Handicrafts from Recycled Materials
Artisans on the low end of the global economic scale make use and reuse of discarded materials. Nonprofit fair-trade organizations bring these handicrafts to buyers at the other end of the scale, completing the trade of beauty for sustenance.
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Direct Reuse of Materials
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In El Salvador, artisans collect discarded truck-tire inner tubes, clean them and fashion stylish and unique handbags. Colorful lining may show through piercings, and the original pattern of the inner tube, as well as patches and wounds from its first life, add character.
Trash Materials Transformed to Beauty
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In Bangladesh, discarded bags from snacks litter the streets of cities and villages. Recyclers gather them, a second group washes them and rural artisans wind them tightly around bamboo spines and employ traditional basket weaving techniques to make colorful lampshades.
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Remade in Traditional Craft
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Palestinian artisans melt and reblow waste glass, using traditional techniques treasured as "Phoenician glass." Their kilns are also fired by reusing waste motor oil.
From Oil Drums to Art
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One of the industries disrupted by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was the transformation of used oil drums into wall hangings of great symbolism, complexity and beauty. Some are left burnished metal and others hand painted, for instance to show a whole aquarium of tropical fish.
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References
- Photo Credit soie et coton,rajasthan image by jean claude braun from Fotolia.com
