Brita Recycled Tuna Sculpture
In a celebration of their recycling program that was doing well, Brita wanted an art piece for their HQ made from collected materials to show off along with educational facts for their staff members and visitors
With the idea already in play, Brita approached TerraCycle to fabricate the upcycled elements, with the tuna at the center being the major piece.
Ultimately the sculpture used 250+ bottle and pitcher filters and 500+ post-consumer water bottles.
Early Prototypes
Since the design was set we dove into construction mockups quickly. The big request from Brita was to make sure the tuna had texture and volume so we focused the experiments on that, attempting to build up thickness wherever possible.
To keep the waves looking continuous, small blocks were added in between filters
Even at 6’ long, the tuna had some tiny details that had to be carefully fitted.
Kelp pieces fitted into themselves easily and were more simple to handle.
The texture with clear bottles proved difficult, as did the resultant thickness. Careful planning was required to keep things look neat and intentional.
An outside metal artist helped fabricate the base of the tuna. We ended up taking his suggestion to curve the metal of the tuna to give it ‘girth’ rather than stack the bottles and ruin the texture.
Fabrication Details
Ultimately, to make fabrication easier, holes were drilled into the tuna and a matching set were punched into bottles. Bottles were carefully and uniformly folded. And everything was stitched using a over-large metal needle and wire.
The result was a fish-scale like texture and clean edges that matched the tuna’s profile tightly.
Final Installation
An installation document was made and all parts were handed off to Brita for final installation. The entire wall sculpture has been in place since 2019 informing Brita fans since.
