Gallery: Watch: Mobile Recycling Center Turns Soda Cans Into Trendy Stools
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Designers Alex Groves and Azusa Murakami of Studio Swine created *Can City,* a mobile recycling facility that they haul through the streets of São Paulo, Brazil, producing furniture made from scavenged aluminum cans. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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*Can City* applies the food truck ethos to industrial fabrication while addressing the serious problem of poverty in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Groves and Murakami hope to provide the poorest citizens a path towards a better life as designers. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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In São Paulo, recycling doesn't happen in tidy green bins, but rather through an informal network of independent waste collectors called "catadores" who scour the streets collecting cans and selling them as scrap. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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*Photo: Studio Swine*
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*Can City* doesn't require much in the way of capital. Basic tools and safety gear are within reach for most and the materials to produce the furniture are free. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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It's not glamorous, but collecting cans provides the poorest citizens an alternative to the drug trade or prostitution and Groves and Murakami hope to help these collectors become designers. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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Approximately 100 cans are required for each stool, which may sound like a lot, but scavenging after a football game can yield thousands. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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Molds are fabricated by pressing found objects into slightly moist sand, scavenged from local construction sites, and are filled with molten aluminum. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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The chairs take approximately 30 minutes to cool, though Groves has burnt himself a time or two by being overzealous about removing parts from the molds. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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The stools are limited to the "Favela Chic" aesthetic and require significantly more aluminum than the thin wall extruded aluminum furniture found in showrooms. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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Streets turn into ad hoc assembly lines and the result is a collection of trendy looking stools that are given to the locals who help scrounge up materials. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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*Can City* chairs make use of solid waste, utilizes the skills of the local labor force, and could even claim to reduce carbon emissions by cutting out transportation which often creates more air pollution than the manufacturing. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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The solid aluminum chairs can support a decent amount of weight, but haven't been stress tested. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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"The great thing about São Paulo is the residents are very open and really engaged with what we were doing. Each time we fired up the furnace it was a real event and a crowd would gather to watch," says Groves. "People loved taking photos to post to Instagram and Facebook." *Photo: Studio Swine*
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*Can City* is a physical embodiment of Studio Swine's mission to promote "Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Exploration." *Photo: Studio Swine*
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The path is unclear, but *Can City* could give the catadores a way out of poverty if the financial model bears fruit. *Photo: Studio Swine*
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Groves and Murakami hope to expand the program beyond São Paulo and into other produce categories. *Photo: Studio Swine*
