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:

The lab girls

The lab <1> Ab-cyc-lutely design studio

For the Kulla girls sustainability is definitely in their blood. They drink from reused jam jars. Their place is full of lost vintage furniture waiting to be repaired. Their studio's design projects are usually characterized with community or environment contents (or both), such as designing agriculture children's farm. In general they believe in reduction instead of mass production.



The lab <2> Upcycle the shutters

Adi Shpigel and Keren Tomer go along since their product design studies at Shenkar College. At those times they have noticed a repetitive behavior - many people in Israel have changed their 60's plastic shutters for glass windows. After they have managed to get a stock of those hated shutters they started observing them, checking them and testing them. The solving of the shutters puzzle came from the side look of them - their profile. Than they could thread iron through the inner part of the shutter, and by that to strengthen it enough for seating. Another option they discovered to upcycle the shutter is to slice it, and than join the slices to a decorative screen.

The lab <3> Upcycle the sawdust

This time sawdust was in question. What could they do with it? How could they glue it? The girls tried time after time all sort of solutions until smoke was out of the "lab". One day they had their Eureka:-)! They cooked the sawdust together with reused-colored-nylon-shopping bags and for their surprise, it was the ultimate design complete solution, without using any glue and upcycling the bags as well.

The lab <4> The Liar- Truth-Teller Enigma

The famous puzzle from The Labyrinth (1986)

Left Door Knocker: It's very rude to stare! 
Sarah: Oh! I'm sorry, I was just wondering which door to choose. 
Left Door Knocker: What? 
Right Door Knocker: It's no good asking him, he's deaf as a post! 
Left Door Knocker: Don't talk with your mouth full! 
Right Door Knocker: I'm not talking with my mouth full, I... 
Sarah: Wait, wait, I can't understand you. 
Left Door Knocker: What were you saying? 
Right Door Knocker: Ah! Mm. Oh, oh, it is so good to get that thing out. 
...

The solution:
"Guard, what would the other guard say if I asked him where his door leads?”