We were invited by the Bottle Up Foundation and the Dutch Design Foundation to join a mission on Zanzibar. Together with three Dutch design studios, Klaas Kuiken, OS∆OOS, and Super Local, we set out to tackle the island’s growing glass waste problem. Our goal was to explore how design could intervene where infrastructure was missing.

Once on the island, we followed the life of a single bottle, from the hands of a tourist to the moment it was discarded. We discovered a major challenge: there was no local glass industry, no recycling system, and exporting waste to mainland Tanzania was neither practical nor sustainable. The issue wasn’t just waste, but a broken cycle.

We decided to act locally. By experimenting with cutting, grinding, and sandblasting, we developed our own small-scale methods to repurpose discarded bottles. The result was a collection of new materials and objects, proof that even limited resources can lead to meaningful transformation when design, craft, and purpose come together.

Year: 2018
Partners: Bottle Up Foundation, Dutch Design Foundation, Klaas Kuiken, OS∆OOS & Super Local