Touch all you like

Chandeliers crafted with plastic coffee stirrers, tables woven from recycled newspapers and poufs made from the colorful remnants of flip-flop manufacturing are among the offerings at Touch, a new showroom run by Zoe Melo, a former product developer for the noted design studio Artecnica, and partner Peter Scherrer. “We like to work with designers who can creatively reuse materials in handmade pieces,” says Melo, who stocks items from her native Brazil as well as Argentina and Portugal. Melo and Scherrer also envision their bright, loft-like showroom as a venue for design talks and other social events. Toward that end, Touch has created a meeting table called the Skinny, a 12-foot-long double pedestal design made with scrap by L.A. woodworker Robert Espinoza. 11914 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 397-3575; www.do-not-touch.com.

-- David A. Keeps