Faced with the complex environmental and social problems created by plastic, a group of creative thinkers, conservationists and artists gathered for a workshop in a Langa studio on a cold winter’s Saturday morning. The group was tasked with creating functional art and fashion accessory prototypes using 4,5 kilograms of plastic litter that had been collected on a Cape Town beach.

The participants of the Refashion Plastic design exchange in Langa, Cape Town 2022

“To transition to a more circular economy, we need to innovate and create solutions. Artists push this mission forward and have unique perspectives. The more of us who focus on circularity, the more likely it is that we succeed overall,” says artist Heath Nash who along with architect Yvonne Brecher organised this Refashion Plastic workshop for the annual Plastic Free Mzansi campaign last year.

Led by Yvonne and Heath, the participants were encouraged to freely co-create and explore the potential of creating products that could be produced by Our Workshop for a commercial market. The outcome of the day-long workshop was multiple pieces of jewellery and accessories, insightful conversations, and a deeper understanding of our collective responsibility to nature. The group successfully identified straws, and lollipop and earbud sticks as material for making beads.

Prototypes of potential fashion accessories and jewellery made during the Refashion Plastic design exchange in July 2022

Achieving a circular economy means moving away from the current linear plastic economy, which centres on producing new virgin plastic, using it and then discarding the material. In a circular economy plastic (and all other material resources) would be kept in the economy through reuse and recycling at its highest value for as long as possible.

Despite years of global awareness campaigns and people advocating solutions, the United Nations reports that every year, more than 280 million tonnes of short-lived plastic products still become waste. The UN further states that plastic “can take hundreds of years to break down, so when it is discarded, it builds up in the environment until it reaches a crisis point. This pollution chokes marine wildlife, damages soil and poisons groundwater, and can cause serious health impacts.”

Sheena Ocean, Mara Fleischer and Yvonne Brecher discuss using plastic waste for a garment

Yvonne, founder of Biru Experiments (pictured above right) says that plastic has become a contested medium and an opportunity for change. “Woven into our everyday lives, it is a powerful political device that can promote collective change and opportunity in all sectors of consumption and production.”

The waste used as a material for the workshop was collected during a beach clean-up event sponsored by Coca Cola Peninsula Beverages on Sunset Beach in Cape Town on World Environmental Day last year. It was then carefully cleaned by members of the open source design studio Our Workshop in Langa township before the workshop was held.

It requires many hands, hearts, and heads to solve our waste problem

Besides this tangible making with materials, Yvonne and Heath prompted discussions and encouraged the exchange of ideas and skills. The workshop was a deep and thoughtful multi-disciplinary collaboration between artists, designers, and academics to rethink plastic waste.

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  Amélie de Bonnières

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  Anele Nono and Amy Rusch

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  Scott Eric Williams

“Working in collaboration is key when trying to address a global crisis. It requires many hands, hearts, and heads to solve our waste problem,” says Aaniyah Martin, founder of The Beach Co-Op, a non-profit organisation that strives to protect and restore ocean ecosystems. By connecting communities and institutions with the ocean and hosting regular beach clean-ups, The Beach Co-op advocates for safer, cleaner beaches in South Africa.

The collected beach litter was cleaned and sorted ahead of the workshop

In addition to promoting a safer and kinder environment for future generations, these artists are engaging with contemporary culture.

Working with this mass consumption as artists facilitates and instills a thought process around our human time on the planet

“I am interested in plastic being a material of our time – it has become so central to our existence and it’s something that we are leaving behind in massive amounts,” Amy says. “It’s so present in our day-to-day that I find myself overlooking it sometimes. Working with this mass consumption as artists facilitates and instills a thought process around our human time on the planet.”

Amy says that the workshop allowed her to slow down and refocus her making practices, “returning to questioning why I do what I do, and revisiting that personal questioning with sincerity.”

“The workshop was a reminder of how incredible it is to create with others, and how combined thinking can generate energy and movement. Collaboration and co-creation are practices that I had been missing and the workshop made me remember how wonderful this can feel,” says artist Amy Rusch.

Member of Our Workshop Mpilo Headman listens as artist Amy Rusch explains how she used straws to create a bead necklace

Heath adds that besides allowing for deep contemplation, the workshop carved time for imagining better futures, while Yvonne says that the workshop reinforced the importance of being mindful of our consumption in navigating the plastic crisis.

The workshop was organised by Biru Experiments and Our Workshop, supported by The Beach Co-Op and Twyg, and sponsored by Coca Cola Peninsula Beverages.

Sheena Ocean shows her pouch made using a discarded yogurt container while Nadia van der Schyff looks on

Through cross-disciplinary collaboration, a workshop such as this one, helps strengthen and grow a caring community through testing, investigating, and changing patterns of production and consumption, and encouraging respectful being with nature.

The workshop took place in July 2022, as part of the annual Plastic Free Mzansi campaign.

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  Scott Eric Williams

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  Amy Rusch

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  Mara Fleischer

Organiser and curator: Yvonne Brecher | BIRU Experiments

Researcher: Heath Nash | Artist

Architect Yvonne Brecher and artist Heath Nash organised this Refashion Plastic workshop for the annual Plastic Free Mzansi campaign last year

 

Collectors and designers | Our Workshop | Langa:

• Sizwe Shumane
• Anele Nono
• Athi Ntententi
• Benji Pato
• Luvuyo Mpoza
• Mpilo Headman
• Nqobile Mapipa

Invited attendees:

• Amy Rusch | Artist
• Stephanie Ubdsell | Conservationist
• Carole Scott | Izinto NGO
• Scott Eric Williams | Artist
• Amélie de Bonnières | Architect
• Mara Fleischer | Designer
• Jackie May | Twyg
• Kara Levy | PETCO
• Sheena Ocean | Woolworths
• Nadia van der Schyff | Woolworths

 

• Images: The Dollie House
• Look out for Plastic Free Mzansi 2023 by following @twygmag on Instagram