Design highlights from 100% Design in London

Why It's Good:

If you feel there is something wrong with beige carpeting, white walls and brown leather armchairs, change up. Spark your spirits with some cheeky flair, courtesy of our cutting-edge design friends from across the great pond.

Why It's Green:

A used bathtub gets repurposed into a funky, scene-stealing sofa (consider pillows), old envelopes are converted into wallpaper, and beach debris becomes reincarnated into one of the most dramatic, artful chandeliers you're likely to ever see.

Where To Get It:

For the Max Reestore bathtub sofa, contact via their website for specific delivery costs. Selected Catherine Hammerton products available from ABC Homes and Carpets, New York; call 212-473-3000 to inquire. View TrashLuxe items for sale on their website; prices for chandeliers on www.stuarthaygarth.com available on request.

What's Next in Eco Deco?

British design has always embraced wit and iconoclasts: Note the curvaceous good looks of the MINICooper and the era-defining style of the iPod and iPhone (designed by Jonathan Ive). So it's perhaps unsurprising that Brits are behind many of today's most ingenious designs—as evidenced by London Design Week this past month, where a whole new generation combining green innovation with good-looking design came out of the woodwork.

Eco-cheeky Reestore were feted for their contemporary furniture and lighting constructed from domestic and industrial waste. Their quirky-retro statement sofa Max (top picture; $1,800) is made from a recycled cast-iron bath and, they say, inspired by "Breakfast at Tiffany's and a love for loafing."

London-based Catherine Hammerton's exquisite decorations prove that recycled needn't be the antithesis of refined. Top-selling designs include her custom Collection wallpapers (her Ready to Wear wallpaper launches later this year), which are made from the insides of old envelopes, her diaphanous wall hanging and Cherry Blossom pots constructed from old ketchup bottles.

But perhaps the greatest indication of the significance of green in UK design was the decision of iconic London department store Liberty to create Trash Luxe, a home-design line of "Luxury reinvented by designers who find beauty in unexpected and unwanted materials." Our favorites: Stuart Haygarth's striking Tide Chandelier (bottom picture), assembled from plastic debris that washed up on a stretch of English coastline. It's currently sold out, but Stuart's making more: After all, it's not like there's a shortage of raw materials.—Sally Howard