23 Upcycling Designer Projects in Berlin: Rare Berlin, Reuse Superstore and Pop Upcycling
Berlin’s upcycling design scene is growing through three interconnected community spaces: Rare Berlin, Reuse Superstore Bikini Berlin and Pop Upcycling Schönhauser Arcaden. Together, they form one of the city’s most vivid ecosystems for circular fashion, reclaimed materials, independent design and creative sustainability.
These spaces are not only stores. They are living laboratories for reuse, repair, transformation and community. Across fashion, accessories, furniture, textile art and objects, designers work with discarded materials and give them new value, new beauty and new stories.
Rare Berlin: Independent Upcycling Fashion in Friedrichshain
Rare Berlin is a collective store created by Berlin based designers who believe that collaboration and sustainability go hand in hand. The Rare team brings together Tata Christiane, Fade Out Label, tHERAPY Recycle and Exorcise, Everyday Pieces, K∆IGERH∆RDT and Chain Cult.
Rare is a home for independent fashion, but also a platform for exhibitions, events and artistic exchange. It presents upcycling as a living culture, where collaboration becomes a form of resistance to fast fashion and overproduction.
Website: https://www.rare-berlin.com/
Reuse Superstore Bikini Berlin: Circular Design in Action
Reuse Superstore Bikini Berlin is part of the Berlin Senate supported REUSE SUPERSTORE project. With its 187 square meter space, it brings together upcycled fashion, accessories, furniture and objects made from rescued and repurposed materials.
It is a public window into circular design, showing how discarded textiles, banners, workwear, leather, furniture fragments and forgotten materials can become desirable, functional and poetic again.
Website: https://re-use-superstore.de/
Pop Upcycling Schönhauser Arcaden: A Rotating Showcase for Upcycled Design
Pop Upcycling Schönhauser Arcaden extends this ecosystem into a dynamic retail and exhibition space. It gives visibility to emerging and established designers while connecting circular fashion directly with the public.
The space works as a rotating showcase for upcycled design, artistic experimentation and community driven sustainability.
23 Upcycling Designer Projects in Berlin
1. Tata Christiane
Website: tatachristiane.com
Instagram: @tatachristiane
Founded in Berlin in 2007 by French designer Julie Bourgeois Kelly, Tata Christiane transforms upcycled and deadstock textiles into expressive one of a kind garments. Handmade in the Berlin Lichtenberg atelier, the label creates emotional pieces full of color, texture, imagination and poetic reconstruction.
Tata Christiane is a Marseille-born label based in Berlin, creating singular pieces from upcycled materials and dormant fabrics.
Born between the light of the South and the raw energy of Berlin, the brand weaves a sartorial language at the crossroads of deconstructed couture and streetwear.
Each garment is conceived as a fragment of story, a recomposed memory, a gentle form of resistance against the ephemeral. Tata Christiane celebrates individuality, poetic eccentricity, and the pleasure of play, while affirming emotional clothing as a slow, durable, and deeply human practice.
Since 2007, Tata Christiane has invited those who wear its pieces to inhabit their clothes as one inhabits a narrative: with freedom, imagination, and joyful insubordination.
2. Fade Out Label
Website: fadeoutlabel.com
Instagram: @fadeoutlabel
Founded by Andrea Bonfini in Berlin, Fade Out Label creates unisex, zero waste garments with oversized silhouettes. The label works mainly with deconstructed vintage denim and upcycled natural fabrics, turning reclaimed materials into powerful handcrafted one offs.
“YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR” is the motto!
FADE OUT Label was born in Berlin in early 2015 by Andrea Bonfini owner and art-director of the brand. Unisex, Zero Waste and Unique garments with an oversized fit made of deconstructed vintage denim and upcycled natural fabrics are what FADE OUT Label collections are made of.
FADE OUT Label realizes all the development and production of garments in its Berlin atelier with an innovative style and tailored with handicraft quality which due to the use of upcycled material become hand-crafted one-offs, repeatable but always different.
3. tHERAPY Recycle and Exorcise
Website: therapy-berlin.com
Instagram: @therapy_berlin
Founded by sisters Mariángeles and Paula Aguirre, tHERAPY is a gender and size inclusive fashion project based between Berlin and Córdoba, Argentina. Their work challenges fast fashion through DIY ethics, second hand materials and a celebration of alternative beauty.
tHERAPY Recycle & Exorcise was founded in Berlin in 2012 by Angie, Aguirre then joined by her sisters Poli and Andrea in Argentina.
tHERAPY is a gender and size inclusive upcycling fashion brand creating clothing and accessories from rescued materials.
tHERAPY challenges fast fashion through resourcefulness, DIY ethics and a collaboration mindset. As female emigrants, giving visibility to alternative beauties, diverse identities and underrepresented voices is at the core of their ethos.
With ateliers in Berlin and Córdoba, Argentina, they create locally one-of-a-kind garments from fashion post- and pre-consumer waste, blending upcycling with a punk, post-apocalyptic aesthetic.
They also offer workshops, talks and organise events around circular fashion. Angie also creates textile art and installations under the name [FabricActions] @fabric_actions
4. Everyday Pieces
Website: everyday-pieces.com
Instagram: @everydaypieces
Created by Elise Rolot, Everyday Pieces transforms duvet covers, curtains and second hand textiles into soft, intimate garments and accessories. The label works with small series and unique pieces, often genderless, always rooted in everyday poetry.
Elise founded EVERYDAY PIECES in Berlin in 2015 with the wish to bring the magic of upcycling into your daily life!
In her collections, forgotten fabrics are offered a new life—curtains become jackets, duvet covers turn into dresses—transforming the ordinary into statement pieces designed for your everyday wardrobe.
Rather than chasing trends, Elise creates garments that are made to last, timeless staples that celebrate creativity and sustainability.
She also takes custom orders and offers sewing workshops, so if you want to turn your grandma’s curtains into your new favourite piece or need help with a sewing project, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
5. K∆IGERH∆RDT
Website: kaigerhardt.com
Instagram: @kaigerhardt_official
Kai Gerhardt creates monochrome garments that resist categorization. His work combines tailoring, free draping and experimental reclaimed textiles, proposing fashion as a space for human complexity, contradiction and freedom.
LTFƎII – LET THE FUTURE BE HUMAN – LTFƎII
Founded by Berlin-based designer Kai Gerhardt, K∆IGERH∆RDT is a fashion label that resists categorization, embracing a monochrome palette and a commitment to human complexity.
His work merges classic tailoring with free draping, often using reclaimed textiles from the event industry and discarded garments found on the streets of Berlin.
With a focus on material and its transformation, he brings new shapes to his designs as well as to his textile art.
6. Daniel Kroh Studio and Ministry of Upcycling
Daniel Kroh Studio: shop.daniel-kroh.com
Ministry of Upcycling: ministryofupcycling.com
Instagram: @danielkrohstudio, @ministryofupcycling_
Daniel Kroh transforms discarded workwear into handcrafted jackets, coats, bags and interior objects. Paint splatters, scuffs and marks of labor are preserved as design details. Together with Ministry of Upcycling, the project also connects circular design, education, industry and public institutions.
DANIEL KROH, a trained men’s tailor and fashion designer, has been developing new fashion from recycled workwear since 2006.
DANIEL KROH is a fixture in the international fashion industry among fashion designers who focus on ecologically sound production cycles and circular economies. In addition to custom-made pieces and his own ready-to-wear collections, KROH works for theaters and exhibits his recycled objects in select galleries and art venues.
Discarded workwear from road construction, track workers, painters, protective clothing, gardening and landscapers, as well as corporate uniforms and deadstock from the textile industry are among the raw materials that are processed, redesigned, and finished locally in Berlin.
5 tons of used textiles are now rescued and transformed into new products every year.
100% of production takes place in Berlin.
7. Jovius Vintage
Website: joviusvintage.com
Instagram: @jovius.vintage
Jovius Vintage is a women run Berlin label focused on crochet, knitting and vintage inspired clothing. The brand produces locally in small quantities, with a strong attachment to textile craft traditions and handmade quality.
Jovius Vintage is a Berlin-based label specializing in upcycled fashion, transforming vintage textiles into handcrafted, one-of-a-kind garments and accessories.
With a focus on natural and quality materials, each piece is designed to offer a unique and sustainable alternative to fast fashion. Their creations embody a commitment to craftsmanship and environmental consciousness.
joviusvintage.com
8. Lu La Loop
Website: lu-la-loop.com
Instagram: @lulalooplucy
Founded in London and now based in Berlin, Lu La Loop creates freaky fun fashion, drag costumes and punk trash kawaii pieces. Through its upcycling line THRASH TRASH, archive materials and scraps become bold garments full of power, humor and club energy.
Founded in London in 2012 and now based in Berlin, Lu La Loop is a fashion and costume brand that embodies all that is Club Kid-Punk-Pop- Kawaii, Gothy Glam-Rocking freaky.
Made for all the wonderfully weird creatures out there, Lu creates unique and limited pieces by hand in her Berlin studio.
The Upcycling and Reworked side of the label is called THRASH TRASH By LU LA LOOP and it incorporates all the same energy while using archive, collected, donated + existing materials and garments.
Taking scraps and left overs from custom Drag looks + Projects.
LU LA LOOP Has created custom pieces and looks for many artists. Clients include- Aja Ireland, Bambi Mercury, Baby Lame, Crystal O, Kelly Heelton , Peaches, Yvie Oddly and more.
You can also request your custom creation.
9. BEAUTY OAK
Website: beautyoak.de
Instagram: @beautyoak_upcyclingfashion
Founded by Jana Pfarr, BEAUTY OAK creates handmade upcycling fashion and accessories from discarded textiles. The label stands for femininity as a force, offering clothing that liberates rather than shapes the body.
What began in her childhood with a toy sewing machine has grown into a studio and showroom in Berlin-Friedrichshagen since 2021 – and a clear attitude to fashion.
From discarded duvet covers, curtains and blankets handmade unique pieces and small series are created here. Inspired by the material itself.
Made for women who don’t let themselves be shaped.
Femininity is not an ideal. It is a force.
BEAUTY OAK is more than a fashion label. It’s a response to fast fashion, body norms, and the pressure to always be different.
Jana designs clothes that work with you, not against you. For women who refuse to be forced into a mold.
For individuals who feel that beauty has nothing to do with perfection, but with authenticity.
Discarded textiles become striking favourite pieces, Consciously manufactured, radically sustainable.
In the studio, garments and accessories are created, individual productions and repairs.
Clothing that doesn’t shape. It liberates.
10. Couture Reloaded
Website: couturereloaded.com
Instagram: @Couture.Reloaded
Couture Reloaded transforms discarded garments, donations and textile remnants into high quality couture pieces. The label combines conscious luxury with social engagement, donating part of its revenue to nonprofit organizations.
COUTURE RELOADED upcycling – founded in 2022 by designer Ulrike Bollmann represents a thoughtful approach to modern luxury. With a deep respect for craftsmanship and history, the brand transforms authentic, iconic designer pieces into bold, one-of-a-kind creations with a renewed perspective. Each design balances sustainability with statement energy — honoring fashion’s past while gently shaping its future.
Her concept extends beyond designer archives. Ulrike reimagines forgotten treasures — vintage blankets, heirloom pillows, antique curtains, delicate nightwear, and unexpected materials of every kind — transforming them into wearable art. Down to the smallest detail, everything is upcycled: every zipper, every button, even the thread carries a second life and a story to tell.
Reworked. Reimagined. Reloaded.
11. Solarpunk NOW
Website: solarpunknow.world
Instagram: @solarpunknow_world
Founded by Agnes Fridrich, Solarpunk NOW works across sustainable paper, textile art and wearable denim pieces. The label transforms pre loved jackets and innovative materials into art objects, blending ecology with imagination.
We are a movement and a social impact startup with roots in Berlin. Solarpunk NOW combines permaculture, art, education, and social innovation to actively shape a future worth living.
Our mission? Don’t just think about change … live it! We have developed tools that are infinitely reusable, making learning sustainable and collaborative … whether in everyday life, at school, or in your own projects. Our vibe is permaculture. For us, it’s the blueprint for creating systems that function like a forest: being useful, long-lasting, and giving more back to the world than they take.
In-store, you’ll also find a selection of our products:
@infinity_stonepaper The paper made from stone.
It is crafted from limestone by-products and is completely tree-free. Since no water is used during production, it radically conserves our natural resources. The paper is waterproof, extremely durable, and feels silky smooth.
* Notes & Cards: Probably the world’s smallest whiteboards. You can simply wipe away your thoughts with a damp cloth, making the paper endlessly reusable and replacing countless single-use scraps.
* Exclusive in-store: The hand-painted Art Portfolio by Agnes Friedrich. Filled with Stonepaper sheets in DIN A3 and DIN A4. Each portfolio is a handcrafted one-of-a-kind piece and your mobile headquarters for sketches and big visions.
ARTtoWEAR by @agnesfriedrich
In her Berlin atelier, Agnes Friedrich gives jackets a second life. Through upcycling, she refines the pieces with her art, turning them into wearable unique items. Handcrafted in Berlin, showing how creative energy can transform existing items into something completely new and one-of-a-kind.
12. Lena Voutta
Website: lenavoutta.com
Instagram: @lenavoutta
Lena Voutta is a Berlin based fashion designer and textile artist transforming pre loved garments into sculptural one of a kind pieces. Through embroidery, knotting, appliqué and her signature long colorful fringes, she gives forgotten knits and blazers a new life between fashion and textile art. With Thoas Lindner, she also co founded The Other Gods, an upcycled textile art project creating large scale installations and immersive woven works.
Lena Voutta is a Berlin-based fashion designer and textile artist merging contemporary design with traditional craftsmanship and sustainable materials.
Through LENA VOUTTA, she transforms pre-loved garments into sculptural, handcrafted statement pieces. Vintage knitted garments, worn blazers are carefully upcycled using embroidery, knotting, and appliqué work.
Her signature: long, colorful fringes — a playful, vegan reinterpretation of fur.
Each piece is one of a kind. A fusion of fashion
and textile art. A new life for forgotten garments.
No mass production.
No two pieces alike.
Only one-of-a-kind textile artworks
In addition to her fashion work, she co-founded the ongoing art project The Other Gods with artist and Fashion designer Thoas Lindner. Together, they create large-scale textile installations and woven wall pieces that dissolve the boundaries between fine art and craft using upcycled materials. These immersive works claim space rather than simply decorate it—some even forming walk-in, textile-based environments.
13. The Tribe Berlin
Website: thetribe.berlin
Instagram: @thetribeberlin
Founded by Thoas Lindner, The Tribe Berlin is a conscious street fashion project centered on connection, diversity and transformation. The label creates organic cotton pieces, hand printed in Berlin, with messages of care and collective strength.
The Tribe Berlin is the brainchild of @thoaslindner .
Thoas is an active part in the Berlin Fashion Scene since 1999. He started The Tribe in 2016.
„Make Love Great Again“, „More Stars – Less Wars“, „Liebe Sich Wer Kann“- a pharmacy of words.
The Tribe has found their lovers and ambassadors beyond the Berlin City limits. Yogis, DJs, blogger, coaches, artists – The Tribe reaches open hearts of all colours and is more than just a spreadmessage brand with colourful sweaters and T-shirts. Organically grown, „Made in Berlin“ and sustainably positioned, The Tribe sees itself as a child of the new time and a counterpoint to a society that catapults itself increasingly into isolation and dissatisfaction through pressure to perform, selfishness and elites. Delete Elite.
With UP, The Tribe has installed a sublabel that focuses on upcycled fashion pieces, especially the iconic bomber jackets have made their way into some famous wardrobes.
14. PonchoProject
Website: ponchoprojectnyc.com
Instagram: @ponchoproject
PonchoProject creates playful outerwear from rescued and repurposed textiles. Originally produced in Brooklyn and now made in Berlin, the label focuses on small batches, longevity and elegant low impact design.
PONCHOPROJECT is a playful outerwear line inspired by the desire for simple, elegantly designed pieces created with minimal impact to our fragile planet.
Originally founded in Brooklyn by Nadja Frank and Caryne Hayes , PonchoProject recently set foot in Berlin.
Each piece is hand made with rescued or repurposed textiles , often upholstery fabrics or discarded art pieces. We love fashion that favors quality and longevity over quantity and ephemeral trends and hope our projects inspire conversations and collaborations around conscious consumption, traceable materials and textile waste.
15. CHAIN CULT
Website: https://chaincult.bigcartel.com/
Instagram: @chain.cult
@chain.cult stands for handmade jewellery combining chainmail techniques with heavy-duty materials. Thoughtfully designed to be durable, cruelty-free and reduce waste.
creates handmade chainmail jewelry and accessories made to last, combining metal craft, durability and slow fashion attitude. Available at Rare Berlin, the project brings a sharper, protective energy to the collective through stainless steel pieces, chain designs and wearable objects that sit between jewelry, armor and contemporary adornment.
16. PACOV Project
Website: pacov.de
Instagram: @pacov_project
Led by Daniel Juhart, PACOV Project rescues leather from discarded sofas and industrial leftovers. Each bag and accessory is handmade in Berlin, combining raw urban aesthetics with minimalist, durable design.
“From night to night, we sneak out of our secret hiding places like hungry nocturnal creatures, searching for something edible among the desolate trash on the streets of Berlin. On our hunt for abandoned precious leather sofas which won’t make it to a new home, we save the valuable leather material from decay.”
PACOV by Daniel Juhart is specialized in reusing leather from discarded sofas found on the streets of Berlin. Each piece of leather tells its own story and is given a new, exciting function through their processing.
Their gender-neutral bags, crafted from recycled leather, embody timeless shapes and reflect the spirit of time, making them not only unique but also a statement for eco-minded consumption.
Each model is handmade in Berlin, combining superior craftsmanship, authentic functional design with raw urban aesthetics.
17. HUMDRUM Studio
Website: humdrum-studio.com
Instagram: @humdrum_studio
HUMDRUM Studio, founded by Theresa Kittendorf, creates jewelry from vintage pearls and gems found mainly at flea markets. The studio proves that elegance can emerge from reuse, redesign and careful material selection.
Founded by Theresa Kittendorf, HUMDRUM Studio is a Berlin-based creative concept label that celebrates a sustainable lifestyle without compromising on quality, aesthetics, or design.
The label specializes in upcycled jewelry, made of handpicked vintage pearls, stones & silver.
The designs follow the materials available. With a passion for collecting beautiful vintage & 2nd hand items and a commitment to reusing, redesigning, and recycling, HUMDRUM Studio offers unique pieces that tell a story and promote a more sustainable way of living.
18. Bolsos Berlin
Website: bolsosberlin.de
Instagram: @bolsosberlin
Bolsos Berlin creates bags, backpacks and accessories from advertising banners, sails, event textiles and exhibition materials. Production takes place in the Kreuzberg workshop, where circular design meets practical everyday use.
Founded by Britta Eppinger, Bolsos Berlin turns old advertising banners, sails, and tarps into bold, vegan bags and accessories.
After training as a stonemason in Dresden and spending time in Barcelona (working on the Sagrada Familia!), Britta launched her project in 2009 in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Each piece is vegan, crafted with love in Kreuzberg and built to last—with a story in every seam.
You can also find @bolsosberlin at their own store & workshop open to public in Friedrichstraße 23 A, 10969, Berlin-Kreuzberg
19. WALLAWALLA Berlin
Website: wallawallaberlin.com
Instagram: @wallawallaberlin
Founded by Friederike Wehpke, WALLAWALLA creates handmade bags from upcycled clothing. The label began with a bag made from the designer’s grandfather’s leather jacket, keeping memory, material and emotional value alive.
Wallawalla transforms second-hand garments and rescued textiles into deeply personal, handcrafted bags.
Driven by a love for memory, storytelling, and individuality, this one-woman label reimagines old clothes into unique everyday companions—each made with care and attention to detail. With a focus on emotional value and conscious production, wallawalla offers both ready-made pieces and custom commissions from your own garments. A poetic, long-lasting alternative to mass production.
20. Paola Kubes
Website: paolakubes.de
Instagram: @paola_kubes
Based in Berlin Lichtenberg, Paola Kubes is a visual designer and artist who transforms discarded interior textiles, upholstery remnants and lighting materials into bold geometric installations and fashion art objects. Her work blends vibrant colors inspired by South American roots with urban architectural textures.
Paola Kubes work as a designer is deeply inspired by the materials she discovers through recycling. From textiles to metal, she believes every leftover or discarded element has the potential to be transformed into something new.
Her creations are characterized by the use of vibrant colors and the interplay between geometric shapes and organic forms. Her practice spans across different fields, ranging from illustration to interior design.
Find her furniture, home decor elements, bags and soon also accessories in store.
21. NOWBAG
Instagram: @nowbagstudio
NOWBAG produces handmade bags from leftover truck tarp pieces and used car seat belts. Each piece is created slowly in Wroclaw or Berlin, combining durability, weather resistance and urban circular design.
22. Möbelhauerei by Nicole Masseit
Website: moebelhauerei.de
Instagram: @moebelhauerei
Möbelhauerei creates sculptural objects and characterful furniture from materials with lived history, including Venetian lagoon wood, fragments from Berlin Palace foundations, historic sports floors, musical instruments and reclaimed furniture components. Each piece is handcrafted in Berlin and designed to age beautifully.
Nicole Masseit designs furniture and objects between sculptural expression and function. Working under the label MÖBELHAUEREI since 2012, she creates pieces that connect material history with contemporary design in a precise, playful, and quietly confident way.
Her work is shaped by materials that carry lived history: historic sports floors, Venetian lagoon wood, architectural fragments, old furniture parts and carefully collected offcuts. In her practice, fragments are never leftovers. Each piece is treated as a valuable resource — holding the energy of many hands, many lives, many earlier paths.
Rather than hiding these origins, the material subtly informs the final form. What emerges are objects that often feel almost figural: small beings or quiet architectural miniatures — clear, tactile, and full of presence. They carry stories not as nostalgia, but as something that continues to live on.
MÖBELHAUEREI stands for a considered approach to reuse, where material is not a concept, but an active part of the design process. The result is furniture that feels grounded and refined at once — transforming what already exists into something distinctly new, with a sense of character, humour, and calm resilience.
23. Boesesundblaues
Website: boesesundblaues.de
Website: exponuevo.de
Instagram: @derblaueZeichner
Boesesundblaues, by Friedhelm Maria Leistner, creates quirky animal paintings in antique gold frames, hand painted clothing and small sculptures made from found materials. The work carries humor, memory and visible traces of history.
Under the label Böses und Blaues, filmmaker, designer, and artist Friedhelm Maria Leistner presents internationally acclaimed humorous drawings and paintings.
Creating something new out of something old has always been a core concept of his professional and artistic practice. He works exclusively with antique gold frames, often uses old fabrics as painting surfaces, and transforms objects into small, lovable monsters with the help of toy eyes.
Here, for the first time, he paints and prints clothing with his humorous motifs and turns old glass into unique pieces through engraved illustrations.
Conclusion: Berlin Upcycling as a Living Circular Culture
Rare Berlin, Reuse Superstore Bikini Berlin and Pop Upcycling Schönhauser Arcaden show that sustainable design can be generous, emotional and full of imagination. Together, these spaces create a living map of Berlin’s upcycling culture, where discarded materials become garments, objects, artworks and stories.
This is not only circular economy in theory. It is circular economy in action, made by hands, communities and independent designers who believe that the future of fashion and design already exists in what we choose not to throw away.
