A Coral Collection including three chairs made from chichiria wrappers and a center table designed with an old car tire; Kargada, a cargo bike using junk bike parts and plastic waste for the basket; Moroccan chairs made from the waste collected during the river cleanup in Morocco.
These were some of amazing pieces showcased in the recent “Junk Not” exhibit at SM Aura Premier, featuring Wilhelmina Garcia’s creative ways of transforming waste materials into functional/useful items. The event was part of SM Aura Premier’s Lush Initiative, a campaign promoting green programs in the mall, and part of its Earth Month celebrations.
Wilhelmina Garcia, PIID, is the founder of Junk Not, an interior design company that specializes in finding creative ways to transform everyday trash and other indigenous materials into functional items.
Junk Not engages a community of women in barangay. Alas-as, San Nicolas, Batangas to be responsible stewards of the environment by training them to segregate and clean household wastes. These plastic wastes are then turned into ropes that are woven into wooden/metal frames to create beautiful furniture or table accents.
Wilhelmina is a graduate of Interior Design at St. Scholastica’s College, Manila. She is a licensed interior designer and a member of PIID (Philippine Institute of Interior Design) since 2006. She attended social entrepreneurship at Youth Encounter Sustainability (YES) held in Armenia, Colombia.
In 2007, she won the grand prize in interior design category “The Environment Shapes You” by Metrobank Arts and Design Excellence (MADE). She is an advocate of the environment and continues to create art pieces as her means to lessen waste in different communities. Her beautiful furniture pieces and accessories have been exhibited in different events in the Philippines and abroad, in Paris, Belgium and Germany.
This exhibition is a call for action, an advocacy to push everyone to be more creative and responsible with their waste management. With this, SM Aura Premier and Junk Not encourage everyone to join this movement, give back to Mother Nature, and be a responsible consumer by starting proper waste segregation in your own home.
The Junk Not exhibit is one of SM Aura Premier’s many exciting events.
Celebrating Earth Month with the Coral Collection: SM SVP for marketing Millie Dizon, AVP for operations Bernice Baculi and Junk Not founder Wilhelmina Garcia. This new collection made of plastic waste materials and an old car tire is dedicated to marine life conservation.
Korean Cultural Center director Lee Jin and Jieun Song with Millie Dizon beside Kargada, a cargo bike using junk bike parts and plastic waste for the basket.
The Media Freedom Bench. As part of the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the British Embassy donated two benches to the new Freedom Park at the Commission on Human Rights with a media freedom quote from Winston Churchill. This miniature bench symbolizes the UK’s dedication to define media freedom. Wilhelmina works closely with the women of Taal Volcano in barangay Alas-as in San Nicolas Batangas. They were able to collect 2,000 kg. of plastic waste, and these were turned into ropes, which have become their means of liveli
DTI Provincial director Susan Palo comfortably sits on Wilhelmina Garcia’s Anak ng Tupa chair, which is dedicated to the number of sheep affected by human negligence.
Ikaw at Ako chairs, inspired by how “you and me” can help recover Mother Earth. This chairs are made of 4 kg. of plastic waste, properly collected by a partner com- munity while the chair’s frame is made of industrial steel bars from recycled metals.
These Moroccan chairs are the finished products of all the waste materials collected during a clean-up of a river during her artist’s residency in Morocco.
Uniliver’s Sherwin Ang, Dianne Tan, Erika Ching and Rondell Torres.
Conservationist and environmentalist Liza Dans, who inspired her sister Wilhelmina to save the environment.
Region IV DTI director Marilou Toledo sits on the Jeepney inspired by our jeepney’s driver seats and colorful interiors.
The Ilaw ng Kalikasan lamps, Wilhelmina’s collaboration with Mr. Dei Jardiniano, are guiding lights that will inspire everyone to come up with innovative and resourceful ways of saving Earth for future generations.
WilhelminaGarcia’sMountainChair, which was inspired by the mountains she climbed: Mt. Makiling, Mt. Cristobal, Mt. Batulao and Mt. APO. The wood used for this chair is from the acacia tree uprooted from their farm during a typhoon.