Lot61 Zimzala coffee package • Golden pothos • "Every month I order coffee beans to have at home, and I find the packaging from this Dutch roastery really nicely designed. It's a shame to throw them away every time, so I'm happy I can reuse it for something else."
Yuzu Seltzer soda can • Golden pothos • "This was bought at the Avondmarkt in Staatsliedenbuurt because I love the yuzu fruit and I liked the design of the label. That night shop has so many beautiful imported drinks, I could spend hours there."
Cumin spice bottle • Philodendron micans • "I used this cumin spice bottle for cooking. When it finished, I thought it would be nice to use for this project but I don't think the empty glass bottle is that nice looking. So I painted it with a pattern to decorate it."
Twinings tea tin • Golden pothos • "I found this at a kringloop (a second-hand store) in Amsterdam Noord. I love seeing old packaging of brands that still exist nowadays, it makes you think how long they've been around for and how they've evolved."
Laos spice bottle • Golden pothos • "This spice bottle was found in the Treehouse Tribe's kitchen cabinets and it was expired. I've never actually heard of the spice Laos, so I learned something new by recycling this. It's also known as galanga powder, a spice typically used in Indonesian cuisine."
Activia yogurt pot • Citronella • “A yogurt pot seemed like a perfect container to plant something in, but I really didn’t like the look of it. So I painted a colorful pattern on it and drew leaves with markers. I like it much more now!”
Terracotta paint bucket • Golden pothos • "Paint used to renovate my apartment in Amsterdam Noord, used to paint our bedroom. Once the paint was used up we had no use for the leftover paint, so I painted the outside of the bucket itself in terracotta. I wanted to decorate it more so I chose an Egyptian theme I thought matched the earthy tone and drew gold symbols on it with a marker."
Ben & Anna toothpaste jar • Mother of thousands • "The jar originally contained toothpaste from a zero waste and natural brand. I love buying this toothpaste not only because it's one of the best natural brands I’ve tried, but also because I find the jar useful once it’s empty. I’ve made candles in them, have spices in my kitchen and now I’m so excited to see it having a new purpose"
Friedhats Colombia coffee bottle • Golden pothos • "This really cool packaging is from a coffee roaster in Amsterdam Bos en Lommer called Friedhats FUKU. They use vitamin bottles for their coffee beans. Their small cafe can easily be missed, but the coffee is great! They even have a little garden where you can sit."
Bonne Maman jam jar • Aloe vera • "My sister and her friends came to visit me this summer and we rented a boat to cruise through the Amsterdam canals. We bought a bunch of snacks like bread, cheese and jam. At the end of the boat trip we had leftover snacks, and since I'm the only one that lives here, I took the jam home. Funny story, right after we left the boat we were really hungry (since we had been drinking on the boat) and we were scarfing down the snacks on the side of a random street. Later I found out that my friend saw us while she was passing by and tried to say hi but we were too busy snacking to notice!"
Lot61 Bombora coffee package • Golden pothos • "Every month I order coffee beans to have at home, and I find the packaging from this Dutch roastery really nicely designed. It's a shame to throw them away every time, so I'm happy I can reuse it for something else."
NYC Transit soap dispenser • Golden pothos • "I found this when I got sucked into organizing a random storage room. The room belongs to my landlord but because it’s next to where I do my laundry, I couldn’t take the mess. I kept this when clearing out the room"
Rituals air diffuser • Golden pothos • "This is an air diffuser I got to freshen up my house. They only last a few months before the liquid is used up, but the bottles are so nice it's a shame to throw them away."
La Chinata smoked paprika tin • Citronella • “I love smoked paprika. I use it in almost any dish I cook. I always thought these containers are very cute, and once I heard of this project I thought it would be perfect with a plant inside it.”
M&S Shortbread bites container • Aloe vera • "These shortbread bites are addictive. Whenever I travel to London I buy one of these large containers from M&S and eat one for breakfast and one for dessert after dinner almost every day until they're gone."
Incase backpack • Aloe vera • “This backpack has been with me for over 10 years and travelled along from my old, misaligned life into the new, nourishing way of being. I actually wanted to repair the backpack and give it a new life, but when I heard about this project it actually felt so right to give this fella a little rest.”
Calvé peanut butter jar • Aloe vera • "We go through these jars pretty quickly. My Dutch husband loves his Calve pindakaas met stukjes noot. I think he mentioned once that he eats like 22 peanut butter sandwiches a week! 😂 I've reused a lot of these glass jars as storage containers, and I thought why not try to use it as a plant pot?"
Bocca Los Amigos coffee • Golden pothos •"I love the coffee from this little cafe in central Amsterdam. Unfortunately it's around the corner from one of my old jobs, and I hate going by there in case I run into old colleagues so I try to avoid it. At least I can still order their coffee beans online to enjoy at home."
Glass jug with handle • Aloe vera • "I moved into my first permanent place in Amsterdam, so I was trying to love and use everything that came with the apartment. The only item I couldn’t love is this water jug. I hope someone else can love it since I couldn’t."
Cow pattern mug • Spider plant •“They use cups like this at our restaurant to serve soups and drinks. Since they are metal they are quite sturdy and impossible to break. Some customers specifically asked if they can buy them since it would be perfect to be used around kids”
Grey paint bucket • Banana plant • "This bucket came from renovating my house. We bought too little grey paint to do enough layers in our bathroom, but by the time we realized this it was Covid lockdown and we couldn't get more of the paint. It was a specially mixed color that we needed to get in person, but the store was closed. We had to wait for months until lockdown was finally open and by then we were kind of lazy to finish painting. It took us about 6 months to finish a 2x2m bathroom fully."
Ibi apollo wine bottle • Trandescantia • "Chateau Karlito is a small natural wine store in North Amsterdam. I feel like it's a thing that natural wines have unique designs on their bottles completely different to traditional wines you find at supermarkets. Each one is like a work of art."
Explosivi apple cider bottle • Monstera adansonii • "Chateau Karlito is a small natural wine store in North Amsterdam. I feel like it's a thing that natural wines have unique designs on their bottles completely different to traditional wines you find at supermarkets. Each one is like a work of art."
Sesame seed shaker • Mother of thousands • "I absolutely love sesame seeds, so I go through these jars really fast. I cook a lot of Asian dishes, and they use a lot of sesame. There's an amazing Asian supermarket in North Amsterdam that has tons of different types, like black sesame or even wasabi flavoured."
Sugar syrup jug • Golden pothos • "This sugar syrup has been used in litres and litres of lemonade. After spending its life peddling the legal high of diabetes the sugar syrup bottle is turning its life around by being of service to plant life."
Tahini bucket • Philodendron xander • “What is my purpose it asked its master as a newly packed bucket, to store tahini replied its master. Fulfilling this mission in life the bucket travelled from Lebanon to Greece and then from Greece to Germany and then finally to its home in Amsterdam. Home unfortunately happened to be a popular Lebanese restaurant where it was stripped of its life's purpose in a matter of days. The bucket was found abandoned at the basement with no way out, the only way out of the basement involved stairs but the bucket had no legs. However it all changed when a sweet lady rescued it to be used in her art exhibition with the renewed purpose of nurturing life. The ride to its new home was shaky but the bucket was excited at the prospect of having purpose again.”
Tahini bucket • Aloe vera • "As the twin brother of the other bucket, they have been through the same trauma and rebirth."
Vuna jar • Spider plant • “As a vegan, I’ve tried many of the existing meat alternatives you can find at the supermarket. This jar comes from a tuna imitation called vuna. Gotta admit, it’s a funny name!”
Air tight food container • Spider plant • "Used as a cookie container for years, but the lid broke so it doesn't keep things fresh anymore. It used to be the source of many yummy snacks!"
Friedhats Ethiopia coffee bottle • Flower seed bomb • "This really cool packaging is from a coffee roaster in Amsterdam Bos en Lommer called Friedhats FUKU. They use vitamin bottles for their coffee beans. Their small cafe can easily be missed, but the coffee is great! They even have a little garden where you can sit."
Alcohol wooden box • Seed bomb • “This was my friend's box. It came with a bottle of alcohol in it. I've always liked it and wanted to do something with it but I never found the right thing, so I brought it to this workshop to upcycle and now I’ve planted seeds in it. I’m glad to see it can finally be used for something!”
Message in a bottle • seed bomb • “This is a hidden message in a bottle in the ocean. My friend loves the sea, anything water or plant-related. It’s her birthday coming up so I wanted to make something for her as a gift.”
Small water bottle • golden pothos
Food processor top • golden pothos • “I like taking something from outside in the garbage and making it into a work of art. This looks like it was the top of a food processor, but now it can be a work of art and house beautiful plants!”
Cocktail shaker • golden pothos • “This is called moving & shaking. It's representative of my life, which is constantly moving & shaking. It’s what makes it so beautiful and exciting.”
Rubber gloves and glass jar • Aloe vera and Golden pothos • “All the time when I wash my dishes I always broke the right hand glove. I always have spare left ones and I never know what to do with them.”
Jar • citronella • “I was keeping it because I always keep jars to reuse, but I lost the lid. So I had to find a way to reinvent it”
Peanut butter jar • golden pothos • “Even more peanut butter. I collect my husband's peanut butter jars.”
Jar • aloe vera
Olive jar • Satin pothos • “I like olives.”
Plant pot • citronella
Square plant pot • aloe vera • “It was on the terrace forever. The decoration is all coming off, so just by painting it you can give it a new life.“
Plant pot • golden pothos • “We did a couple’s project on this one. I painted half and my boyfriend painted the other half. It's one of many supermarket plants I buy that quickly grow too big for the pot, then I can't use them anymore.”
Laundry detergent bottle • aloe vera • “Nothing beats freshly washed bedsheets.”
Ankle boot • aloe vera • “I came to this workshop with this girl, this artwork is a reference to our date last week. We went flower picking. I picked some flowers and there was a ladybird in it.”
Ankle boot • golden pothos • “I really hated this pair of shoes. They really hurt my feet. For some reason I brought them here to Amsterdam all the way from the USA. But maybe I brought them here for this reason - to transform them in a workshop into a plant pot.”
Teapot • seed bomb • “Teapots always make me think of the mad hatter (and I hate the mad hatter) so I didn't want to drink tea out of this one. I didn’t buy it, it came with the house I moved into.”
Broken cup • aloe vera • “This is a cup I had that broke. You can't hold it anymore by the handles, so it’s useless as a cup. But you can plant something in it and leave it on the window.”
Tomato can • golden pothos • “This was the ingredient for a delicious vegan ragu that I cooked before bringing the can to this workshop. This was all that left, and now it's rejuvenated.”
Water bottle • spider plant • “I thought this water bottle design was very nice, so I felt bad throwing it away. I like being able to reuse it for something else in this workshop.”
Vacuum cleaner • Aloe vera • “I found this vacuum by the garbage outside my house. It's giving dirt a new life.”
Water jug • aloe vera • “This water jug has been in my apartment for 5 years. It's hosted flowers multiple times and now it will hold a plant.”
Glass jar • Seed bomb • “This jar contained ground beans and I used it to make some tasty rajma chawal.”
