Upcycle: A Pioneering Exhibition To Tackle the Challenge of Tomorrow’s Working World

Upcycle is a pioneering exhibition in Cape Town that aims to demonstrate how design has the potential to embrace circularity to shape more conscious workspaces.

A pioneering response to the issue, it takes the form of a provocative exhibition to be staged in Cape Town, South Africa, and presented by leading global property development company JLL and its subsidiary, interior design firm Tétris Design and Build.

‘We see a brighter way forward for our clients, our people, our planet, and our communities… we’re unveiling opportunities that create a brighter future for all,’ JLL states.

Adrian Davidson

Tétris, which creates commercial environments that are inspirational and sustainable, is deeply invested in defining what tomorrow’s workspaces will look like in our ever-changing society. JLL and Tétris have identified that we need to contend with how the agile reconfiguration of the workspace in the post-Covid world has led to a mounting tide of discarded office equipment and furniture that either languishes in storage, ends up on an over-supplied second-hand market, or worse – in landfill. In Tétris’s view, designers and artists play a critical role in imagining new possibilities that help shape what the future could be, which is why the company has invited a collective of leading creative minds to spotlight the issue and to prompt its own organisation and the broader industry to reconsider their role.

Tshepiso Lesufi

Flying the flag for South African design will be Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi from Tétris South Africa. Wentzel has more than 30 years’ design experience in the commercial, residential, and retail sectors, where she uses her love of design and attention to detail to create spaces that people find rewarding. From the Pepsico HQ in Johannesburg, to curating the selection of African art for the Roche Johannesburg informal collaboration spaces, Wentzel has an incredible knowledge of local design and materials.

Helen Wentzel

Watine has an extensive background as a product and space designer with particular interest in innovation, trends and technological developments. His work for Scaleway, a French cloud computing and web company, reflects a forward-thinking approach to space design focused on the end user experience.

Amaury Watine

Upcycle intends to throw the bigger issues of sustainability and regenerative design into relief through the vehicle of unbounded creativity. Not limited by function and challenged to create a thought-provoking spectacle that will ignite powerful conversation, a select group of designers and artists, including members of Tétris’s own local and international teams, has been tasked with breathing bold new life into discarded office equipment and furniture pieces. With its progressive agenda of generating art installations that are designed to capture attention, Upcycle is set to be an intriguing affair.

The exhibition’s participants include Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy, sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen of Ananta Design Studio, Nisha and Justus van der Hoven of Hoven Design, Laurie Wiid of Wiid Design, Amaury Watine, who is the Creativity and Innovation Director Tétris EMEA, Adrian Davidson, Design Director Tétris EMEA, as well as two Senior Interior Designers from Tétris South Africa, Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi.

Nisha and Justus Van der Hoven’s unconventional and multidisciplinary architecture, interior design, film and exhibition studio Hoven will bring its experimental approach to the UPCYCLE exhibition. By combining their overlapping interests, the duo has shaped a unique process in their approach to projects and imagining new possibilities within an African context – particularly with regards to workspaces. The Van der Hovens have previously been involved in the architectural and interior design of workspaces such as Workshop17’s The Bank, Firestation, Kloof Street and Tabakhuis buildings, where they rethought the future of the physical, digital and experiential workspace and developed new space typologies designed for flexibility, variety and choice.

Justus and Nisha Van De Hoven

Acclaimed Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy is a fierce advocate for using art to give new life to discarded materials. Currently exhibiting his latest work in a solo exhibition at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch, Bongoy – who was born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and moved to South Africa in 2013 – focuses his work on environmental degradation and the resultant effect this has on human movement and access to resources. Using materials such as disused rubber, Bongoy creates new life and symbolism with his artworks, making him the perfect contributor to the UPCYCLE project.

Patrick Bongoy

Wiid is well-versed in the art of using unconventional materials in his work. The founder and lead designer of Wiid Design, a Cape Town-based product design studio with a catalogue ranging from furniture, lighting and tableware to collectible objects, Wiid is an expert at finding the niche between high-end and sustainable product design.

The majority of Wiid Design’s pieces are made using cork, the result of a decade-long experimentation with the material. This has seen Wiid continually push the boundaries of the material to achieve a number of world firsts – including the world’s largest cork pendant light, and a cork cabinet. For UPCYCLE, Wiid will be creating a sculptural birdhouse using almost 30 old office dustbins in combination with cork, steel and concrete.

Laurie Wiid

Studio Ananta is a Cape Town-based design studio committed to fostering a circular economy and creating sustainable, ethical and eco-conscious products. Named as part of Design Indaba’s cohort of Emerging Creatives in 2023, sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen founded Ananta during lockdown in 2020 as a brand that collaborates with craft communities to develop functional art pieces while creating economic empowerment. Studio Ananta’s fantastical beaded creations, characterised by colour and bold patterns, are designed by the duo and crafted in collaboration with skilled artisan communities, such as the beaders at Monkeybiz

Come and explore the future of the workspace!

Title: Upcycle
Date: 19-20 April 2024
Venue: Makers Landing, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Opening hours: 10h00-21h00, Friday-Saturday
Cost:  Entrance to the exhibition and Makers Landing is free
Parking: Secure paid parking is available at Makers Landing

For more information on Upcycle contact Glenda Venn via email to Glenda.Venn@jll.com

For more information about Tétris, follow @tetrisdesignxbuild on Instagram or visit https://www.tetris-db.com/en/