Vienna has always been a city talented in turning the old into new. On its outskirts are gas silos that were reinvented into apartments, a mall and an event venue. There’s an old anti-aircraft war bunker that’s now filled with fish — it’s been reborn as an aquarium.
The local designer and shopping scenes are no exception to this admirable habit of turning trash into treasure, known as “upcycling”. Vienna’s fashion and design industry is not only creating beautiful things, but is also trying to tap into the consumer’s conscience, as sustainable shopping continues to be a popular concept.
Instead of adding to the world’s pile of discarded plastic things produced in factories this Christmas, check out our list of Vienna’s local stores and designers that are practicing the three R’s — reduce, reuse, and recycle — and doing so in style.
Ich hab mein turnsackerl vergessen
A turnsackerl is Viennese for a gym duffle bag, and the name translates to “Ah! I’ve forgotten my gym bag!” Not such an original product, but what if you were to make bold and beautiful designs out of used theater costumes? Julia Mayer is the young mind behind the concept of ‘Ich hab mein turnsackerl vergessen,’ and her young hands and her father’s sewing machine are behind the manufacturing. Julia takes costumes from one of the city’s most popular small theaters, Das Tag, and makes them into turnsackerls. She’ll also make you one of her bags out of your favourite old pair of jeans, shirt or underwear (perhaps not) if you ask her. Orders can be made on her website or you can drop by Das Tag theater (Gumpendorfer Straße 67, 1060) where they’re sold.
These young Austrian guys are recycling and repurposing old wooden pallets and making them into furniture. While this has been done before, these guys are putting together some stunning designs. Our favorite is the #5 Alles ist Moeglich (Anything is Possible) sofa design.
The Gabarage crowd are somewhat the pioneers of the upcycling and repurposing scene in Vienna. Can you imagine a lamp made out of traffic lights? A vase made out of an old bowling pin? Anything is possible at Gabarage when it comes to giving old and useless objects a new lease on life. The designs are industrial, and such is the transformation that the former life of their material is often hardly recognizable. You can browse the products in store on the Gabarage website, or drop by their studio at Schleifmühlgasse 6, 1040.
Printa can be found in Vienna, but its origins are in Hungary. This concept store is an upcycled fashion store and print gallery combined. Of particular note are their leather handbags made out of old leather jackets. Only second-hand clothing in top-notch condition is upcycled here, so only quality is on the racks. You can check out their store online, or visit them at Lindengasse 22, 1070.
Sophie Soufflé Upcycled Jewelry
If you were given a box full of old records, T-shirts, cans, buttons, old keyboards, Nespresso capsules, marbles, old typewriters and somebody demanded: Create! What would come out of it? Well, we don’t know how Sophie Soufflé does it, but she’s done just that, and her upcycled jewelry is sweet and stunning. You can check out her designs and order them on her Facebook page.
After stories emerged of Josef Fritzl, the running joke is, “Never go down into a cellar in Austria.” On this occasion, however, we emphatically urge you to do just that. The recycling & upcycling store, Kellerwerk, began a while ago when the owners were visiting Africa. Rather than your typical souvenirs, they came back with two epiphanies: one, that it’s not good for the world if we’re always buying everything new, and two, that unlike in the Western world, people in Africa have not forgotten how to repair, rebuild, recycle, and reuse old things.
Now they have a cellar full of unique furniture, jewelry, lamps, and bags that have all been either repaired or refashioned. Check out their creative designs on their website, or you can visit their showroom at Gumpendorfer Straße 48, 1060.
Kontiki take the humble bicycle tube that lives most of its life hidden, and recreates it into functional and showy accessories and bags. Sourcing the bike tubes from local partners, the subtly grungy — and somehow sado-masochistic — designs are made by hand in their small workshop in Vienna. To order your own bike tube bag (they also do custom designs upon request), check out their website, or swing by their store at Grundsteingasse 20/1, 1160 Wien.
According to their website, “TrashDesignManufaktur develops unique designs from the leftovers of our society.” We like how that sounds, and we also like how Trashdesignmanafaktur’s jewelry looks. Most material repurposed here is stuff you’d find inside your old computer — circuit boards, floppy disks, computer cables, etc. As technology moves forward at an increasing speed, the team at TrashDesignManafaktur are re-inventing the bits and pieces from its past in the form of jewelry. Check out their designs on their website, or you can visit their showroom at Vogtgasse 29, 1140.
We are big fans of the Vienna fashion label Milch. Not only because her designs are blissfully original, but also because most of them are made out of second-hand men’s suits…for women — what a magnificent concept. We’re particularly fond of her paddy caps made out of men’s suit pants. Milch’s founder, Cloed Priscilla Baumgartner, works with local charity organizations to source the suits which are then cleaned thoroughly, cut up and reborn as women’s fashion items. You can check out Milch’s designs on their website or visit their homebase at Y5/showroom for fair fashion at Yppenplatz 5/2, 1160.