Art for Impact with Casa Congo and Las Tejedoras: Bringing sustainability into the workplace through art.
Together with Casa Congo and Las Tejedoras, we’re transforming plastic into purpose. Unispace’s Art for Impact program helps connect businesses with community partners and diverse artists, utilizing art as a vehicle for social change. Our latest Art for Impact initiative helps address challenges in climate change, social inequality, and economic development in Nicaragua.
Unispace’s Art for Impact (AFI) program partnered with NGO Casa Congo and Las Tejedoras ‘The Weavers’ – a collective of 17 Nicaraguan women – to design and create 30 unique tapestries made from 50,000 recycled plastic bags. These sustainable products are now sitting proudly in the offices of major brands such as Zoom across Europe, and in several Unispace studios.
Unispace’s Art for Impact program
Art for Impact utilizes art as a vehicle for social change by connecting a workplace and a community with shared intention.
The world is experiencing a rapid evolution, and the workplace is no exception. By building relationships with community partners in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) space, we give our clients insights, tools, and inspiration they can apply in their spaces to tell their story, drive cultural change, and create experiences for their people.
“I love the story of how it was made, where it comes from. It aligns with our story, Zoom’s story, our values. Knowing that we are supporting and fostering economic independence for these women.”- Izabella Lorenz, Global Real Estate & Workplace Strategy, Zoom
Driving economic and environmental change
Over the past two years, Unispace interior designers across Europe designed more than 30 tapestries, which Las Tejedoras then created from over 50,000 recycled plastic bags. The tapestries, which can be used as rugs or wall-hung artworks, are now installed inside the HQs of over 20 global brands to inspire individual and corporate action in environmental conservation and women empowerment.
“With Las Tejedoras, a group of incredibly resilient women, who’ve been who’ve been crafting art from waste since 2007, we looked at how we can enable them get to the next level. That’s where the partnership with Unispace came in. The more tapestries we produce and sell, the cleaner Nicaragua’s environment is going to be, and the more opportunities we’re creating for the local women.” - Nicholas Kaspareck, Co-Founder & CEO, Casa Congo
Art for Impact’s work with Las Tejedoras has now been recognized as a champion for sustainability within the office workplace sector with an award from The Sustainable Design Collective.
Turning plastic into purpose
Plastic bags discarded along the Pacific Coast represent a threat for local marine species such as sea turtles. Las Tejedoras took on the mission to clean up the shores of Playa Chacocente, Nicaragua, which had become so littered with plastic it was affecting tourism, turtle nesting and the local economy. These women collect, clean, and transform beach plastic into art – tapestries and textiles.
“This has been a source of pride for us, as Nicaraguans and women. To protect wildlife and nature through our work. Not only have I helped to collect plastic bags along the coast and in our community, but it has also provided me with a mean of income that I didn't have before.”
- Senelia del Socorro Vargas Sevilla, President of Las Tejedoras Cooperative
The results are cleaner beaches of Nicaragua, improved turtle nesting rates, and supporting women’s financial stability.
Learn more about how Unispace Art for Impact can help connect your people to your DEIB, community, and sustainability goals here.
See more Art for Impact projects here
Connect with us to talk about activating Art for Impact in your space.
