Over the past years, I have been collecting leftover materials from previous school events, such as PVC tarps and T-shirts. In 2024, I worked and collaborated with Home Sweet Home to turn these waste into stylish, reversible tote bags that celebrate our stories and past experiences. With this collaboration, I wanted to encourage the NYU Shanghai community to rethink their perception of waste and to reflect on who makes the things we buy. I also aimed to raise awareness about consumerism and the waste we produce daily, and we invited everyone to be part of the change towards a more sustainable campus.
Started in 2005, Home Sweet Home began as a house in Puxi on Hongmei Lu, where homeless and disabled people could get a meal, clean themselves up, and do some training programs. Home Sweet Home works as a nonprofit organization to assist these populations with the ultimate goal of helping them become self-sufficient and reintegrated in society. Home Sweet Home has a house near the Shanghai Railway Station where they run their outreach program and a second location, near the Shanghai Disney Resort in Pudong, where they run their vocational program and produce textile products.In this small textile factory the enrollees make products and learn applicable work skills such as sewing, cutting, ironing, and packaging. Home Sweet Home sells these products at markets and directly to companies.
