Brigitte Cartier and Hiria Searching for Volunteer Upcycling Arts and Crafters

Brigitte Cartier, a French-born artist who has been living and creating in Tel Aviv for the past 15 years and who now comfortably tackles Israeli roads in her pick-up truck alongside her trusty dog, is the magician responsible for transforming the Hiria garbage dump into an upcycling design Mecca. Just check out the before and after shots of the Hiria Environmental Education Visitor’s Center to the left.

With her imagination and crafty hands, plastic bags turn into chandelier-like pom poms that hang from the ceiling, other plastic bags are fused into curtains with a beautiful stained glass effect (see bottom left photo), shopping carts turn into armchairs, blocks of condensed aluminum cans turn into benches that seat children who come to Hiria for recycling workshops (check out the close-up below).

No material is too base, too odd. The main objective is that materials are reused instead of thrown away because Hiria’s garbage mountain doesn’t need to grow any larger.

Brigitte’s next project is to design and create a line of “Hiria Made” products: handmade items that are created from reclaimed materials and upcycled into something better. And she’s looking for volunteers!

Volunteers will meet with Brigitte, learn her crafting techniques and recreate one of her prototypes, and have fun while helping Hiria’s environmental education mission in the process.

This volunteer opportunity is excellent for college students looking for an alternative spring break, creative types who want to learn some new skills, retired folks who would like to do something fun and productive with their time, and many more.

Got ideas for what to do with some all-too-often-dumped item? Please share them with us and with Brigitte.

For more details, please contact Brigitte via her website, BALADI Company For Ecological Progress.