If we were to be truly honest, most of us would admit that recycling is crushingly boring. Well-intentioned? Sure, but the process can be so overweening.
And yet every now and then, someone comes along with a take on recycling that is actually more like reinvention. Brian Marshall is one of those someones. Brian creates ‘bots’–little anthropomorphic sculptures fashioned from the effluvium of modern living: cast off Polaroids, old appliance knobs, oil cans and other post-industrial waste. He imbues each of his smile-inducing creations with a surplus of personality that will make you look at bent forks and mismatched gears in a totally new way.
That’s the greatest gift of a rich imagination: the ability to see in new ways, to offer new insights, to expand expectations into new and intriguing places. That can lead to something as life-changing as a medical breakthrough, or something as simple as a desktop trinket that makes you smile every time you look at it. The raw power of imagination can do so much with so little. And that’s perhaps the most sustainable notion of all.
Visit Brian’s Flickr photo stream here or review his latest wares at his etsy site here.
One man’s trash truly can be another man’s treasure.