You work with a material that is particularly difficult to reuse, but abundant

In Egypt, just like everywhere else, plastic bags are a major source of pollution. Two million plastic bags are handed out in the world every minute! And recycling them does not make any sense, in terms of energy or the environment.

We started to become interested in this subject in our last year in the faculty of Science and Applied Arts at the German University in Cairo. We decided to work on the possibilities of recycling this material, increasing its lifespan and preventing it from being disseminated. When we tried to transform plastic bags for reuse, we immediately saw the possibilities created by the skills of local craftspeople, especially those working in the field of weaving.

So that is where Plastex came from?

It was this connection between an environmental problem, traditional technologies and design that brought about the development of Plastex, an innovative material that is made by

The founders of the Reform studio in Cairo, Hend Riad and Mariam Hazem, design furniture and objects made of used plastic bags. Or how design can transform waste into a noble raw material.

de ces fines bandes. À travers la création d objets fonctionnels et esthétiques en Plastex, ce qui était un déchet se trouve subitement une nouvelle vie, toute différente.

Le nom de votre studio, Reform, signale que vous voulez avoir un impact sur les esprits aussi bien que sur les objets ?

Notre ambition est d avoir un impact environnemental, un impact social en valorisant des savoir-faire artisanaux qui se perdent aujourd hui et un impact économique en faisant travailler des femmes issues de milieux défavorisés et aussi de porter un message, d avoir une histoire à raconter derrière les objets que nous concevons. La société égyptienne bouge et le design doit contribuer à ce changement.

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INTRODUCING