The next generation of female woodworkers are giving waste products like bike tyres and timber offcuts a new life.The rise of the small design studio is where they are thriving as they explore circular-economy ideals and sustainable practices while driving a new narrative in design that's emotive, thoughtful and cutting-edge.Their work is being showcased at this year's Melbourne Design Week, which brings together Australian makers who create furniture, lighting and homewares.ABC Arts looks at four artists carving out a name for themselves in a traditionally male space.Isabel Avendaño-Hazbún has designed a new upholstery material made from discarded rubber bicycle tyres — sourced from local bike shops — which would have ended up in landfill. The multidisciplinary artist, who creates furniture in her Melbourne studio, has used the materials to build on her chair design The Chair (2022). These buoyant timber chairs are threaded and handwoven with tyre rope in an artistic move that is inspired by nautical knots and breathes new life into her practice. She says it is a way to think about a circular economy that prevents waste, and rewires how we consider upholstery. "I like to use timbers that are readily available, as opposed to rare timbers," says Avendaño-Hazbún, who primarily works with Tasmanian oak and Victorian ash."There's a demand for the handmade, and through the pieces I create, people understand why the craft is so precious."The skills and the labour of lov