WORDS Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Supplied
This pioneering exhibition taking place from 19 to 20 April 2024 showcases how human creativity can tackle the challenge of tomorrow’s working world.
Upcycle is an innovative initiative showcasing how design can champion circularity and contribute to creating more sustainable workspaces. This project will take the form of an exhibition in Cape Town, presented by JLL, a leading global property development company, and its subsidiary Tétris Design and Build, an interior design firm. The exhibition aims to raise awareness around environmental challenges and inspire others to take action.
“We see a brighter way forward for our clients, our people, our planet, and our communities… we’re unveiling opportunities that create a brighter future for all,” JLL states.
Tétris, which creates commercial environments that are inspirational and sustainable, is deeply invested in defining what tomorrow’s workspaces will look like in our ever-changing society. JLL and Tétris have identified that we need to contend with how the agile reconfiguration of the workspace in the post-Covid world has led to a mounting tide of discarded office equipment and furniture that either languishes in storage, ends up on an over-supplied second-hand market, or worse – in landfill. In Tétris’s view, designers and artists play a critical role in imagining new possibilities that help shape what the future could be, which is why the company has invited a collective of leading creative minds to spotlight the issue and to prompt its own organisation and the broader industry to reconsider their role.
With Upcycle, the aim is to put bigger issues of sustainability and regenerative design under the spotlight in a creative way. A select group of local designers and artists, including members of Tétris’s own local and international teams, has been tasked with breathing new life into discarded office equipment and furniture pieces. With these thought-provoking pieces that will ignite conversation, Upcycle is set to be an intriguing affair.
The select group of local designers and artists include:
- Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy
- Sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen of Ananta Design Studio
- Nisha and Justus van der Hoven of Hoven Design
- Laurie Wiid of Wiid Design
- Amaury Watine, who is the Creativity and Innovation Director Tétris EMEA
- Adrian Davidson, Design Director Tétris EMEA, as well as two Senior Interior Designers from Tétris South Africa, Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi.
The exhibition will be open to the public at Makers Landing at V&A Waterfront from 19 to 20 April 2024. On Friday 19 April, design students will be welcomed for a special student-focused day, and on Saturday 20 April there will be a free curated walkabout with the artists and designers at 11h00.
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