It all started in 2006 when I visited Gambia. I was overwhelmed by many things but sadly mostly by a orphanage and a huge smelly damping waste dump just across it. All day they were burning the plastic waste. The smell and the fuels were unbearable and very unhealthy for sure.
And that is when it hit me, we need to reduce our (plastic) waste! And we need to find a better solution for all the plastic that is already there.
so what did I do?
In 2010 I decided to take packaging materials as the base material and inspiration for some product designs and started Pou-Belle Design.
Only a few months later Pou-Belle Design won the Ernst & Young sustainable entrepreneur challenge. In 2014 my design BottleCapButton won the Duurzame-designbattle of Voor De Wereld Van Morgen.
Early 2020 I decided to focus on illustration art beside my theatre work. I stopped making product design, and no longer work under the label Pou-BelleDesign. Nevertheless I will keep upcycling!
Here are some things I designed under the label Pou-Belle Design:
Sweet Concrete, Vase. Made from discarded plastic soda bottles and concrete.
No longer available
RawCutJerry, pendant lamp. Made from discarded plastic milk containers.
Available on request
BottleCapButtons, buttons (price-winning). Made from discarded plastic bottle caps.
Still available. See the current stock here or send me an email with a colour request.
Today I focus on art works and I like to involve upcycled materials:
A pair of commissioned artworks for the opening of the new buildings of (left) Re-Share and (right) Circulus-Berkel in Deventer 2020. Made with plastic bags from the Deventer streets and discarded textile collected by Re-Share.
Nature, artwork made for the art contest of TextielPlus 2020. Made from discarded plastic bags and threath.
Sold.
Birds, series artworks made from discarded plastic bags I found on the Amsterdam streets.
So, how do I make these illustrations exactly......?
And here are some examples of the upcycling in my theatre work:
I like to use materials and objects that already had a life. Sometimes I make an old thing new by adding or removing things, sometimes I only use it in a different unexpected way to make it new.
I find my old-soon-to-become-new-things in second hand stores, waste bins or abandoned houses.
Fan of upcycling too?
I would love to collaborate with you!
Please send me an email, I would love to hear your thoughts.