COME UP TO MY ROOM: Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Canada. 2012©

Gladstone Hotel on Toronto’s famous Queen Street West is an historic establishment dating back to 1889. Brought up to date within the first decade of the 21st. century and re-invented into a boutique hotel known for it’s artistic gatherings, performances and exhibition venues. Co-founded and co-curated by Christina Zeidler and Pamila Matharu, Come Up To My Room (CUTMR) runs annually as part of the Toronto Design Offsite Festival, part of a city wide Toronto Design Week.
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During the Toronto Design Week of 2012, *Fugitive Glue collective put a spotlight on “Up Hoarding” – a term coined by the collective to describe their own unique approach to re-cycling/up-cycling trends, by creating new objects out of urban discards such as ubiquitous barbecue tank. Fugitive Glue created an environmental exhibit using the decommissioned household propane tanks launching BOMBA series lighting and furniture products.


*Fugitive Glue is a Toronto based art collective that develops non-traditional design solutions, community focused art and public design interventions.
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An empty propane cylinder or “Barbecue Tank” weighs 18 lbs. (8 kg) hence the name: 20-lb. tank. These particular propane cylinders or tanks are subject to de-commissioning ten years from initial date of manufacture. In the calendar year 2010 the City of Toronto’s 6 de-commissioning stations received a total of 5,501 of the 20-lb. tanks.

Three times this number were de-commissioned in the rest of the Greater Toronto Area making for an estimated total of 20,000+ in 2010, with an estimated growth of 10% per year.
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On display at Gladstone Hotel’s CUTMR exhibit was a ubiquitous 20 pound barbecue tank, here “Up Hoarded” and completely transformed into an affordable indoor light fixture part of BOMBA series of products that now includes home and street furniture.

Up Hoarding manifesto:
1. Finding & recognising a waste object available in large quantities.

2. Using the object as a base for product design that is practical, long-lasting and aesthetically engaging, i.e. public lighting, street furniture, fountains, cooking utensils and more.

3. Ensuring the use of low-impact, environmentally-positive process that leaves smallest possible ecological footprint.
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