Lately on SG and elsewhere, Tara has been asking some interesting questions about where, when, and why we don’t buy handmade, pointing to the fact that even the most hardcore handmade shoppers all shop for mass-produced goods. And the thing is, that’s one of the biggest challenges I face as an eco-friendly designer: how to balance my commitment to sustainable material use and production practices with my commitment to my customers to provide them with good design.
What is the tipping point, in other words? When does one commitment overtake the other?
This is why I am mostmostmost pleased when I come across a product that is both flawless in its design execution and eco-friendly in a significant and meaningful way.
This week I bring you Puncture.
Using recycled bike and tractor innertubes is eco. Score one for green. But even better, using them provides a more durable product — things like bags and wallets and pencil cases and laptop bags truly benefit from this increased durability. Score one for design.
Plus they look so totally freaking cool. Score one for whoever owns one.
Julie Green is owner, operator, designer, sales staff, and head of the shipping department at Up Up Creative, an 
I can see some of these items making great guy gifts (which are hard to find in the handmade arena!), but I’m just not feeling it for the ladies.
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I absolutely love the bike inner tube, it’s a wonderful material to work with!
By combining with colorful fabric & overstitch my handmade inner tube wallets, pouches are appealing for everyone.
There are quite a few Etsy shops selling stuff made from inner bicycle tubes, I agree with Carolle that this material offers endless possibilities.
When we lived in South Africa, I was amazed at many clever uses of recycled materials the local artists showed in their work, which they sold eaqually well in fancy galleries or by the side of the street – from beautiful scrap iron sculptures and children’s toys, made from cut out tin cans to insect curtains, made from colourful plastic bottle caps on a string.
They may not separate and recycle their waist as we do in Europe, where every house has four different bins, but they sure know how to reuse every single piece of material.