Which environment gives you more inspiration; a group of children in workshops or a bulky waste with interesting waste? Sometimes some groups - of children or adults - are really interesting, funny movements happen in...
Which environment gives you more inspiration; a group of children in workshops or a bulky waste with interesting waste?
Sometimes some groups - of children or adults - are really interesting, fun shifts in thinking and joint research happen. However, in my role as a mentor, I focus my brain mainly on giving my technical knowledge as clearly as possible and at the same time trying to encourage the participants to be as creative as possible. But when I pass by bulky waste or rummage through my own stash of junk, I direct my feelers into my creative processes, unencumbered, combined with all the knowledge, imagination and inspiration I possess. These are moments of pure inspiration.
In June, we will be able to see your product at the Light Recycling exhibition in Vžigalica, in December, as part of the independent project Smetomat, in the middle of the December shopping euphoria in Citypark, you packed garbage packages for consumers, and the exhibition of products made from garbage as part of the cultural-ecological association Smetumet with Maja Rijavec has just ended and Urša Štrukelj in the Town Hall, last year you co-organized the Garbage Disposal in ŠKUC with them; how high a market value do you place on trash?
In my opinion, the market value of a work or product should not depend on whether the item is made from waste material or not. The logic in the sense of paid - free falls away here. Sometimes it would be infinitely easier to simply buy the materials than to ask acquaintances to collect them, to arrange the logistics of getting the collected garbage to you, and then to collect, clean and store it. This is just a different principle, a personal principled decision. The value of the product must, of course, be tied to its usability, durability, design aesthetics, time invested and, in the final stage, a patent or concept.
Do you ever go to a store like H&M?
I haven't bought clothes in about eight years because I made a conscious decision to do so. I only buy laundry, I sew everything else myself or recycle clothes that others intend to throw away. When I need something, I don't ask where I can buy it, but how I can make it.
When we talk about recycling trash and using it in everyday life, can we talk about trends in the sense of retro or futurism?
Trends, whatever they are, make me slightly nervous. There is a lot of talk about recycling and ecology. Every product or activity is labeled with the words sustainability, recycling, social responsibility, eco, bio, natural... and the color green, so we can talk about a megatrend. But I do not deal with recycling because it is popular, but because it seems to me to be the only logical and sensible action from an economic and ecological point of view. I use the material that I have available, instead of encouraging the production of new and at the same time the already produced, preferably the same, accumulation in the landfill.
What is the easiest way to get most people interested in garbage?
I don't expect everyone to start processing their own waste. But I think it makes sense to introduce people to garbage. Let everyone know approximately how many they create, where they land and what they cause, and then decide if they want to change something and how. It is through projects, workshops, recycled products and other activities that we can slowly change the mindset of people. With the public Smetumet appeal We collect garbage, we certainly arouse interest, because people are interested in what we need it for.
Do you have a favorite litter?
I definitely prefer to work with textiles and paper. I enjoy sewing clothes from old clothes and making blocks from waste photocopies, envelopes, forms, calendars. Another cute Smetumet product is the random bag - a key chain that transforms into a shopping bag and is made from broken umbrellas and promotional key straps, so I'm currently obsessively looking at new potential bags every time it rains.
Which country is considered a pilgrimage center for recycling?
Through the Internet, I got the feeling that recycling in connection with handicrafts is quite developed in the USA, and they regularly organize complex fairs on this topic. Smetumet only works locally for now, but we plan to connect with similar organizations abroad. I believe that we will find interesting connections in Europe and start some kind of joint project.
