Recycled Aluminum Pulltabs Made Popular By The Brazilian Cooperative “Escama Studio”

Craft cooperatives, also known as social enterprises, are now finding new means to empower members of their communities to earn money.

“Escama Studio”, which means fish scales in Portuguese, is a Brazilian craft cooperative offering women in the ‘satellite cities’ of Brasília business practices in hand production of bags using recycled aluminum pulltabs as main raw material.

Escama Studio’s craftwomen

The craftswomen receive business training and are fairly paid for their piecework with a price set by the cooperative. Escama’s purses are as ethical and eco-friendly as they are made entirely from recycled materials – some of the bags uses over 700 aluminum pull-tabs recycled from soda cans in Brazil. Each piece comes with a hang tag bearing the signature of the person who made it. On their website the artist profiles and picture are made available to the public, where you could leave a message to the artist.  In addition, Escama donates 3 percent of gross annual sales directly back to the cooperatives.

Escama Studio’s handbags and their respective craftwomen’s name

“Stay-on-tab” pulltab version used in the production of handbags

The majority of the beverage cans’ pulltabs used in the production of the eco-friendly handbags are made of aluminium (75 percent). Another more rare material used to produce pulltabs is tin-plated steel, which accounts for the rest of the worldwide production of pulltabs (25 percent). These pulltabs are known as “stay-on-tab”, invented by Ermal Fraze and Omar Brown. The “stay-on-tab” version features the “easy-open ecology end” which replaced old plain lids (known as shells) in order to reduce injuries and roadside litter caused by removable tabs. The mechanism uses a separate tab attached to the upper surface as a lever to depress a scored part of the lid, which folds underneath the top of the can and out of the way of the resulting opening.

Worldwide production for all beverage cans is approximately 475 billion cans per year worldwide, 100 billion per year in the US, 52 billion per year in Europe, growing about 3 percent annually. Recycling the aluminum pulltabs is definitely a clever and very creative way that actually makes you feel like you are doing something positive for the planet.

Shanghai Metal Corporation does not take any part in the handbag purchase. We are proud of initiatives such as Escama Studio as an empowering cooperative bringing hope and happiness to the community and the society as a whole.

Escama Studio’s handbag collection

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide array of aluminum sheet (aluminum plate) used in the production of beverage can, caps and ring-pull. For our full list of products that we offer check out our website here. Be sure to join the conversation in our LinkedIn group, Facebook, and Twitter. Try also our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

You can also read more articles by our team at SMC:

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Sources: inhabitat.com, Wikipedia

Pictures: escama.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

FULL-METAL DRESS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht presented a futuristic 3D-printed Faraday cage dress with plasma ball pieces attached to the shoulders for a show at Maker Faire Bay Area this year.

Wipprecht is known to create futuristic fashion to celebrate the beautiful nexus of fashion design, interaction design, and technology. “3D printing gives the ability to create in much more detail, flexibility, stability, and pace than handcrafting sculptural pieces, and with modeling software like AutoDesk’s Maya and printing, I am able to integrate my electronics directly form-fitted into the designs”, says Wipprecht.

The modeling software AutoDesk’s Maya was crucial to create a structure that would be flexible and wearable, since the dress would mainly require full metal as material. Aluminum plate was the metal choice for this dress, and approximately 600 metal rings link them together. In order to protect Wipprecht’s head from the half million volts of electricity produced by two coils, a prototype helmet from full metal was created.

For extra flair, she hacked toy plasma balls into shoulder ornaments. “Normally I work with fashion models,” Wipprecht says. “But this time, nobody else wanted to wear it.”, she added. The show was a success. Her garment safely conducted the coils’ electrical bursts around her body and into the ground while lighting up her shoulders with tendrils of purple plasma. 

Please note: Don’t try this at home!

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers aluminum is varying types including sheet, plate, coil, strip, plate, tube, pipe, in varying fittings and sizes. SMC also produces aluminum profile for radiator, motor shell, and furniture. For further information on copper material, please visit our website. Also, be sure to join the conversation in our LinkedIn group, Facebook and Twitter.

Source: popsci.com, instructables.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor