Meet Elvis & Kresse. They love upcycling. So much so, that they’ve built an entire business around reclaiming and regenerating old materials and turning them into something new. The main focus of the Elvis & Kresse collection is reclaimed fire hoses. The pair salvage and restore old hoses from the country’s many fire brigades, and create unique and durable accessories with them.

We caught up with Kresse to find out more about her business, and where her passion for upcycling began. “When I first moved to London in 2004 I went to all of the usual haunts, The National Gallery, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower, The Tate… but I also went snooping around the recycling centers and waste transfer stations. I have always had a passion for waste. I first met the London Fire Brigade in 2005 and instantly fell in love with their old hoses. There is a brilliant team that works on maintaining and repairing damaged hoses but there are some which are too far gone, and these were going to landfill.

On that first day I took a reel home and started planning. I wanted to create a business which could save the hose and other wastes, and create products which made the most of the stunning raw material. We now collect hose waste across the country and 50% of the profits from this line go to the Fire Fighters Charity. 7 years later and we are running a large workshop in Dorset, we have rescued over 170 tonnes of waste and collect 12 different types on a regular basis.”

The duo’s penchant for regenerating old materials has now spread into their home life, too. “We also bought a wreck of a flat in 2010 and renovated it using waste and second hand pieces. Our kitchen counters are made from an old marble fire surround and granite off-cuts.”

“Our beds are both made from wood waste and we have a stunning built in wardrobe made from doors salvaged at the local tip.”

“The furniture, the curtains, the light fixtures… we made it all ourselves from some of our favorite wastes. The results at home were good enough to warrant a feature in House & Garden Magazine, and we hope to help others embrace upcycling to renovate their own homes.”

View the full Elvis & Kresse collection here.

We’re sure many of you will be aware of The Big Egg Hunt, in association with Fabergé, that’s been happening in and around London during the past few weeks. The high-profile event has been organised to raise funds for two charities – Action for Children and Elephant family. Over 200 uniquely crafted eggs, created by leading artists, designers, architects and jewellers, have been hidden across the capital this Easter. The eggs will go on to be exhibited at “The Grand Eggstravaganza” in The Covent Garden Piazza, from 3-9 April, and sold to the highest bidders.

We have been following the progress of the egg hunt, not only because it’s supporting such brilliant causes, but also because one of our lovely sellers, designer Joanne Holbrook, has designed one of the infamous eggs! She says: ”I am so thrilled to be taking part in such an exciting event for two worthy charities. There have been a lot of late nights and help from friends and family but I am chuffed to bits that my design was chosen and that it will go towards raising some much needed funds for the two charities.”

She also talked us through the process involved in creating her unique egg…

“The fiberglass egg arrived unprimed – luckily for me my brother restores vintage and classic cars for a living, so he primed and sprayed it for me.”

“I templated all of the elements in paper first to make sure everything was sized correctly and then had to send all the images I had created to a local sign company who printed vinyl stickers of each element of the alphabet.”

“Then early one Sunday morning, armed with a tin of leftover Christmas biscuits and copious cups of tea, myself and my brother set about covering the egg.”

“My brother then took the egg away and lacquered the surface to seal the vinyl and protect the egg from getting scratched.”

“It took a lot of work, but we were so excited to get the finished result and my children loved it!”

The egg has been placed in a secret location in London, where it will remain until the campaign comes to a close this weekend. If anyone has spotted it, do let us know!

Joanne has also created a print that replicates the design of her London-inspired egg. We just love all the little characters – this would make a lovely addition to a child’s nursery or playroom…

Massive congratulations to Joanne for being selected to be involved in such a prestigious event – we’re really proud!

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This year we wanted to visit some of the many small creative businesses that make up notonthehighstreet.com in a bid to learn more about them and lend a hand during their busiest time of the year. We were keen to see first-hand what it takes to get an order made, processed and dispatched. The businesses who sell with us don’t necessarily have a large infrastructure to support them so we became Christmas elves for the day. Here are some of the people we visited…

Lucy Phillps visited Jo Jenner from 3 Blonde Bears in Sussex. In one day, Lucy helped pack over 150 orders (and ate amazing homemade soup!).

She also visited husband and wife team Vicki Smith, founder of sgt.smith and Jim Lockwood, founder of layereight. Lucy spent the day folding orders for Humorous Iconic T Shirts and Personalised Dinosaur T Shirts, packing them up for delivery and drinking copious amounts of tea in between. ‘It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the work that went in to it, but I didn’t fully realise the attention to detail required for each order and the sheer volume of orders they deal with each day with such a small team.’

Lucy Wood spent the day working for Hersey & Son Silversmiths. They produce high-quality sterling silver tableware, gifts and jewellery, using traditional silver spinning techniques. The skills required take around five years to perfect – so sadly she wasn’t able to help with the actual making of any items but packaged up the orders and watched intently as they skilfully spun the silver and hammered, engraved and polished each item with complete dedication.

Our production manager Jenny went out to visit the very talented Designer-Maker Laura Long. She works from Cockpit Arts Studio – a shared studio space in Holborn – that supports several of our sellers. Jenny was trusted to have a go at some stitch work and spent the day sewing tiny felt carrots contained within Laura’s Personalised Bunny in a Box. You can see Jenny’s handiwork above. Not bad!

Jo visited Gina Axell, founder of rosiebull designs. When Jo arrived, Gina and her daughter (who works there on her days off) were already busy at the sewing machines, fulfilling order after order for the Personalised Glasses Case. Jo helped cut out the glasses pattern and sewed buttons on to each case. ‘There are so many stages involved in making the cases and it’s so labour intensive, but it was really fun and we had a good laugh.’

Anna visited Noollibird who makes gorgeous stamps (that we’ve been decorating our gifts and cards with in the office) and works from her kitchen table in Brighton. She makes all the stamps herself and mounts them on wooden blocks which are cut for her in the UK (and then stored in her study). Anna packed and dispatched some orders during her visit and was even let loose to assemble a few stamps.

Liana paid a visit to Designer-Maker Sarah J Miller whose slogan ceramics and textiles are much loved… (the ‘I Am Not Awake’ Mug is a Monday morning staple). Founder Sarah works in a shared studio space and Liana was put in charge of the packaging and the printing of dispatch notes and gift notes, which gave Sarah some much-needed time to make some of her ceramics. Liana said of her day, ‘It was really, really fascinating, if not a little exhausting. It’s also really made me appreciate how much hard work our sellers put into getting Christmas orders out.’

Harriet visited Sally Beerworth who runs the Joy of Ex Foundation; set up to assist people with their legal and counselling bills following a divorce. ’This is the shot I took after a hard day’s work. There were so many orders for her Joy Tote Bag, I was like a real elf and lugged post bags on my back to the post office – but I had an amazing day!’

Discovering the unique and original comes second nature to us at notonthehighstreet.com, so this year we are hugely excited to be supporting East London Design Show, an event that itself supports small creative businesses and fresh design. We are delighted to see a selection of our sellers playing a key part in it. The event runs from Friday 3 – Sunday 5 December in the rather beautiful Shoreditch Townhall, and is designed to be a brilliant Christmas shopping fair that caters for all the family. The Crafthouse Cafe, decorated by notonthehighstreet.com, is on hand when you require some well-deserved tea and cake and a sit-down, and you can help create a knitted paper chain while you chill.

notonthehighstreet.com is also hosting two awards this year, for best notonthehighstreet.com seller at the show and for best newcomer.

Find out more about the event here.

We are pleased to offer notonthehighstreet.com customers 2 for 1 tickets. Simply click here for your voucher.