Trashformations: Recycled Materials in Contemporary American Art and Design features eighty works by artists, craftspeople, and product designers who see new possibilities in the stuff that others throw out.

Beginning with early examples of found objects in art and design and ending with a look at the hope and promise of recycling, the focus of the book's big middle section isn't on funky assemblages but on somewhat more refined objects, transformed from trash into treasures that amaze us with their beauty or ingenuity.