The international language of Garbage!

I recently had the amazing opportunity to travel to TerraCycle's Mexico office in Monterrey and to ReMake their office space. I worked with a team of people to upcycle everything from the light fixtures, to the chairs, tables, and more. The majority of the renovation took a week and a half, but there were several weeks of work prior to the renovation where a lot of materials were deconstructed, sewn, cut, glued, and more in preparation for the installation.

Typically projects have a longer lead time than a week and a half, so having the limited amount of time on-site and seeing the transformation take place over a short time was really amazing. It was also really fun to experiment with Mexican garbage and work with a new team of people. Working together to "Eliminate the idea of waste" or "Elimina la idea de basura" is what this is all about.

I could talk more about this project, but feel that the photos speak the international language of garbage and demonstrate the idea of upcycling perfectly. Nueva vida a la basura!


When you first walk into the office you're greated by a TerraCycle logo created from little sombreros cut out of Mexican branded food wrapper. There's also a dress sewn from Mexican bread bags that have been fused and sewn together in a traditional Mexican style


In the reception area, there is a seating space created from vintage theater seats, movie theater film end tables, a flowery food wrapper chandelier and more!


Walking up the stairs, you'll find a sculpture made from 3D glasses. This office space used to be an eyeglass factory, so the throwback to the glasses, was particularly appreciated by the staff.


In the meeting room on the second floor, you'll find a lounge area created from a chair made out of tires, an end table made from a pallet, and a poster-sized picture of the Monterrey Mountain, Cerro de la Silla, framed in circuit board picture frames.

You can get a link to even more pictures on the photo album here. Feliz upcycling!