Is upcycling or recycling always worth our time?

"An exhibition that took place this month as part of the Designers’ Open festival in German city Leipzig showcased the possibilities of upcycling, which is recycling’s even more sustainable little sister – the act of converting old clothing, materials and furniture into new things, without the need to destroy it and completely restructure it in the process, as recycling requires." (designweek.co.uk)

source: designweek.co.uk

Well, some of the products may be great, but do we consider the cost of our labour when doing this upcycling? Can you imagine how much time is required to collect and then connect those cork pieces into just one piece of furniture? The table is great, but the armchair to the right is hardly comfortable for use.
On the other hand, I like very much the elegant line of those honeycomb cardboard furniture pieces by German designer Björn Bernt that for sure have been created for less time, but I am not sure how safe it is to use the chairs:

designer Björn Bernt

I have a lot of posts about the way we recycle and re-use materials and products, and you can find many beautiful examples there, but we must ask ourselves: are the results of recycling and upcycling always worth our time? Will they last enough in order to invest our time in creating something not so beautiful or useful? Isn’t it better to change this “fast fashion” trend into a better and more thoughtful design trend?
What do you think?