recycled beauties

Designer-Craftisans:@ Kunye African Trends

Do you think these products are beautiful!?

Then let me tell you these are made from ughs…waste plastic - recycled plastic!

kunye kube

And I think these are one of the most beautiful recycled plastic products I have ever seen!

computer bag

These are not just fun and funky products, these are functional too.

How else I would say the bed cover, plastic rugs for swimming pool, computer bag  and screens; some real recycled innovation!!

container

These handmade products are from Kunye - brilliant brainchild of Alison Coutras (and her local team of craftisans - a cooperative to combat unemployment) in South Africa.

Kunye is the Xhosa word for ‘forward together’.

Kunye has won a number of awards.

water it or vase it!

                            @ Pigmento - Kunst & Design

A simple PVC pipe as design object! Water it or Vase it!

It could be a very good DIY for a vase. All of us might be having pipes or few long and short pieces. Pigmento has made this beautiful vase from such simple materials -PVC pipe and a clamp. Lo and behold your vase is ready!

no candyfloss

fall between the pages

                            raking aside leaves

                                 on the background pond

                                              I release the moon.

                                                      - A haiku by H. F. Noyes

Dry leaves between the pages started with my botany student sister years ago. This is one project which is ever going. I did it too and now my daughters have a few thick notebooks full of dry leaves and flowers.

This is what my elder daughter did for her school project - a wall hanging.

The creepers are of dried tomato plants. Orchids and bougainvillea flowers are kept as it is. The body of butterfly is made of rose leaves. The feathery wild growth (?) (on the right side) and wings of butterfly are coloured.

The wings of butterfly with their antennas are absolutely untouched-see the nature’s perfect cuts!

I can’t recognize these leaves (I mean the wings of butterfly ones). Anybody know? May be Robyn of garden rooms will be able to tell us.

                          This photo by Daxiang Stef - via Flickr.

make it or break it

And somewhere there are engineers

Helping others fly faster than sound.

But, where are the engineers

Helping those who must live on the ground?”

                   –Young Oxfam Poster on this site.

                                                spindle

He has an engineering degree from best institution in India and still we can say he is a teacher. He is a toy teacher who teaches children how to make simple toys from inexpensive materials which hold a little science secret. Children are not bothered with any heavy explanation, they just have fun! He says learning by experience sticks in the memory.

Arvind Gupta has conducted workshops for children in more than 1,500 schools across India. He has taken his toy-tours to quite a few countries.

 He has written several books on science for children and translated several more. At present he has been working at the Children’s Science Centre, Pune.

    

                                     mgaical pencil holder

 

               dancer                         can aeroplane

 

          ball in the air                            balloon pump

His site is a treasure house of toys-DIY (+200) , digitized books and few films.

Do not miss this site –:all of you who have school-going young children!