Recycling never looked so good: Luxury-quality materials made from waste

By Laura Houseley, CNN

Updated 1656 GMT (0056 HKT) June 28, 2017

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Earlier this year, Swedish design studio Form Us With Love designed the Kungsbacka kitchen for Ikea using a specially made recycled plastic.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Kungsbacka by IKEA and Form Us With Love – Earlier this year, Swedish design studio Form Us With Love designed the Kungsbacka kitchen for Ikea using a specially made recycled plastic.

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Each panel is made from 25 plastic bottles. The kitchen is part of what Ikea calls its "no waste" line of products made from recycled materials.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Kungsbacka by IKEA and Form Us With Love – Each panel is made from 25 plastic bottles. The kitchen is part of what Ikea calls its "no waste" line of products made from recycled materials.

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Here, Form Us With Love have demonstrated the large-scale possibilities of this new generation of recycled materials, and hints at the many uses still to come.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Kungsbacka by IKEA and Form Us With Love – Here, Form Us With Love have demonstrated the large-scale possibilities of this new generation of recycled materials, and hints at the many uses still to come.

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Turning wood into paper is a familiar process, but for her 2003 graduation project, Dutch designer Mieke Meijer looked at the possibility of turning waste paper back into wood.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

NewspaperWood – Turning wood into paper is a familiar process, but for her 2003 graduation project, Dutch designer Mieke Meijer looked at the possibility of turning waste paper back into wood.

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Since then, Meijer and a group of collaborators have turned that project into a manufacturing reality, cutting and finishing logs of newspaper using the same processes as would be used for solid wood.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

NewspaperWood – Since then, Meijer and a group of collaborators have turned that project into a manufacturing reality, cutting and finishing logs of newspaper using the same processes as would be used for solid wood.

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The resulting material, <a href="http://www.newspaperwood.com/" target="_blank">NewspaperWood</a>, uncannily matches the aesthetics of real wood, down to the grain, and has many similar applications.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

NewspaperWood – The resulting material, NewspaperWood, uncannily matches the aesthetics of real wood, down to the grain, and has many similar applications.

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<a href="http://reallycph.dk/" target="_blank">Really's</a> solid textile board and acoustic textile felt are made from end-of-life cotton and wool sourced from the fashion and textile industries, industrial laundries and households, as well as waste from Kvadrat, one of the world's leading design textile manufacturers and part-owner of Really.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Max Lamb for Really – Really's solid textile board and acoustic textile felt are made from end-of-life cotton and wool sourced from the fashion and textile industries, industrial laundries and households, as well as waste from Kvadrat, one of the world's leading design textile manufacturers and part-owner of Really.

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The board can be used to make furniture and other products or build interior spaces. Really is also working with designers and manufacturers to ensure that, at the end of their second lives, the materials can be collected and re-used.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Max Lamb for Really – The board can be used to make furniture and other products or build interior spaces. Really is also working with designers and manufacturers to ensure that, at the end of their second lives, the materials can be collected and re-used.

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According to Really, 95% of the world's textiles can likely be recycled, yet only 25% are. Their hope is that, through direct collaboration and continued dialogue, they can challenge designers and architects to rethink how they use recycled materials.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Max Lamb for Really – According to Really, 95% of the world's textiles can likely be recycled, yet only 25% are. Their hope is that, through direct collaboration and continued dialogue, they can challenge designers and architects to rethink how they use recycled materials.

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Smile Plastics take waste plastic and employ a little creative alchemy to transform waste plastics from across the UK -- from yogurt pots and plastic bottles to industrial waste -- into a decorative and desirable new material.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Smile Plastics – Smile Plastics take waste plastic and employ a little creative alchemy to transform waste plastics from across the UK -- from yogurt pots and plastic bottles to industrial waste -- into a decorative and desirable new material.

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In 2014, designers Adam Fairweather and Rosalie McMillan took over Smile Plastics, then an established but failing company. They provide their own classic and limited-edition ranges of varying colors and thicknesses, and produce bespoke panels.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Smile Plastics – In 2014, designers Adam Fairweather and Rosalie McMillan took over Smile Plastics, then an established but failing company. They provide their own classic and limited-edition ranges of varying colors and thicknesses, and produce bespoke panels.

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Resembling terrazzo or marble (but infinitely more versatile), Smile Plastics have already been used in high-end retail interiors by Dior, Selfridges and Stella McCartney.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

Smile Plastics – Resembling terrazzo or marble (but infinitely more versatile), Smile Plastics have already been used in high-end retail interiors by Dior, Selfridges and Stella McCartney.

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<a href="https://www.alusid.co.uk/" target="_blank">Alusid's</a> star product, SilicaStone, is made from waste porcelain sourced from bathroom manufacturers, and waste glass sourced from old televisions.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

SilicaStone by Alusid – Alusid's star product, SilicaStone, is made from waste porcelain sourced from bathroom manufacturers, and waste glass sourced from old televisions.

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The company, which spun off from a research project led by David Binns and Alasdair Bremner at the University of Central Lancashire, set out to create a new material that was as reliable and decorative as stone, but with a minimal environmental impact.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

SilicaStone by Alusid – The company, which spun off from a research project led by David Binns and Alasdair Bremner at the University of Central Lancashire, set out to create a new material that was as reliable and decorative as stone, but with a minimal environmental impact.

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All the processes used to produce SilicaStone are sustainable. No resins or chemicals are used in the production process, and waste generated during the making of the stone is used to produce the next batch.

Photos: Recycling gets a designer makeover

SilicaStone by Alusid – All the processes used to produce SilicaStone are sustainable. No resins or chemicals are used in the production process, and waste generated during the making of the stone is used to produce the next batch.

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(CNN)Recycling is a concept as old as trash itself. By now, we're used to seeing useful materials, such as glass and paper, reprocessed into lower-grade versions of themselves, and discarded products upcycled into entirely new designs. (Emeco's 111 Navy chair, made from 111 used Coca-Cola bottles, is a good example.)

But today we're witnessing the emergence of a new recycling trend, driven by the design industry. These versatile materials, substitutes for conventional woods, plastics and stone, come in sheet or tile form, ready to be cut, shaped and manipulated by architects and fellow designers.

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Perhaps because they're being developed by the very designers who are meant to use them, rather than by the manufacturing industry, they're decidedly decorative and attractive as well as strong, economical and easy to use. They bear all the attributes of the materials they might substitute and in some cases, more.

Read: How hospital design can transform the way you're cared for

One of companies at the forefront is Really, a Danish company that transforms transform used textiles into a sheet material similar to plywood. This past April, the brand revealed its debut collection, a series of benches by designer Max Lamb, at the Salone del Mobile design fair in Milan. Really's warm reception and critical success proved not only the creative potential of these new materials, but also that there is a healthy appetite for them in the design community.

Look through the gallery above to discover innovative new materials changing design.