“Keep the junk. Save the jungle.”
Don’t worry, no play on words here, though we would like to tell you about what’s behind our work, and what’s inside it.
Part of our reward consists in transmitting a message, and communicating an objective. We encourage everyone to do their part, and can only talk about how we go about it: collecting one piece of junk at a time, and giving new life to something destined for the trash heap.
What many people consider junk, we consider unmined gold: used sails that have crossed the Mediterranean and North Seas, PVC offcuts, and deadstock of outdoor-market canopies.
With the possible exception of the hairstylist or barber who has just butchered your hair (sound familiar?), we firmly believe that everything (and everyone) deserves a second chance.
From Palermo to JUNKLE.
In case you didn’t know, JUNKLE is located in Palermo, a complex city that is everything and its opposite. It’s intriguing and unnerving, eclectic and (very) chaotic, but always inspiring. The city stimulates us every day, and we let it do its thing.
A bit like the cook who favors local ingredients, JUNKLE often finds itself primarily using material that the community offers us.
Even the name JUNKLE was a gift from this city. It’s a portmanteau of “junk” and “jungle”: an urban jungle full of junk, and a jungle to be rescued from junk. You might think there’s a better name out there, but for us it’s perfect for what we do, which is sticking our hands in the chaos and pulling out an urban backpack, satchel bag with a ‘70s look, or a contemporary-looking raincoat.
Junk, but Not by Chance.
Certain kinds of junk are everywhere, but submerged. But it’s worth digging for, and what’s salvageable for our purposes is varied. These materials are different in terms of origin, history and, above all, type of material, most often synthetic (sails and PVC), with different grades of recyclability, but always and exclusively disposable as special waste (what we want avoid or delay at any cost), or bio-based from vegetation, like cotton canvas and market canopies.
It all began with used sails, which were the first materials we recovered and experimented with. Once this material was disposed of, it was not immediately evident how it could be used outside of its “native habitat,” and put to different use. But we found it to be surprisingly versatile.
We work with three types of sails, each with different characteristics: the spinnaker sail, the carbon-kevlar racing sail, and the dacron sail.
The particularity of the spinnaker sail resides is its lightness, due to the nylon of which it is made, in its bright colors, and in its zig-zag stitching. This has allowed us to create medium size accessories, such as backpacks, bags, and waist pouches and, together with the creative genius of fashion designer Livia Quaresmini, genderless clothing for everyday use.
The dacron sail, composed of acrylic fibers, is slightly heavier than the spinnaker, and is ideal for making indoor and outdoor poufs, as well as tote bags, pencil cases, and key carriers that are highly resistant.
With the carbon-kevlar sails we make American-style placemats, which are durable and easy to clean.
Another source we use is PVC, a highly durable, waterproof, easily washable and recyclable material. We gather this material ourselves by going around to various local workshops, which have preconsumed leftover and deadstock material in their supply rooms.
Then there is the deadstock of cotton canopies and tents used in the old historical outdoor markets in town. This material is robust and colorful, perfect for making poufs and cushions in a contemporary pop style, which if it doesn’t already exist means we invented it (true trendsetters that we are …). These objects are for both indoor and outdoor use.
From the Materials to the Collections.
With used sails, PVC offcuts, and deadstock of indoor and outdoor fabrics we make small accessories, backpacks, bags, waist pouches, clothing, and indoor/outdoor furnishings that, depending on the availability of the recovered material, can be part of an ongoing collection or a capsule collection.
Our projects made through upcycling of used sails are part of different collections, such as the Spinnaker CCoA. Others come about through collaboration with artists and designers who share JUNKLE’s mission, like the Light Outwear Mini-collection, created together with fashion designer Livia Quaresmini, and the I WAS A SAIL project, in collaboration with Studio Pica.
The bright colors of the PVC offcuts inspired us to make collections of accessories like Wanderlust, with a ‘70s vibe, Trick, with a minimalist vibe, and Alley, a backpack with an upfront urban vibe.
Fabric deadstock, instead, has given life to two collections: Sicily Markets and Canaponi, which include some of our indoor/outdoor products.
And then we come to the Rebel Scraps project, which includes small JUNKLE objects, e.g., key carriers, wallets. These are made with the final scraps of leftover material from larger sized items. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, nothing gets thrown out.
We are always looking for new ideas, and involved in the gathering of materials that would otherwise go to waste, all in the name of surviving the urban jungle, and saving the real jungle.
