Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront has launched a sustainability initiative called ‘Our Better Nature’. The initiative aims to promote mindful consumption and encourage sustainable consumer practices to reduce landfill reliance. Its centerpiece is an installation featuring a gigantic suspended shopping trolley adorned with vibrantly colored bags made from repurposed waste materials. The initiative calls on the community to join in transforming waste into captivating artwork and to make even small acts of kindness for the environment.
What is ‘Our Better Nature’ and how does it promote sustainability?
‘Our Better Nature’ is a groundbreaking initiative launched by the V&A Waterfront that promotes the concept of mindful consumption with the aim of reducing landfill reliance and encouraging its community to embrace more sustainable consumer practices. The initiative features an innovative installation – a suspended shopping trolley adorned with five vibrantly colored bags meticulously crafted from repurposed waste materials. The project compels viewers to adopt mindful shopping and packaging habits and treat our planet with the respect it deserves.
Cape Town’s bustling Waterfront district offers a unique sight, marked by five vibrantly colored bags hanging from a trolley elevated high above the ground. These unorthodox bags, meticulously crafted from repurposed waste materials, narrate a compelling tale of transforming waste into captivating artwork. This unconventional spectacle is the brainchild of ‘Our Better Nature’ (OBN), a groundbreaking initiative launched by the V&A Waterfront.
Nisha Maharaj, the Senior Marketing Manager at V&A Waterfront, sheds light on the project. “OBN represents our dedication to sustainability,” she explains. “It’s a call to our community to join us on this transformative journey. We firmly believe that even the smallest acts of kindness can lead to significant changes.” The V&A Waterfront promotes the concept of mindful consumption with the aim of reducing landfill reliance, encouraging its community to embrace more sustainable consumer practices.
The centerpiece of this pioneering venture is a gargantuan suspended shopping trolley, measuring an impressive 2.7 meters high, 3 meters wide, and 1.5 meters deep. This innovative installation is the brainchild of Matt Edwards, a designer who collaborated with Platform Creative Agency and numerous local artists. Edwards aims to heighten consumer awareness about waste and incite mindful consumption by giving discarded materials a new lease of life.
Cathy O’Clery, Platform Creative’s creative director, explains their mission. “Our goal is to encourage people to reconsider their habits and make more sustainable choices,” she asserts. “We partnered with talented local artists, specifically those capable of transforming waste materials into stunning works of art.”
The steel trolley stands as a testament to the synergy between engineering prowess and artistic ingenuity. It is the creation of Brendan Wessels and his team at Santa World. The trolley proudly exhibits five oversized crocheted shopping bags, measuring 1 meter wide and varying between 1.2 and 1.4 meters high, masterfully crafted by the Re.Bag.Re.Use team from Hout Bay.
Each bag embodies the transformative power of recycling and repurposing. The pink and blue bags, resplendent and captivating, are painstakingly crocheted from approximately 660 unused bread bags each. The orange bag is ingeniously repurposed from discarded Discovery Vitality T-shirts. The black bag, intriguingly, is woven from outdated VHS tapes, and the brown bag is fashioned from recycled rope.
These bags are further adorned with the striking artwork of Richard Mandongwe from Makombe Artworks. An array of oversized toothbrushes, hangers, bleach bottles, shoeboxes, and batteries, cleverly crafted from various materials, enhance the bags’ appeal. Each bag is suspended by a robust steel wire frame.
The installation will be showcased at the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre until September 2024. But it is much more than a mere visual wonder—it serves as a call to action. It compels viewers to adopt mindful shopping and packaging habits and treat our planet with the respect it deserves. The ‘Our Better Nature’ initiative by the V&A Waterfront exemplifies the significant positive changes we can make for our environment when we act out of our better nature.
The suspended shopping trolley installation at the V&A Waterfront measures an impressive 2.7 meters high, 3 meters wide, and 1.5 meters deep, making it a gigantic centerpiece of the initiative.
The bags in the installation were meticulously crafted from repurposed waste materials by the Re.Bag.Re.Use team from Hout Bay. The bags were created by crocheting approximately 660 unused bread bags each for the pink and blue bags, making an orange bag from discarded Discovery Vitality T-shirts, weaving a black bag from outdated VHS tapes, and fashioning a brown bag from recycled rope.
The steel trolley in the installation was created by Brendan Wessels and his team at Santa World, who employed engineering prowess to achieve the structure’s impressive size while showcasing artistic ingenuity.
Richard Mandongwe, from Makombe Artworks, is an artist whose contribution to the installation comes in the form of striking artwork on the bags. His work features an array of oversized toothbrushes, hangers, bleach bottles, shoeboxes, and batteries, cleverly crafted from various materials, which enhances the bags’ appeal.
The installation will be showcased at the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre until September 2024, giving visitors ample time to engage with the installation and embrace mindful shopping and packaging habits.
Cape Town’s community can participate in ‘Our Better Nature’ by joining in transforming waste into captivating artwork and making even small acts of kindness for the environment. The initiative calls on everyone to embrace sustainable consumer practices to reduce landfill reliance and promote mindful consumption.
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