Recycled: Purpose Restoration’s Butcher rolling kitchen cart

The rolling kitchen cart called the Butcher is actually an old television stand set on casters, topped with butcher block and decorated with the silhouettes of 22 knives painstakingly stenciled across the front and side of the cabinet. It’s just one of the clever pieces by Purpose Restoration, a four-person workshop that transforms unloved old furniture into new, one-of-a-kind functional pieces.

The company was founded a year ago by Jason Fox, 35, who says he left a job overseeing the construction of stores for fashion retailer BCBG “to do something creative” with his hands. Fox cites Japanese graphic design, graffiti and tattoo art as inspirations but says, “We don’t want our pieces to look like Ed Hardy.” The price for the Butcher is $960; to see more designs, including a Colonial-style dresser that was given a modern botanical motif, go to purposerestoration.com.

David A. Keeps