Other posts on our community blog have given you an inside look at TerraCycle headquarters, and all of the innovative upcycling projects that decorate our office. If you’ve ever wondered who’s responsible for the courtyard mulch from flip flops, the walls made from vinyl records, or a table made from old belts, then this is the post for you.
Brad, Tiffany, and Lori with the brand new Courtyard Pallet Garden
TerraCycle has three full time Design Junkies on staff- Tiffany, Lori, and Brad. The three designers have extremely diverse backgrounds (industrial design, textile design, and sustainable architecture, respectively) and work on projects just as diverse. Their responsibilities range from decorating the TerraCycle offices (see links above) to creating new product sample designs for partners, and hundreds of projects in between. They are constantly working on new design ideas and creating new products from brand new streams of waste.
The Design Junkies take decorating the TerraCycle offices very seriously, because they see it as an opportunity to inject our upcycling philosophy directly into the company culture. They want to find fun, creative solutions for waste so hopefully, all of you will be inspired to do the same. They create a lot of DIY upcycling projects and have used garbage to do all kinds of crafts. You can see some tutorials on the TerraCycle YouTube page.
The Design Junkies’ Leather Belt Table
They also work on design items for specific Brigade programs. For instance, when the Hamilton Chip In for Change started, our Design Junkies started working on products to use when publicizing and promoting the initiative. They came up with a table cover made out of old leather belts to use when out at community events. To help promote the Brigade’s goals, they created a giant thermometer out of fish tanks to fill up with chip bags collected in the area.
The Design Junkies are a huge part of what makes TerraCycle such a creative company. Their thinking-outside-the-box attitude inspires the entire company.