We’ve been real busy here in the village experimenting with home you can transform Trash to useful, beautiful and salable items. The idea is that by transforming trash three things can happen:
1. transform community pollution
2. increase the standard of living of poor folks with freely-made functional items
3. generate a new stream of livelihood income for the unemployed (mothers, farmers, out-of-school youth).
My house has been transformed into more than even a studio– a laboratory for playing with trash: creating, refining and using. We’ve had three workshops now and created the coolest stuff. Here’s some photos of our progress and play!
A table made from small plastic Yakult bottles (which are 100% non-recyclable!)
This one is simple but revolutionary– drinking glasses from bottles. Here a mother’s group learns to make them for their homes and to sell. The finished glasses are beautifully sanded and far nicer than the cheap glasses that folks normally here buy.
This table was made entirely from gin bottles.
I’ve also been working with Aunt Rose (who literally works at a city street corner as she sells candy and cigarettes to passer-byes) to transform drinking straws into mats, lamp shades and placemats.
Using wrappers of every sort I’ve been working with the local ladies to make everything from wallets, to clutch bags, to placemats and more.
My biggest passion however remains art. We are using the technique of weaving wrappers to generate large abstract “paintings” made entirely of trash. Here’s some more examples of artistic collaborations using nothing but trash:
My dream is to show BIG trash canvases back in Paris and Berlin. We’ve got a few new ones in the pipe. I’ll post soon!
