The Festival of Thrift has a simple message – look after the world. Now recycled for its fifth year, the event is increasingly popular and draws huge crowds who leave inspired to be more eco-friendly in future

We are all looking for ways to make our homes more planet friendly and the Festival of Thrift is packed with tempting ways to spruce up interiors in eco-friendly style. Upcycling and recycling are common currency these days and this year’s event provides lots of inspiration on how to be green and on-trend in your home at the same time.

The hugely popular, award-winning festival is returning to Kirkleatham, in Redcar, for the fifth national celebration of stylish and sustainable living at the end of the month. More than 35,000 people flocked to last year’s event and this year’s promises another hands-on weekend crammed with creativity, making and fixing; discovering ways to save money, be environmentally savvy and live a rich and fulfilling life.

Here is a little flavour of some of the inspiring interiors’ innovations that will be on show...

Green living does not mean forgoing cutting-edge design. Light Up North’s funky neon creations have been showcased in Milan, Sydney and at Fortnum & Mason and have pride of place in stylish homes across the globe. The Saltburn-based business creates one-off designs using electroluminescent neon wire that uses very little power. Commissions have included personal messages re-created as wall hangings using extracts of handwriting and the business has launched a limited edition graphic design range that will be on display in The Stables at this year’s Festival of Thrift.

Yarm-based Corky Bee works with bits of lovely old fabric to create one-off textile treats using freehand embroidery. Her designs are incorporated into lampshades, cushions, banners and jewellery and are inspired by the nature and industry surviving side by side in the North-East. This year Carol Haughton, aka Corky Bee, moves from regular stallholder to commissioned artist as part of the Latest Edition exhibition hosted in the Festival pavilion.

Finding a creative new use for bicycle parts and found items to achieve 'repurposed paraphernalia' is Steerdeer’s stated mission and a range of quirky hunting-style trophies featuring old saddles, handlebars, brake levers and bells is the result. These, plus a variety of coat hooks and various fridge magnets created from reclaimed timber and found objects, are enough to add unusual finishing touches to any home using materials that could otherwise have ended up in a landfill site.

North Yorkshire-based Plewsy produces irresistible eco-friendly, cute greetings cards, gift wrap, stationery and homewares. Passionate about all ideas being illustrated in Yorkshire and always made in Britain, Plewsy’s products aim to sustain it as a proud local business that sources locally too. A mug celebrating tea from Yorkshire anyone?

Pulp Art from Middlesbrough creates a range of original accessories including thrifty storage bags and baskets handcrafted from 100 per cent newspaper. Recycling does not get as eco-friendly as this and these 'natural born fillers' are more than an object of curiosity; they fit the bill perfectly for shopping and their eye-catching design creates a focal point for any room.

Working with what's new and exciting in the world of flowers and design, following the trends and having a great passion for re-inventing things from odds and ends is what drives floristry business Branching Out. As well as beautiful and unusual floral designs, the North Yorkshire business produces hand-made, one-of-a kind decorative pieces using vintage maps and books as well as papercraft bowls, hand-made paper rose wreaths and paper wall flowers.

Passionate upcycler, TV presenter Max McMurdo, is a keen supporter of the Festival of Thrift: “The event is all about showing how to have a gorgeous life on a budget and what better way to achieve this than through upcycling?” he says. “However you upcycle, whether it's through skip diving or charity shop scavenging, you are saving items from going landfill while creating something truly unique, on a budget and learning new skills - now that's thrifty.

“This year reestore will be at the event showing you how to make copper planters to create that ever fashionable urban jungle look in your home with just a bit of pipe and a piece of string.”

The National Festival of Thrift

Kirkleatham Museum and Grounds, Redcar, September 23-24

To find out more about the Festival of Thrift visit www.festivalofthrift.co.uk

• The Festival was born in Darlington in 2012 and is growing up across the Tees Valley region, with a move to Kirkleatham in 2016.

• The event was named Best Event Teesside for the second time in the Journal Culture Awards 2017.

• There are sustainable transport options available to help festival goers get to the site.

W: festivalofthrift.co.uk; Twitter: @ThriftFest; F: @festivalofthrift