"Chip jewelry" is a slang term for computers destined for the trash heap (some of which actually end up fashioned into earrings, necklaces, cuff links, etc.). Motherboard Enterprises of Chicago has taken the idea of turning computers into useful objects d'art to heart and built an impressive catalog of desk accessories, furnishings and personal accessories made out of computer circuit boards and other high-tech recyclables.

For the desk, they offer an in/out tray (US$40), a note pad holder with pad of recycled note paper ($16), a desk/wall clock ($32) fashioned from a circuit board and a compact disc and a PC Organizer ($26), which is basically a DayRunner-like organizer with circuit board covers. For the adventuresome road warrior, Motherboard has a line of briefcases that have motherboards imbedded into their sides ($200-$250).

Motherboard's PC Organizers

Motherboard is the brainchild of Suzanne Bevan, an artist who had previously been using circuit boards in her fine artwork. Her partner Chuck Weaver explains the lure of the motherboard: "Circuit boards are the perfect material. They are colorful, intricate and extremely durable. Our supply is changing all of the time, making the designs unique and one-of-a-kind." Motherboard's recycled products also keep tons of circuit boards out of land fills each year.

Motherboard's wall and desk clocks

Taking a more industrial approach, Portland, Oregon's Resource Revival makes similar home, office and personal items from junked bicycle parts. They collect over 30,000 pounds of parts and other used materials each year to incorporate into their products.

Resource Revival's CD Rack

It's truly amazing to see what a creative eye and hand can do with what looks to everyone else like garbage. Resource Revival has a line of picture frames made from tire rims, bicycle chains and sprockets ($5-$100), furnishings such as coffee tables, magazine racks and stools ($50-$725) and accessories such as bottle openers, bookends and jewelry ($4-$28).

The Pendulum Desk Clock

Some of my favorite pieces include the pendulum desk clock ($74), made from a bicycle wheel frame, chain and sprockets, a CD/CD-ROM rack ($88) that can hold up to 40 discs and a desktop business card holder ($24) made from a chunk of bike rim and chain. If you want to get a really cool but inexpensive present for a pierced-eared pal, the valve-core earrings ($10) are trash chic.

Fossil Faux's "bits" line of furniture pulls

San Francisco artist/designer Marcia Stuermer produces a line of furniture and furniture accessories under the name of Fossil Faux. Trained as a sculptor, Stuermer fashions her furniture out of polyester resin and carved laminated wood with computer and other electronic parts imbedded in them like retro-futuristic fossils. The look is Fintstones meets Silicon Valley. Some of Fossil Faux's more expensive creations include a line of coffee tables, beds, end tables and folding screens under the name of Relica. The circuit boards used in the pieces are backlit with fluorescents to give them a diffused high-tech glow. These beauties don't come cheap, with prices ranging from $700-$2250. To make her work available to more people, Stuermer also has a line of modular tables (18" x 18" x 15") for $475. For those who want to make their own furniture or add high-tech touches to existing furniture, there are "bits," a line of drawer and cabinet pulls in six styles and eight different colors. The pieces, which are lovely little works of art, sell for $12-14 each and even come in cool jewelry-boxed packaging.

The Relica Coffee Table
We want to outfit the Street Tech Labs' front office with
Relica furniture after we sell out to some global megacorp.

Trust me, you'll be the talk of the cube farm or the neighborhood with any of these gorgeous and eco-friendly items in your space. Not a soul has passed through our house in the last few weeks without ogling the samples I got from these three groups of innovative craftspeople. Many visitors have left with URLs in hand. I should have the artists all send me brochures and start getting a commission on sales.