Otra-Vida

A homeware brand for change

I set out to find a better way to use our single-use plastic waste, being passionate about the environment and trying to live a realistic eco-friendly life. Having always had an interest in interiors and homeware I set out to find a way in which we can make these with sustainable and recycled materials, marrying two passions and Otra-Vida was born. I started working on the concept in 2019 but we weren’t able to properly launch until 2020 due to the pandemic. Otra-Vida translates to ‘another life’ which we believe we are giving to plastic waste. Having started with a simple food platter it has grown into dining tables, coffee tables, bar stools, benches, and coasters amongst many other things with more ideas in the pipeline.

Having never been one for disposable homeware items I believe items should be cherished so creating something beautiful was top of our priorities, making sure consciousness didn’t compromise design. Each of our pieces tells a story being made from varying types of recycled waste but just as an example our coffee table is made from over 1000 standard plastic bottles. All of our pieces are inspired by minimal and modern design with stripped-back raw materials meeting playful colour and leaving the nature of the recycled materials to do the talking. All of our pieces have been designed to create minimum waste, to be easily disassembled, and no unnecessary parts or adhesives. This all enables our products to be easily recycled making sure we are not just delaying them ending up in landfill but to be used and cherished for the rest of its life. We aim to make all of our products flat pack, all of our packaging is recyclable and we use carbon neutral delivery all trying to reduce our impact on the planet. We are huge believers in many people living consciously imperfectly rather than a few living consciously perfectly so any small impact and changes we can make can make a huge difference, diverting waste from our eco-system into something useful and interesting for our homes.

At Otra-Vida we are very passionate about what we do and enjoy the daily challenge of bringing designs to life whilst making sure the environment isn’t a victim and always looking for new innovations and ways in which we can improve. We are still learning and creating ways in which waste can be used and we are aiming to be involved in any way we can, hoping our pieces can inspire and start the conversation about living more responsibly. I really enjoy the thought of a dining table we have made being in someone’s home, being surrounded by family meals, coffee with friends, and general life all made from something destined for landfill. When we receive kind comments from satisfied customers and just general encouraging and supportive messages about what we are trying to do always gives me that extra push of motivation. Having done many uncreative jobs to finally make one that gives me a creative outlet, taking something from a design in your head to production and then to a finished product brings me immense satisfaction.