There’s no use kidding ourselves: today, appearance often trumps substance, and merely talking about sustainability, upcycling, and the circular economy runs the risk of sounding like just a fad if it’s not backed up by facts.
This is why we choose to partner with social organizations that share our values. Not to pat ourselves on the back or receive praise and applause, but because we believe that doing it together is the only way to do it right, and the key to achieving important goals.
COMMUNITY
There’s no use kidding ourselves: today, appearance often trumps substance, and merely talking about sustainability, upcycling, and the circular economy runs the risk of sounding like just a fad if it’s not backed up by facts.
This is why we choose to partner with social organizations that share our values. Not to pat ourselves on the back or receive praise and applause, but because we believe that doing it together is the only way to do it right, and the key to achieving important goals.
RESAIL by Clean Sailors
London, UK
In July 2024, we chose to join “Resail By CleanSailors” a global sail recycling platform through which sailors around the world can connect with entities near or far that are working to give new life to discarded sails instead of sending them to landfill.
ReSail by Clean Sailor also encourages constructive change by working closely with sailmakers around the world to help them develop a more sustainable material that is easier to deconstruct, recover, and recycle, dramatically reducing environmental impact.
Isle of Wight, UK
SZAD
Palermo, Sicily
For the CapSenHAR’s project, in synergy with the Laboratory of Ecology of the University of Palermo and the Sicily Marine Centre of the SZAD – Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, we created the prototype of a kit intended for the collection of microplastics found on the beach.
The goal was to create a product while reducing its environmental impact as much as possible, so we worked in “full upcycling” using dacron and nylon from used sails (recovered from JUNKLE), the fabric of the bags in which they were contained, webbing from the sails of large recovered spinnakers, and scraps of durable outdoor cotton. To make the kit saltwater-resistant, we employed a stainless steel net and aluminum rods.
Mare Memoria Viva – the only Urban Ecomuseum in Southern Italy – focuses on urban and social transformations in Palermo since the post-war era, as told through images, stories and memories – all linked together by the theme of the city’s relationship to the sea.
How could we fail to contribute a small but very much in theme special project? JUNKLE therefore created a series of unique cushions for the ecomuseum platforms by repurposing the vintage colours of the old beach chairs’ fabric – a veritable walk down memory lane!
TRAIETTORIE URBANE
Palermo, Sicily
Together with Urban Trajectories we organized a workshop dedicated to leather goods. A small group of young women got involved, learning the basics, both theoretical and practical, to be able to create accessories using recycled materials. The result?: embroidered clutch bags, made step by step, that tell
the story of a journey of collaboration, manual skills, and a desire to learn.
Since 1979 the Centro di Ricerca per la Narrativa e il Cinema has been awarding the Efebo d’Oro / International Prize for Cinema and Fiction – the event initially taking place in Agrigento and for some years now in Palermo.
Following our support FOR the Sicily Queer Film Festival, the Efebo d’Oro has asked us to contribute to the 2021 edition – for them we have created a special collection of bags made out of the advertising banners of the previous editions.
Support the Efebo d’Oro!
A Relational Architecture project (and not just that!) by Handala Association for the Leonardo Sciascia school in the Zen neighbourhood of Palermo, financed by MIBACT (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, ie the Ministry for culture in Italy), with the participation of Lisca Bianca, FLS architetta, JUNKLE, SEND, Università degli Studi di Palermo – Younipa_Dip. Scienze Pedagogiche with the partnership of Comune di Palermo – Assessorato cittadinanza solidale, Centro Commerciale Conca D’Oro di Palermo.
JUNKLE set up an upholstery workshop hosted by OFFICINE ZEN, teaching a course on the basics of this fascinating craft.
A major social project financed by Fondazione con il Sud and managed by Centro Danilo Dolci, aimed at enhancing parenting capacity within the community, strengthening childcare services and activating welfare strategies involving the local government, the Third Sector and the people of the Kalsa neighborhood in Palermo.
Within such a project, a tailoring and creative upcycling workshop was set up by SEND in a partnership with JUNKLE, aimed at recover and repurpose materials and fabrics otherwise on their way to the trash can.
The Sicilia Queer Film Festival – the first international festival of lgbt cinema and new visions in Sicily – was created to cater for the demand for non-sanctioned, innovative, critical thought and cultural production, mirroring a changing society.
To support the festival, in 2017 JUNKLE created the Queer Bag for their merchandising. The Queer bags are echo-bags realized each year by upcycling the advertising banners of the previous edition.
Support the SQFF!
Called in to design the textile furnishing for the reading rooms of this charming Biblio-workshop in the very heart of Palermo’s Kalsa district, we teamed up with architect Flora La Sita (FLS Architetta) to work on a SICILY MARKETS colour palette harmonising with the plywood furnishings and the nautical items about the place.
You don’t enter Booq – you board it… and readers become sailors.
