Giant Toaster Time!!

This has been a very exciting project that I’ve had to keep to myself for aaages, which I hate because I love telling people about what I’ve been up to haha!

Well, now I can talk about it, I’ve been painting a giant toaster. Why, you ask?? Why not! It’s part of a campaign to get people to rethink what they do with small electricals they no longer need. Most of us just think, oh it’s only small, it won’t have that much of an impact if I chuck it in the bin, but the fact is we throw away 11.4 million toasters away in the UK each year, as well as thousands of other household electricals which is now becoming one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world.

Anything with a plug, cable or battery should be recycled or donated.

When I was approached to be a part of this project I thought it was such a great opportunity to make something that would stop and make people think. I wanted to attract people with bold colours and fun designs. The design was inspired by all the electricals you can recycle. I focused on iconic pieces and the close ups of interesting shapes, for example, the types of stitches on a sewing machine, or the buttons on an old boom box. All the subtle shapes that we associate with electricals were incorporated in the design to bring home the message.

The giant toaster was then constructed by Story House in Hemel Hempstead out of wood and then I went to paint it with my colourful design. It was a very intricate and precise design, but loads of fun to paint! It was just a white toaster before and now it’s a ridiculously colourful piece of art.

Once it was finished it travelled down to Westfield Stratford where people could come and drop off their small electricals to be recycled. People were interested in what was happening and we told about the campaign and TV presenter Michelle Ackerley was there to promote the message.

It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of the campaign and have my artwork on a giant toaster!!

Don’t let these your small electricals go to waste, head to the Recycle Your Electricals website and pop your postcode in the locator to find your nearest drop off points.