Old office furniture gets new life as artworks

Tamlynne Thompson|Published 10 months ago

Designers Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi from Tetris Design and Build in Johannesburg designed a helix swing.

An exhibition showcasing artworks made from old office furniture was on at Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront over the weekend.

Among the art pieces was a 2050 workplace wonderland - crocheted cassette tape fronds hanging from a repurposed dustbin chandelier; a giant helix-shaped swing with swing seats made from desk legs; an Oxygen Farm Work Pod – ironically crafted from discarded Covid-19 desk dividers- with an upcycled cabinet, and a seed library for the preservation of plants.

Khaya Dlulane from Brooklyn sits on staircase seats made from old desks.

There was also a towering tentacled floor lamp made of 82 bookshelves and 100 blue bins.

The exhibition was a collaboration between Sanlam, property advisory company JLL and design, and furniture business Tétris Design and Build.

The idea was to upcycle office equipment no longer being used due to hybrid ways of working after the Covid-19 pandemic. A large amount of office equipment is sitting in storage or piling up in landfills, as it often costs more to fix than to replace.

Tapiwa Likona from Hout Bay with the workplace wonderland sculpture she helped create.

The partnership saw Sanlam give the unused office items to artists commissioned by JLL and Tetris to come up with sustainable art pieces.

Tapiwa Likona, from Hout Bay, was one of four artists who worked on the 2050 workplace wonderland at Re.Bag.Re.Use, a company which repurposes plastic into bags.

She said the experience was fun and the outcome was surprising.

Palm tree sculpture made of plastic bins, bookshelves and meeting tables.

“I think upcycling is important because we will be saving the environment. We won’t be wasting a lot if we make things that we can upcycle and reuse in a better way.”

Designers Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi from Tetris Design and Build in Johannesburg conceptualised the colourful helix swing.

Ms Wentzel said the concept was born from the idea of creating something for the future of work, and “who were the people that were going to work in the future? - the children”. She said children love to have fun and they love swings, so they decided to create a helix swing out of old aluminium desks.

Sarene Nel, managing director of Tétris and Build, speaking at the event

Ms Lesufi said there were lots of old and unused furniture standing around after being donated as the beneficiaries have no use for it, so “why not create something useful and beautiful, and use it differently?”.

Karl Socikwa, group executive of market development and sustainability at Sanlam, said the exhibition was an out-of-the-box, creative way to work with local talent to repurpose furniture to be relevant and resaleable.

He said Sanlam was exploring a long-term partnership with JLL and Tétris to scale this initiative by collaborating with local furniture manufacturers in townships to transform discarded office furniture into new, saleable pieces.