Upcycling Workshop with The Body Shop

Most people throw away empty jars and bottle after finishing their last drop or dab of facial serum and cream and I am quite guilty of it too. Some brands try to recycle these empty containers by giving out recycling stamp cards that lets you earn a stamp if you bring back the empty containers to the stores for recycling.

Upcycling is another way we can give these containers a second and colourful life by just painting them! The Body Shop is passionate on upcycling and I had the honour to conduct a workshop session for The Body Shop APAC with an audience of 80 social influencers, beauty bloggers and television celebrities on a fine afternoon in May.

Prepping for this workshop was quite a challenge as we had to prepare for both Japanese and English speaking audience, meaning a bilingual information card, and not to forget the preparation of materials like the furoshiki fabric and cutting them according to size, cups and paints into containers, brushes and hairdryers to dry the containers as we only had less than 30 minutes of turnaround time.

Here are some images of the experiments and creative process of this project that was challenged with a short workshop timeframe (3 samples to be done under 60 minutes - including my introduction) and keeping it simple so everyone can paint easily.

Experimenting patterns with a Japanese Influence

Test painting on surface of a clear plastic cup.

Dots and water droplets

Mock-up of approved pattern

Rejected pattern due to complexity

Rejected pattern due to relevance to Japanese culture

Vector illustration of official pattern