earrings

The offcut pile was the start of these. Short lengths of retired rope, too small to be anything else, cut down and strung into a beaded panel with surgical steel ear wires and stainless cord ends, so they're hypoallergenic and they'll actually sit right in your ear. They come in three sizes, small, medium and large, and £18 a pair. Ask around and you'll find recycled climbing rope earrings are still a rare thing to make, mostly because nobody wants to deal with offcuts this short.

The colour is whatever rope came in that week. That's not a marketing line, it's just how it works. I don't dye anything and I don't sort for a match. If you want a matching set with the recycled rope bracelets, you'll be picking whatever's on the bench the day you order, same as I do.

Hexagon Coasters From Waste Plastic

These aren't rope at all. They're HDPE, code number 2 plastic, the stuff milk bottles and bottle caps are made from. It gets collected, chopped up, melted between 120 and 130 degrees C and pressed into a blank, then I cut the hexagon shape on the laser. £8 each, and they sit alongside the rope coasters if you want one of each on the table.

This is the plastic line doing its job. Rope was never going to be the only material Forma works in, and every coaster that comes off the press is one less bit of plastic in a landfill for the next few hundred years.

A Rope Bowl For The Hall Table

This one's coiled the same way as the coasters, just built up in layers until it holds its shape as a bowl. £55, free shipping, and it's for the spot by your front door where keys, chalk and spare carabiners always end up anyway. Might as well have a home that used to save someone's life.

None of these three are big flashy launches. They're what happens when I refuse to bin the wee bits left over. That's the same reason Forma started in the first place, a rope I didn't want to see go in landfill turned into a belt, and it's the same reason there's now an earrings pile, a coaster press and a bowl on the hall table.

Every one is made by hand here in Aberdeen. If you're thinking ahead to gift season, all three are small, they post well, and nobody else's tree will have one that looks the same. That's not a downside, that's the whole point of gifts made from a story instead of a shelf.

Stay classy and remember,
Make Waste Useful.

George