If you’re a Nespresso-coffee-lover living in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane — you’re in for a treat! The world’s biggest coffee brand, Nespresso, has partnered with Indigenous strategy and design agency, Balarinji, to create recycled 3D artworks that celebrate the ‘Doing Is Everything’ campaign.
Nespresso’s ‘Doing Is Everything’ Sustainability Campaign
‘Doing Is Everything’ is all about Nespresso’s commitment to placing sustainability at the core of all its business practices. Instead of just printing out posters or talking about the campaign, Nespresso went the extra mile.
The beautiful, colourful, 3D artworks spell out ‘Doing Is Everything’. But, if you look a little bit closer, you’ll see that the artwork is made from thousands of upcycled coffee capsules and natural woven materials!
The eye-catching installations were created by a talented team of artists and designers from Balirinji. The designers, Adam France and Toby Bishop, visual artist, Eve Paterson, and Sydney-based Aboriginal weaver, Karleen Green, sought to create a visual link between Aboriginal culture and sustainability.
The Artwork Is Made From Recycled Nespresso Capsules
The large artworks, featured in Nespresso Boutiques throughout Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, were constructed using thousands of colourful, recycled Nespresso coffee capsules. The capsules are made from aluminium.
Eve Paterson, one of the designers reflected on the entire process saying, “Sorting through thousands of coloured coffee capsules was certainly an experience I’ll never forget. It was interesting to see how the capsules are processed and turned into a reusable resource. Even the coffee grounds are reserved for making compost and topsoil,” she says.
Amazingly, the Balrinji design team sorted, emptied, and flattened thousands of Nespresso capsules, and they also made hundreds of wire spirals to represent waterholes and meeting places in Aboriginal culture.
The Artworks Are Inspired By Aboriginal Culture
Aboriginal life is rooted in the idea of a closed-loop circle, according to Adam France. “Everything went back to the land and would be regenerated, nothing was wasted, and the country was perfectly maintained in a balance of sustainability for thousands of years. It is the best blueprint civilisation has for a sustainable and long-lasting culture,” France says.
These concepts are reflected in the Nespresso artworks. Aside from using recycled materials and traditional Aboriginal weaving techniques, the designers also used natural colours that reflect our beautiful Australian landscape.
Balrinji designer, Tony Bishop, says that the entire design is based on sustainable living. “When developing the concept we wanted to portray a story that talked to Indigenous sustainable practices, including the use of their sustainable materials.”
Recycle Your Coffee Capsules With Nespresso
Aside from improving the energy efficiency of its Nespresso machines and committing to being carbon neutral by 2022, Nespresso also offers you the choice to recycle your coffee capsules! To do this, simply drop off your used capsules at your nearest Nespresso Boutique or one of 19,000 collection points, or return them via a Nespresso Australia Post satchel.
Your used coffee capsules will be recycled into new aluminium-based products via a specialist recycling plant based in Nowra, NSW, and the excess coffee is transformed into compost. Nespresso also retrieves its coffee from more than 110,000 farmers through its AAA Sustainable Quality Program, which provides job security to those communities.
The program is also Rainforest Alliance Certified, so you rest assured knowing that your delicious cup of coffee is sourced using sustainable farming practices!
According to Marta Fernandes, Head of Strategic Projects and Sustainability at Nespresso, “The artwork is a reminder that we can all do something towards preserving the planet, like recycling our used coffee capsules, and we hope to inspire and empower customers to make these more sustainable choices, by making recycling accessible for everybody.”
What do you think of these amazing artworks? We love the intersection between sustainability and Aboriginal culture, which are fundamentally intertwined. If you’re a coffee-lover, make sure you recycle your used coffee capsules via Nespresso. Who knows? Your used coffee capsules might be used to make more amazing art!
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