As the poster boy for upcycling, this designer hopes to inspire others to get a little more creative with their waste

The kindness catch up with

Image: glampingbusiness.com

You may recognise Max McMurdo from his appearance on Dragon’s Den over a decade ago, or more recently on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces. But convincing the dragons to invest in his business, Reestore, is only a small part of his story. Living and breathing design, Max now lives on a houseboat that he created from scratch using upcycled materials and spends his time educating others to adopt a more resourceful attitude.

I graduated in 2000 with a degree in product design. I worked as a car designer in Germany for a couple of years after graduating, but I realised I wanted to do something more environmentally-friendly and where I personally design, develop, make and sell something. That’s the ultimate goal – to actually see your product in someone’s room. I quit car design after two years, much to my parent’s dismay, as I found it really frustrating. There were around 4,000 people who collectively designed the new Mini – you can’t ever truly be creative and own that design in that environment. So, I moved back to the UK, bought myself a camper van, filled it with junk – old baths, shopping trollies – and then spent a year just making things out of them while living on my parent’s driveway in the campervan. It just evolved from there. Upcycling wasn’t really a phrase back then and really I was just an artist, making provocative pieces.