Hasta La Ideas

Rum brand Havana Club is challenging people to take everyday objects and turn them into something new, such as a pair of speakers made from Nike trainers, tin can headphones and an ad hoc picnic table

Taking the theme Inspired Ingenuity, the project is supposedly inspired by the people of Cuba who, in the face of the US-imposed blockade on their country have to make a virtue of repurposing and recycling, creating what they need from the scarce resources available. The competition is taking place over the first six months of 2011, challenging artists, musicians and ‘other creative talents’ to ‘take the everyday and turn it into something special’. A winner will be picked each month, and the final winner will win a trip to Cuba.

To support it, design studio Intercity commissioned three artists to create a piece of work that echoes this theme.

Sneaker customiser Nash responsed to the brief by transforming a pair of
all-white Nike Air Force 1’s into a fully functional set of ‘Sneaker Speakers’.

Product designer Cemal Okten created a pair of fully functional headphones from a tin can, a coat hanger, a piece of rope and two corks

and Amsterdam-based I Have Pop appropriated the fences from a local roadworks site and constructed a picnic table in the park.

If you fancy having a go, The project is being run through the Havana Club Facebook page.

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