During the Second World War, handy booklets like
Make Do and Mend and
101 Things to do in Wartime gave people handy tips about frugal living.
Full of practical ingenuity, the little guides shared creative ideas on how to make the most of what you had. Got some scraps of metal and wood? The book shows you how to use them up. Bored children? Here's how to make homemade toys.
These little reference guides have been cute collectables for years, and have inspired designers like
Non-Format, who made the bag pictured for the Re-Bag
exhibition at
SEA Gallery in London.
The
BBC still has a TV show devoted to the idea and of course, we have that modern phrase
reduce, reuse, recycle which means the same thing.
But beyond just using and buying less stuff, tough times mean using our brain juice to come up with amazingly clever designs to use our resources wisely. Because besides current economic constraints, we'll soon be out of all the petrochemicals and metals that make up everything we use.
There's no better time to invest in smart design and smart designers.
Nothing to do with the above, just some lovely wartime peeps hanging out looking glam.
Composite image from
Paris Parfait