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It's a kind of alchemy: At Contexture Design in Vancouver, old skates become boots, vintage school desks transform into living-room seating, worn bowling shoes beget wallets and discarded cassette tapes morph into iPod Nano protectors.

Finding modern uses for discarded - and often richly nostalgic - items is the design ethos at Contexture (http://www.contexture.ca). Not surprisingly, designers Nathan Lee and Trevor Coghill, both in their early 30s, admit to being ardent thrift-shop browsers.

"We just keep seeing all these really cool objects out there that nobody wants any more and we keep thinking, 'What could we do with them?' We're into recycling on an ecological level and also on a cultural level. We like using things that really elicit strong memories and emotions for people," Lee explains. (The company's name refers to the altered context of the materials they use as well as their evocative textures.)

The duo works out of an unheated, utilitarian warehouse they share with other creative types on the fringes of upscale Yaletown, where sleek laptops contrast sharply with the battered skates slung on the water pipes overhead, the vintage suitcases stacked on the shelves and Buster Bros., a functioning arcade game that leans against the wall.

Lee and Coghill are currently playing a lot of Buster Bros. as they recover from a veritable tsunami of Christmas orders for their polished Bentwood Coffee Cuffs ($68), handmade from reclaimed exotic wood veneers. "We made 350 cuffs in a month and a half," Lee says. "It was back-to-back 12-hour days. We - and our whole workshop - were just covered in dust."

The much sought-after piece, available in finishes such as bird's eye maple and zebrano, was born after a woodworker friend brought them leftover bits of high-end cabinetry veneers. ("Friends are always bringing us stuff they hate to see thrown out," Coghill says.) Inspired by the veneer's gorgeous grain, Coghill wanted to create a piece of jewellery for his girlfriend. A paper takeout coffee cup was handy and became the mould for a wristband.

Later, it clicked that the bracelets could also neatly replace the disposable java jackets used to protect drinkers' fingers from hot cups, thereby multiplying the eco-benefits. The reused wood in the cuffs would prevent further wood waste. The designers have also worked the scrap wood into rings, belt buckles, money clips and dog tags.

Another big hit for Contexture has been their groovy iPod cases ($45), made out of refashioned vinyl records; purchasers can even choose which title they want the designers to use for their case. "People really like how it combines cool old music formats with the latest, hippest technology," Lee says.

What's up next for Contexture Design? Lee and Coghill are coy about their 2008 projects, but will say that one new product combines their interests in both landscape architecture and design. (Both of them studied landscape architecture at the University of British Columbia.) Coghill, who has a one-year-old child, says other upcoming designs are going to be kid-inspired.

Bentwood juice-box holders perhaps? Or bowling-shoe baby booties? Whatever alchemic transformations these guys are cooking up, it is likely they will transmute all sorts of cultural dross into design gold.