Green Prophet » reuse

Kuwait’s Environment REUSE 5.0 Exposition Calls for Applications

Karen Chernick — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:30:04 +0000

For the fifth year Kuwait’s eco en.v REUSE exposition will showcase green companies, retailers, galleries, restaurants, social initiatives, and people.

Re-users of all ways, shapes, and forms are now welcome to apply for exhibition space at REUSE 5.0, an exposition that will take place at the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) in February 2012. The exposition, which has grown steadily over the past five years, hopes to serve as an opportunity for non-profit organizations, companies, professionals and aspiring creative talents to showcase their accomplishments in the field of social responsibility and sustainability via a range of artistic mediums and interactive activities for the general public. As Kuwait’s premier exposition for eco-friendly thought, REUSE serves as a vehicle for dialogue among the private, public and civil sectors.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The event is being organized by en.v, an initiative dedicated to social responsibility in the Arab world. en.v’s primary objective is to seek out public sector bodies, private sector and civil society organizations in the region, document their efforts, and create interactivity between them towards developing a more thought-conscious society.

REUSE 5.0 will include the following modules (and others):

Boutiques that sell eco-friendly, fair trade, organic or natural products
Restaurants that offer local and/or organic drinks and snacks
Social Programs in the Middle East North Africa region dedicated to sustainable development
REUSE Community showcase of the best student work around Kuwait made entirely from scrap/recycled materials
Flea Market with second hand items
Galleries exhibiting artwork that promotes eco-friendly living
Artists and en.v commissions to create work exploring the theme of sustainability
Workshops in the field of sustainability and creativity, conducted by global experts
Live Performances (acoustic, of course) of various musicians

The REUSE exposition is devised as a carbon neutral event, and environmental concerns will be documented and addressed during every phase. At the end of the exposition, en.v will conduct an internal carbon footprint audit and offset all emissions.

To apply to participate in REUSE 5.0, email reuse@envearth.com with a short description of your business or proposal.

:: REUSE 5.0

Aya Kaya’s Online Upcycling Tutorial For Turning T-Shirts Into Bags

Karen Chernick — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:02:46 +0000

Before grabbing another polluting plastic bag, learn how to easily make a cloth bag out of items you already have lying around.

Sustainable Israeli designer Aya Tager will be giving upcycling workshops in Tel Aviv in a couple weeks, but for those who can’t make it she is giving an online workshop right here on Green Prophet! Aya (aka Aya Kaya) teaches us how to turn old t-shirts and tank tops into cloth bags that can be used in multiple ways. (For those of you about to gift Christmas or Hannukah presents, this bag may be a great eco-friendly alternative to disposable wrapping paper.)

No sewing experience or fancy equipment necessary! For this easy 4-step project you will need: an old t-shirt or tank top, scissors, needle and thread, and old socks.

Step 1: Fold the shirt so that the sleeves are one on top of the other (you can use the side seams as guides). Then cut out the sleeves and excess fabric at the top of the shirt, so that it will resemble handles.

Step 2: Stitch the bottom to close the bag. You can use a different colored thread to make the bag more decorative (in the photo above Aya has used red thread on white cloth).

The basic bag is now done and you can add details.

Step 3: One way to decorate the bag is to continue the stitching from the bottom of the shirt around the edges of the entire bag.

You could also use old colorful socks to thicken the fabric around the handles. This will help use up other old fabrics and make the handles of the bag sturdier.

The socks can also be turned into a decorative flower or bow tie.

Step 4: Your bag is done! It can now be used as a lightweight and reusable shopping bag the next time you go food shopping, as a lunch bag to take to work or school, or as an alternative form of gift wrap during the holiday season!

:: Aya-Kaya Sustainable Design

Yiuco Marketplace for Handmade Upcycled, Recycled, or Reused Products

Karen Chernick — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:18:00 +0000

Yiuco may be the Middle East’s greener Etsy.

Etsy, the global online store, has enjoyed great success due to the fact that it enables individuals to buy handmade, unique items from other individuals around the world with the click of a mouse. It has even spurred what some people are calling the “Handmade Revolution” by encouraging people to buy handmade (as opposed to energy-guzzling machine-made) products. Taking the site’s green message even further, eco-friendly vendors have emerged on Etsy and they sell upcycled, recycled, or otherwise resource-lite items.

While these trends have emerged on Etsy, they are not the online shop platform’s focus. A new online marketplace – Yiuco – has popped up in Greece, though, and it strictly peddles the upcycled, recycled, and reused.

Yiuco, the self-proclaimed “upcycling hype”, is named after the Greek word for “piled-up clothes”. The purpose of the website is simple:

To reconsider waste.

To create, design and think of new longer-life products that will be more easily recycled and be used again instead of ending up as waste.

Don’t throw it… Yiuco it!

Visitors may use the site to buy, sell, and exchange products that meet Yiuco’s objectives, as well as promote the concept of upcycling, recycling, and reuse.

Above are a few images of products currently sold on Yiuco: at the top of the post is a brooch made from plastic bottles by REforma, also above is a purse made from vintage magazines by το κορίτσι που δε φοβάται.

: Yiuco

THIS Toothbrush Is A Miswak

Zaufishan — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:35:02 +0000

‘THIS Miswak’ complete with cutting cap could soon be in supermarkets

Oral hygiene is no stranger to the Islamic lifestyle. Self-improvement and cleanliness is part of the Muslim creed and its implementation is connected to increasing spirituality. In Muslim culture, a natural toothbrush called a miswak, was in use long before any plastic toothbrush had been designed – even the Greeks and Romans had twiggy toothbrushes. Finding a miswak stick in any Middle Eastern country and particularly Muslim communities is not that difficult; it costs next-to-nothing, and is the most organic toothbrush that doesn’t require toothpaste nor harbour bacteria as a regular synthetic toothbrush would.

However, this miswak stick is not a common eco-practice amongst European and Western countries. Lebanon Graphic Designer, Leen Sadder, developed a novel ‘THIS Miswak’ stick as part of her design class, which with the right marketing, we feel could soon be on supermarket shelves.

Zaufishan got in touch with Leen to ask why she designed the miswak and whether it contributes to environment sustainability.

Thank you Leen for sharing your eco-product with Green Prophet. First up, tell us a bit about yourself.
I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon where I attended the American Community School and later pursued a four-year bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut (AUB). After graduation, I worked at a design studio for a year before moving to New York City to attend the Designer as Author/Entrepreneur program at the School of Visual Arts, where I am currently in my second semester. While I am a trained graphic designer, I consider myself more of a design thinker and am constantly looking for new ways to affect change through design.

What lead to the creation of ‘THIS Miswak’ toothbrush? Had you heard of such a ‘clean’ product before?
THIS toothbrush began as a project for Allan Chochinov’s 3D Design class at SVA. In our first class he asked us to redesign whatever we threw out next. For me it happened to be an empty tube of toothpaste. I began with an exploration of the history of toothpaste, its relationship to the toothbrush, the different features, and the human habits related to it. At one point I was obsessed with the ritual of squeezing the toothpaste tube and many of my early sketches iterated that.

Leen’s early sketches for a more functional miswak storage

After moving on with those I was doing some more research and discovered the miswak, which I had seen and heard of before but had not thought about as a possible solution. The more research I did, the more I found out how beneficial it is and the more interested I got in trying to promote it to a wider audience.

What was funny was that I had no idea how I was going to actually get my hands on one of them- but I soon learned that in NYC, anything is possible. A few minutes after deciding to go with the direction, I left my studio and walked into a copy place nearby – I had remembered it was run by a Pakistani couple. I went in with a picture of the miswak and five minutes later was walking out with two brand new ones that the woman had happened to have with her in her purse as well as the address, name and phone number of the place down the street that sells them. I could not believe how lucky I had been and decided then that it was a sign to continue on with the project.

What inspires you to design and create?
I have always had a strong passion for design as well as community, and I think my work tends to reflect parts of my cultural background – so I would definitely say that Beirut inspires me. I would say what inspires me most, though, is people. I am constantly fascinated by the people I meet, and one of my favorite pastimes is sitting in a crowded area and just watching as people rush by, trying to guess where they are going and what their lives are like. Over the past year I have come to realize the power of design in changing the way the world works, the way people behave, and the way we think. It is so much more than creating a logo or a poster or an animation- it is about communication and power, and that involves making sure you are directing your ideas towards the right audience, and listening to them as well. It also means finding out how and why people behave the way that they do, and coming up with solutions to problems that arise from that.

THIS Miswak incorporates a snipping device in the cap – like a cigar cutter, to expose new, clean “bristles”

Has the miswak been marketed towards or sold in Muslim communities, particularly Middle Eastern regions? Do you think it should?
From what I know, the miswak has not been particularly marketed in the Middle East. I know that there have been products that incorporate the miswak flavor into toothpaste, as well as miswak holders – but other than that I think the miswak is known as more of a tradition and is the kind of knowledge passed on from older generations to younger ones. It is almost impossible to separate the miswak from its religious connotation and I think that is probably why there has not been much of a marketing strategy related to it. Whether there should be or not is still a question – I think more conclusive studies would need to be conducted to find out how and by whom the miswak is being used in order to find out if there is a need to market it at all.

How, in your opinion, can the miswak toothbrush help the environment?
The beautiful thing about the miswak is its purity. The way it protects its bristles with the outer covering is a natural design wonder. The use of the miswak would undoubtedly cut down on the excessive use of plastic and chemicals, obviously helping to protect the environment. While I was breaking down the different components of commercial toothpaste, I could not understand the purpose of the box toothpaste is packaged in. Shampoo isn’t sold in a box, and neither are most household or beauty products- so how come toothpaste comes in a box? I thought maybe it was a storing issue, or a hygiene issue- but felt that there had to be a better way to solve both those problems. One of my early sketches was a toothpaste tube with a hole in the top so it could hang in-store without having to waste the excess material on the box. This idea returned later in the design of the miswak package, which has a hole in the cap in order to display the product without having to use additional material.

The miswak’s plastic wrapping is a familiar image for consumers – but contradicts renewability

And what about the plastic packaging? That’s not environmentally friendly.
I think it is important that I tackle the issue that arose when the project was traveling the blogosphere – and that is the ‘plastic’ packaging of the miswak. It started many debates that were quite interesting but were a result of assumptions (on behalf of readers and bloggers) and miscommunication (on my behalf). So I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few points:

I completely, entirely agree with everyone who had a problem with the plastic packaging of a supposedly sustainable product. The fact of the matter is that I never realized that it was going to spread once I put it up on my portfolio, so it never occurred to me to address the issue in the description of the project. When my professor pointed out the problem in class, it was really the first time I had even thought of the material I had used for my prototype – mainly because I had been focusing so much on the functionality of the product and not on researching different materials within the two weeks we had to complete the project. I had also happened to have just purchased a DIY plastic molding material that I was excited to use in my prototype to indicate what the cap could look like aesthetically. I did not mean to indicate that if it were a real product, it would be made of plastic but of course, I cannot expect people to know that – so I was actually pleased to see the reactions it got. It showed that people were really thinking about the solution at hand and were critical in judging whether or not it was beneficial to the environment.

Most importantly, I would like to clarify that if THIS toothbrush were to be developed into a real product, the first thing I would do is research possible sustainable materials, reduction of the packaging, or even an entire re-packaging of the product itself if needed. I would steer clear from using any material that would harm the environment or use excess material, while still maintaining the look and feel of the packaging concept.

Do you think non-miswak users will convert their toothbrush to become hardcore miswak users?
I’m still unsure about whether non-miswak users would replace their toothbrush and toothpaste. One of the most difficult things to do is to change people’s behaviors – especially when it is one that has resided for so long. The positive reactions I received with regards to THIS certainly showed that there was an interest in giving it a try. I think it would probably be a very specific audience – one that is both environmentally and culturally aware of the features of the miswak.

On a commercial front, Is the miswak economically viable?
I have not gotten into the details of the viability of the product. However, I do think that with the right packaging and material that it could be developed into a very affordable and viable product due to the nature and availability of the Miswak itself. Again, this would have to be studied separately.

THIS Miswak billboards with variations of a print campaign

We see the great prototype advertisements for THIS Miswak. Was the miswak difficult to market to non-Muslim audiences?
Since it is still a student project and has not been tested with a real audience, it is difficult to understand the results. However, based on the amount of blog posts, tweets and project views (almost 14,000 so far!), I think it’s safe to say that there is a general interest in it – mainly because it looks so out of place. I think non-Muslims are interested in trying it out to see if it could really replace their toothbrush and toothpaste, and with enough scientific proof and ease-of-use, it could become a mainstream product in the realm of sustainable products today.

We love hearing about similar eco projects and designs so what, if any, other projects have you been involved in and created?
You can check out more of my work at http://www.behance.net/LSadder

Great! We will. As a creative person designing for change, what 3 top tips would you give to fellow designers who are developing ethical or environmentally friendly products?

1. Know your audience.
2. Research, research, research.
3. Be accountable for your decisions and their consequences.

Lastly, what have you yourself learnt from the conception and creation of THIS Miswak?
This project has taught me so much; mainly though it has reaffirmed to me the power of design and communication. It has shown me how fast something can spiral out of control and how interested people are in the unknown. It has also taught me to be careful in communicating my work to the world – and that blogs are awesome!

Leen Sadder
SVA Graduate Student, MFA Design
New York City

Thank you for sharing your product and thought process Leen, you’re a great eco-designer and inspiration – we need more visionaries like yourself!

Check out Leen Sadder’s Behance portfolio for more information and fantastic projects.

Images:: Leen Sadder ©

More:
Miswak Is Nature’s Twiggy Toothbrush
Are You An Eco-Sexual
Black Cumin: Islam’s Miracle Cure Seed
Cambridge To Build Europe’s First Eco-Mosque
Are Superfoods For Real, Or Just A Marketing Device?

Israeli Reuse Conference Claims that Big Opportunities Come in Reused Packages

Karen Chernick — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:00:25 +0000

Reuse conference brings designers and entrepreneurs together, showing that reusing is eco-friendly, fun, and profitable too.

The concept of reuse is not new to Israel. Over the past few years it has seen “Reuse” exhibitions in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as the emergence of several upcycling, sustainable designers who have brought fun and eco-friendly products to the market (check out the old window shutter turned seat by Tel Aviv’s Junktion Studio above). But the idea of reuse as a business opportunity? That’s something new.

The first national Reuse Conference taking place in Pardes Hana-Carcur today is trying to prove that reuse is not only creative and good for the environment, but a good business opportunity as well. In their own words: “big opportunities come in reused packages”.

The conference will bring together industrial designers, green entrepreneurs, industrialists, and representatives of local authorities in order to discuss the direction of the reuse industry, brainstorm ideas, and facilitate cooperation.

Speakers will include Dr. Nurit Hashimshoni-Yafe (Chairwoman of the Environmental Committee), Gilad Ostrovski of Adam Teva v’Din, Tom Sezaky (Founder and CEO of Terracycle), Ran Dotan (CEO of Nielsen), Arena Angel (an architect), Heli Alul Tselniker and Havai Livne, and Erez Steinberg of Studio eg.

Steinberg, an Israeli industrial designer who returned to Israel a few years ago after spending 20 years in San Francisco, makes it his business to “greenify” businesses. In other words, he consults businesses and helps them find practical solutions for reducing their negative impact on the environment in creative ways that, inevitably, reduce waste and increase profit. He will be speaking at the conference about reuse as part of the core of business, and waste as an opportunity for the manufacturer.

For more information about the speakers and the conference, visit the Reuse Conference website.

Rachel Botsman Makes the Case for Collaborative Consumption

Karen Chernick — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:22:48 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Moving from a culture of “me” to a culture of “we”.

Rachel Botsman, a researcher and social innovator, is hooked on the idea of what she calls “collaborative consumption” – a phenomenon that is gaining force in the 21st century. She recently gave a TED talk about the concept (see clip above) and said that what is essentially happening is that “technology is enabling trust between strangers. We now live in a global village, where we can mimic the ties that used to happen face to face but on a scale and in ways that have never been possible before. So what’s actually happening is that social networks and real-time technologies are taking us back – we’re bartering, sharing, swapping, trading – but they’re being reinvented into dynamic and appealing forms.”

Collaborative consumption has started to emerge in the Middle East over recent years, with the appearance of online services such as carpooling in Cairo, or car sharing in Tel Aviv.

The internet is removing the need for the “middle man” and creating a peer-to-peer revolution where online platforms create the ability to collaborate easily and seamlessly. This enables sharing to happen at “phenomenal rates”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

According to Botsman, collaborative consumption is happening because of four key reasons:

A renewed belief in the importance of community
A torrent of peer-to-peer social networks and real-time technologies
Pressing unresolved environmental concerns
A global recession that has fundamentally shocked consumer behaviors

As a result of collaborative consumption, what Botsman and her collaborators refer to as “redistribution markets” are now emerging. Instead of simply throwing used items out, as they were before, items are now being redistributed from where they are no longer needed to where they are. “Redistribution” is the 5th “R” after Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair, since it also prolongs the lifecycle of a product (thereby reducing waste).

She also points to the growth in “product service systems”, where you pay for the benefit of using a product without actually owning it. One widespread example of this system is a car sharing service, such as Car2Go in Tel Aviv, which allows multiple members of the service to use the cars frequently as needed without actually owning the car.

“These systems are coming together allowing people to share resources without sacrificing their lifestyles or their cherished personal freedoms. I’m not asking people to share nicely in the sandpit,” Botsman said.

“I believe we’re actually in a period where we’re waking up from this humongous hangover of emptiness and waste, and we’re taking a leap to create a more sustainable system built to serve our innate needs for community and individual identity. I believe it will be referred to as a revolution…. I’m on a mission to making sharing cool.”

: TED Talks

Read more about collaborative consumption already happening in the Middle East::
Get a Ride and Reduce Carbon Emissions with Egypt Carpoolers
Car2Go Brings Car Sharing to Tel Aviv
Reuse It or Lose It: Logging On to Online Re(use)sources

Tel Aviv’s Salon Mazal to Host a DIY Recycled Craft Workshop This Week

Karen Chernick — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 16:13:17 +0000

Salon Mazal’s eco-activists may be a little extreme, but they can still teach you some cool recycled crafts.

Salon Mazal, an information center in Tel Aviv that spreads information about a whole range of issues including social change, human rights, animal rights, consumerism, feminism, and gender issues, is known for bringing together a collective of passionate, dedicated people. Sometimes this passion verges on the extremely idealistic side and leads the folks at Salon Mazal to do odd things like open up vegan bars, but they nevertheless want the right things. And one of the things they want is for people to reuse and recycle, which is why they’re hosting a free DIY recycled craft workshop this Tuesday, September 28th.

The emphasis of the workshop will be to upcycle materials that are not currently collected and recycled by the Tel Aviv (or any other Israeli) Municipality.

Operated by Sigi and Galia Nachmani at Salon Mazal (32 Yitzhak Sade Street, Tel Aviv) at 7:30pm, the workshop will teach participants how to create baskets, bags, and more with just some plastic bags and creativity. No other materials or tools will be used in transforming this ubiquitous material into knitted bags, bowls, baskets, belts, boxes and more.

Another material that will be used during the workshop is old video cassettes, which will also be transformed into baskets and bowls.

Participants will also be taught about the importance of preserving the environment and the ease with which materials such as styrofoam, glass shards, soap residues, and video cassettes can be recycled.

Image via: Salon Mazal

: Salon Mazal

Inspire Collective Brings 150 Artists Together for ReUse 3 Exhibition in Tel Aviv

Karen Chernick — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:11:29 +0000

Reuse design? We thought Green Prophet had it pretty much covered. We’ve brought you plastic dolls converted into lamps, plastic bags transformed into wallets, beer bottles made into beads, and lots more. But the surprises keep on coming.

Reusing an abandoned movie theater as an art exhibition space? There’s an idea.

An idea conjured up by the Inspire Collective, an inspiring group of artists who describe themselves like this:

“We’re a small group of full time public artists now (for the last seven years) working with a wide variety of mediums and organize global public art exhibitions, etc…an inspired art/activist collective in the middle east working for a positive social climate by underemphasis of politics, economy, and dogma thru the overemphasis of art, creativity, and the dynamics human spirit that refuses to submit to oppression. We are people who know that cooperation is magic…

Since the formation of the ubiquitous INSPIRE Collective (in W.Jerusalem / 2003), we have helped over 700 independent artists from around the world to exhibit their works here in the middle east.”

Their latest project was ReUse 3, an art exhibition that took place last night and transformed an abandoned movie theater on Pinsker Street in Tel Aviv into an exhibition space to temporarily house the works of 150 local and international artists.

Inspire Collective explains the mission of the exhibition as follows: “On November 19th; ART WILL SERVE A SOCIAL CAUSE, INDEED: whether we like it or not, abandoned and neglected spaces are a global bi-product of industrial abuse. Due to the wasteful nature of capitalist ideologies, “real world” problems, like “homelessness”, “poverty”, and “social alienation” never seem to get solved, yet rethinking and reusing these neglected and abandoned spaces within our own communities can help to ease these “societal ills”…

Reusing these public spaces causes us to perceive these spaces without economic glasses; it helps us to see thru a more social lens & potentially reverse the process of these problems around the world…”

Check out some cool images from the exhibition on Inspire Collective’s flickr page.

Read about art exhibitions with an environmental focus:
White Trash, An Ecological Group Exhibition, Opens in Tel Aviv Next Week
Environmentally Focused Art at the “Farm Gallery” in Holon
ReUse: An Evening of Eco-Art in Central Jerusalem

Think Again: Cook Up Some New Ideas For Using Those Dusty Kitchen Appliances

Karen Chernick — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:00:14 +0000

Think Again is a series that provides fun ideas for how to reuse items in your home that you would normally throw out or recycle. Reusing is higher on the “green” food chain than recycling, because getting another use out of an object is always more effective than spending the energy to recycle it. Plus, trying to reuse can force us to be creative!

The Think Again series has featured mini projects so far, but sometimes reusing an item literally means just thinking again. Look at an item that you have in a different way, turn it over or on its side, and think of a new use for it.

So why not start with an area of our homes that needs some decluttering anyway – the back of the kitchen cabinet, home of all those unused kitchen appliances?

Bundt Pan: While making a cake with a bundt pan is a nice idea in theory, how often do you really use that thing? The thought that the cake may not come out easily or that there will be a heavy duty clean up after the baking is done usually leads us to just use the regular cake pan (or buy a cake from the store). But flip that pan over and you’ve got yourself a great little jewelry box that is easy to use and displays your jewelry nicely. The rim of the pan can be used to hang earings from (as you can see above) and the inside part of the pan works great for storing bracelets.

Coffee Mug: The chipped coffee mug that you’ve been meaning to take out of the kitchen cabinet but couldn’t bring yourself to throw away doesn’t have to end up in the trash. And it doesn’t have to uglify your kitchen cabinet either. There are tons of uses for old coffee mugs – the one that comes quickest to mind is the pencil holder. But you could also “green” your coffee mug and use it as a planter.

Muffin Tin: Muffin tins, with their already built in compartments, make great organizers. They could also be used as jewelry boxes, or, for the guys out there, they make great desk organizers. Most of them can even fit into desk drawers, clearing room on your desk. (Or you could display them on your desk, adding, a decorative touch.)

Now onto some kitchen reuse ideas that require a little more than just thinking again. Check out Casa Sugar’s idea for turning an old blender into an energy conscious lamp, Junk Market Style‘s tutorial on how to transform an old metal serving tray into a cute metal memo board, and Craft Chi‘s explanation for how to turn a rolling pin into a decorative print stamp.

Got any ideas for how to reuse kitchen appliances? Please share in the comments section below!

Read about other Think Again projects::

Think Again: Strike Up a Matchbox Inspired Recycled Notebook

Think Again: What to Do With That Old Pair of Jeans

Amir Zinaburg's Recycled Designs Can-Can

Karen Chernick — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:35:21 +0000

So far on Green Prophet we’ve seen aluminum soda cans transformed into flowers and window store displays. But we’ve never seen them transformed into furniture. Amir Zinaburg’s designs show us what the can can do.

A graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (together with other Israeli eco-designers Erez Mulai, Zohar Yarom and Yoav Kotik), Zinaburg trained as an industrial designer.

The three piece line of furniture that he created – which includes a chair, a bar stool, and an armchair – is created entirely out of repurposed aluminum soda cans and is titled “Refurnish Your Memory”.

Zinaburg explains the artistic vision behind the furniture: “In the recycling industry, between the gathering and concentrating phase and the melting/grinding phase, is the inter-phase of compressing. The objects compounding the cube become in a way autonomous and unique by the force of the compressing operation, and in contrast to the objects’ former life-cycle, in which they were similar, as part of the cube, each object has a different, incidental and uncontrollable form. The new/old esthetic formed by the compressing action is controversial and even at times difficult to digest, since the memory of the object’s former function acts as a repellent. In nowadays, in urban surroundings, the only nature that is available to us is an artificial one, one that is manufactured, like city gardens and traffic islands. Waste has become an integral part of our modern lives, a kind of urban nature, and that is why it can be regarded as a raw material like any other.”

While the thought of industrial waste becoming a natural raw material in our modern urban worlds is a rather disturbing one, aesthetically speaking Zinaburg’s furniture is colorful, functional, and interesting. With a strong point to make, of course.

And from an environmental point of view, compressing the aluminum cans in order to create the furniture is far less energy intensive than melding the material.

Zinaburg also creates sculptures out of compressed aluminum cans, such as the ones on the right.

Read more about other designers who use recyled materials::

Israeli Design PSA: Recycle and Recr(e)ate for Your Home with Lool 82

“Waste Lb” Design Company Encourages Lebanese to Waste Fewer Plastic Bags

Ten Sustainable Israeli Designers Who Reduce, Reuse & Recycle