Flip Flops Upcycled Sculptures – To clean the oceans and waterways, recycle and involve the local community, Kenya’s Ocean Sole creates stunning sculptures from recycled flip-flops. This colorful zebra print sculpture is made from about 11 flip flops and carved by hand and took 7 hours to make.
Please note: Since recycled materials are used, please expect colors and color placement to vary from one sculpture to another.
Flip Flops Upcycled Sculptures
Very well done. The colors are as beautiful as they look in the photo and the size is perfect – adds a great pop of color to the staircase.
Flip Flop Art Making Waves
I usually shop for my family but this is for me!!! I first bought Flip Flop stuffed animals as gifts in Tanzania, East Africa when I found them on . Love this colorful zebra. Excellent workmanship and a rare gem!
I have traveled to East Africa several times and bought flip flop animal figurines for family and friends, but not for myself. When I saw a giraffe, I had to have him. I would love to support such a great project to turn flip-flops into amazing works of art. A lot of time and love goes into creating these timeless creations. The colors are attractive and the craftsmanship is high quality.
Buy it to go next to the tall giraffe statue. It’s amazing how the artist made it out of flip flops.
You can find our ‘Zebra’ flip-flop sculpture (medium) by Ocean Sole in sculpture categories such as animal sculpture, eco-friendly sculpture, nature sculpture and recycled plastic sculpture. Enjoy exploring these sections for other gems.
Trash To Treasure
In 2014, Ocean Sole brought his eight-foot giraffe to the Kenya Folklife Festival. Its artists turn flip-flop trash from Kenyan beaches into beautiful works of art.
At the core of every single Ocean sculpture is love for people and the planet. Their designs are made from recycled flip-flops taken from the endangered species they want to protect.
Ocean Sole began when the founder saw the need to clean up Kenya’s beaches and waterways to save marine life and create… more Flip-flops are the most popular type of shoe around world, with more than 3 billion produced. every year, and it’s easy to see why. They are comfortable, easy to wear and affordable. Unfortunately, most of them are also terrible for the environment.
Most of them are made of synthetic and petroleum-based materials and have a shelf life of only two years. They’re also a big part of the 8 billion tons of plastic that aren’t recycled every year, polluting the oceans and harming marine life and exposing people to dangerous toxins. In Kenya, this is a big problem, with about 90 tons of flip-flops washing up on its shores every year.
Plastic Art Projects
When Julie Church, a marine conservationist, realized the scale of this problem, she decided to solve it in a unique way: by recycling those washed flip-flops and turning them into unique and colorful ones. sculpture. While recycling is nothing new and you’ve probably done it yourself by repurposing old clothes or household items, Church and his company, Ocean Sole, take it to a bag. level. In the process, he helps the environment and local Kenyans, while also emphasizing the importance of sustainable living.
In the late 1990s, when Julie Church was working as a lifeguard in Nairobi, she found the entire beach “wearing only flip-flops,” according to Erin Smith, CEO of Ocean Sole. Pollution kills fish and plants, prevents turtles from coming ashore to hatch, and damages ecosystems and communities as people fish in the area.
At that time, the Church also noticed that children were making toys out of the thousands of flip-flops washed up on the country’s beaches. He began working with the children’s mothers to encourage them not only to collect shoes, but to wash, cut and shape them into marble blocks that could be carved and carved. Families can sell the crafts in local markets and provide another source of income.
The idea took off, and in 1998, the Church established Ocean Sole as a non-profit organization. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, the group aims to refine a million flip-flops every year, turning them into amazing sculptures that are now sold around the world. In addition, Ocean Sole directly impacts more than 1,000 Kenyans, many of whom work as flip-flop collectors or artists, and contributes 10 to 15% of total revenue to vocational programs and resident education, as well as beach cleanups and conservation. EFFORTS
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So how does it work, exactly? Beach workers employed by Ocean Sole collect discarded flip-flops from Kenyan beaches and inland waterways. It is then cleaned, scraped, sanded, and glued into shiny, marble blocks that sculptors can assemble and disassemble to form the basis of their designs. Ocean Sole’s artisans—more than a dozen of them—make all kinds of shapes and designs, from small to medium-sized animals to realistic model cars.
The whole process is done by hand using basic tools like sandpaper, carpenter’s knives and sometimes some styrofoam or wire for support, especially for large commissions. And speaking of commissions, yes, Ocean Sole accepts commissions. Their work has been exhibited at Rome Fashion Week, Swedish Cultural Museum, London Zoo and more.
Ocean Sole continues to grow and strive to keep litter off Kenya’s beaches and waters. This year alone, the organization recycled more than 750,000 sandals and collected more than 47,000 kilograms (103,600 pounds) of waste.
When it comes to growing the Ocean Sole organization, Church has three “mantras,” as he calls them: business confidence, knowledge business, and knowledge protection. This first mantra is about building trust in the community to build a self-sustainable model that creates a salable product (“business, not aid,” according to the church). In turn, the marketing and popularity of the products drives awareness of the problems the group is trying to solve—in this case, beach and water pollution and trash. Ultimately, knowledge drives decisions, which in this case may mean changes in funding and policy to support ocean welfare.
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Finally, the Church wants to gather tools and other resources to bring this concept to other areas around the world that have similar problems of waste and unemployment. Ocean Sole also encourages companies to use more environmentally friendly materials in the manufacture of their flip-flops. “I think it’s time we start looking for alternative shoes or alternative materials to meet these types of fashion needs,” Smith said. “Our product needs to improve.”
Next, learn more about how fast fashion is damaging the environment and find out which eco-friendly companies to shop for.
Erin Grace Scottberg is a journalist and editor with a deep interest in sustainability, food sustainability and low-waste living. He’s a DIY-er and thrifter and always has a project (or six) at home. Erin is pursuing her certification in urban horticulture from Gaen Botanic in Brooklyn, and when she’s not writing, she’s busy as a designer and teacher at Gaen in Brooklyn.
We no longer support IE (Internet Explorer) as we strive to provide site experiences for browsers that support new web standards and security practices. Nothing represents the heartbeat of Kenya’s heritage more than the elephant. Through hands-on training, our team worked tirelessly to replicate this elephant in a way that truly reflects its majesty.
Flip Flop Recycling
All our products are made from recycled flip-flops collected from Kenyan beaches, waterways and landfills. These products are carved by Kenyan artisans and are all unique, so the colors shown in the picture may vary.
XXL: 4, 015 lbs garbage collection | XL: 2, 409 lbs garbage collection | Large: 949 pounds of trash collected | Average: 292 lbs of debris collected | Less: 183 pounds of trash collected
XXL: L 26 in, W 13 in, H 17 in | XL: L 20 in, W 9 in, H 15 in | Size: L 14 in, W 10 in, H 9 in | Medium: L 8 in, W 4 in, H 5 in | Small: L 4.7 in, W 2.3 in, H 3.7 in
For the 3.5 billion people living below the poverty line, flip-flops remain the cheapest form of footwear. And as a result, most of them end up in the ocean.
Recycled Elephant Flip Flop Sculpture
Every year we aim to recycle 1 million flip-flops that wash up on Kenyan shores, made by our local artisans.
If you are interested in learning more about the process of collecting, washing, binding, carving, smoothing and finishing our small batch works, click here to watch a short video.
Each piece will not only impact our conservation efforts and the lives of many Kenyans, it will make a beautiful statement and conversation piece in your home and garden.
100% of our profits go directly back into conservation efforts and improve the lives of over 1,000 Kenyans by collecting flip flops.
Custom Metal Flip Flop Art
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