Curious about why there is a wooden paddle stuck onto the wall of a building just inside the mouth of an alley, I wander over to take a closer look - the sign reads "The Green Lab". My curiosity nudges me to investigate, and when I round the corner of the building, I find myself looking into a warmly lit workshop that displays an array of weathered material. As I walk through the door I can see a man sitting at a big red… table? Or is it a deconstructed box? I’m not sure.

The man introduces himself as Seib, and when I ask for his business card, he saws off a small slither of wood from a slim plank, and then writes his details on it before handing it to me!

Taken by surprise but definitely finding it charming, I take it before looking closer at the workshop. The space is generously decorated with recycled materials. A swing chair made from the boards of rowing paddles is hung below the staircase, and dotted around the studio, there is a low coffee table built from the long handles of the paddles (this is paddle central!), a red leather chair that turns out to be made from wooden crates, a small collection of vintage dresses and an array of other Green Lab creations. On the walls there are a few black and white artworks that combine painting and photography, as well as bags made from recycled materials. The workshop looks as though an eccentric greenie had been shipwrecked, and this is the cabin that he has made his home on the island.

Seib is an artist from France, whose work revolves around reusing discarded materials. “This started because life as an impoverished student didn’t allow a lot of funds to buy new material to work with.” He says in a lilting French accent and with a lopsided smile, before taking me on a tour of his artwork. A lot of his creations involve natural resources or unwanted resources, such as the pines from Christmas trees. “It’s taking something that had a life, and creating something new, something beautiful. A new life.” However, what his art truly revolves around is “landscapes, cityscapes, templescapes, the landscapes formed by the body…because when you talk to a landscape, it talks back about the people who live there. Landscapes speak about, to and with people; otherwise it’s just barren land”.

The Green Lab isn’t somewhere you go to mill around for something to take home with you; although there are reconstructed garments made from genuine vintage dresses and the recycled bags if you wish to do buy something from Seib. You come to The Green Lab to be thrown into the lifestyle and perspective of one man who sees the potential for the world to be a much better place, in which sustainability plays a role in everyone’s lives. The Green Lab might be a little difficult to find, but what you’ll find within will be well worth the effort you spend looking for it.