Brigitte's stuff

"These are hard times for dreamers"

Amélie (2001) Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (original title)

Thinking of Brigitte Cartier I have in mind this image of Audrey Tautou as Amélie.

Well, she is french, an artist (studied at the Beaux-Arts), full of charm, love, good will, tons of empathy, lots of ideas, lots of energy, creative energy that shouts its way in colors and materials to burst out. Some "Great balls of fire" this Brigitte...

In Israel she is well known establishment in the upcycle scene. She is responsible to the revolution of the visitor center of Hiria - the biggest landfill in Israel. As Karen Chernick wrote: (Brigitte) "...is the magician responsible for transforming the Hiria garbage dump into an upcycling design Mecca."

When chatting with her on a cozy winter day, in her charming apartment, with a cup of tea in my hand, I asked her, how could she convert the life in Paris (the absolute capital of beauty) to a life in Tel Aviv? She said it's not always easy living here (especially these times...), but as an artist she also finds it, very interesting and inspiring: hard, ruff, fanatical, full of hate, but than again full of love, high involvement and open minded.

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Lets go over Brigitte's stuff

She cut carpets founded in the street

Notes on the wall

Her own acrylic Rembrants

She just threw something on the lamp

Heart - brought by her dog from the street

Stuff founded in the street with her gold touch

A sketch for a pillow

Dolls collection

Collector - did I say?

Stuff on the door she upcycled from plastic bags

Left overs from Hiria - upcycled cans

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Upcycled interior designs of Brigitte in the Hiria" visitor center

Upcycled stuff in the main hall of Hiria

Upcycled plastic bottles, cork and tires 

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Upcycled interior designs of Brigitte in the ecological store - "The Green Fairy"

Upcycled lamp - from plastic leak leftovers

Big red flower - upcycled plastic bags and green pipe

Toys Chandelier

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Upcycled stuff from The Bat-Yam Biennial of Landscape Architecture

Cooperation of: Ben Cabelli, Amir Weiser & Brigitte Cartier - Garage Beige: studio for green design

Street light - upcycled stuff

The movie from the biennial - Street art from recycled bicycle:

Urban Forest Harvest

Ori Ben Zvi's studio is located in a workshops area in the south of Tel Aviv. Immediately as I walked into the main street I could feel the special vibes, lots of graffiti and lots of simple smiles. The alley was very narrow and made me feel intimate with every passer-by. Around 11:00 one could get an awful asthma due to the sawdust cloud. One of the tenant joked with me that they usually charge 25$ per a photograph (because I carried my camera with me), or that wasn't a joke?!

Now days Ori is full of new thoughts. One of this thoughts is the "Urban Forest Harvest" (hopefully he is going to "wiki" it soon), meaning that today there are more urban population than rural, and by that expression he is comparing the forest's harvest to the city waste, saying there are seasons in this case too. For example, last Saturday on his routine tour he found some umbrellas (as it was the beginning of winter).



Ori uses 100% recycled wood. He founds it in the streets, from carpentry shops at the neighborhood and sometimes he pays a visit in "Hiria" (the biggest landfill in Israel).


upcycled (1)
The Shelf-Drawer. (If you are a drawer, in your next life you can be a shelf)


upcycled (2)
The Stool. (If you are a carpentry's waste, in your next life you can be a stool)


upcycled (3)
The Spotlight. (If you are an olive can, in your next life you can be a "Kalmata Spotlight")



What would you do with an old (broken...) umbrella? and what's the meaning of "Ubico" - his brand's name (Ori's answers are above).



The concept of "The Wake" project (the trunk above in the center), is taken from the Christian funeral ceremony. It's about the opportunity to be with our precious for just a little longer. The trunk made from all kinds of wasted wood pieces, allowing the material (in its final grace) to stay with us for now, and maybe, in a sustainable way, forever.
"The Wake" has been shown in London's "100% design" showroom and in Singapore where it was rewarded for two prices.



My thoughts about "The Wake"'s compositions

There is an image accompanying Ori in his work and it is to take all existing wood objects and to plant them back in the woods. This image conceals in Ori's power of creation.

When garbage meets design

I am in love again:-)
After our first date my husband told his best friend he had met his future wife - TA-DA!
For me it's more like "When Harry met Sally" style. Slowly but Surely. It appears that I am always attracted to waste, and design was always there for me. So, one day I realized that this is it! I'm going to write down about upcycling (reused) design. I'm going to find out for myself this magic that happens when garbage meets design, when design issues come across environmental issues, when my will to reveal design strikes my will to create design. I am fascinated. I am enthusiastic. I am in love.



As I live in Tel Aviv I find very often construction waste. Each time it makes me wonder what palace could I built with it and sorrow for the fact it's going away to some landfill. The one in the picture above was lovely organized for my opinion.
And from a builder's art to a big artist:

That's the (2 minutes) trailer of the movie "Wasteland". Vik Muniz's garbage-art-community project. He is an artist (photographer) living in NYC, He was born into a working-class family in São Paulo, Brazil in 1961, and relocated to the United States in 1983. He had this huge urge and passion to do some art with the garbage in the world’s largest landfill, Jardim Gramacho, outside of Rio de Janeiro. Besides waste and the artistic search, the movie is also about changing people's life. (The pickers who work there and get some second chance to observe their life).



If you see the whole movie you would be whelmed by the power of the waste "on her head" it's all made of stuff: shoes, cans, dolls etc. Distancing and Nearing from the work emphasis the contrast between disgusting and wonder.



The work above (from this project) is called "Sebastião (Tião) Carlos Dos Santos" who is modeling in the picture, and has been a picker - recovered recyclables since he was 11 years old. The work quotes the classic "The Death of Marat" by Jacques-Louis David.
Vik invited Tião to the private auction, and when they announced the price of the work he started to cry. At that point in the movie, I felt my cramped heart filled with empathy to him, to his friends and to all mankind in this world.
This film has donated $276,000 to the (pickers) cooperative.

So long Vik...
loved your work <3
there goes my first kiss..hhhhhmmm...post.