From June 14 to 20, the Galeria Bombarda Showcase at CCBombarda in Porto hosted Bowerbird, the culminating exhibition of the CREA-UP project in Portugal. This final chapter of CREA-UP – Creative Upcycling for Sustainable Art & Design – brought together 28 artists, designers, and makers who, over two months, immersed themselves in collaborative processes that explored the creative power of waste, reuse, and circular design.
Like the bird that inspired its name — which carefully collects and arranges discarded items to build intricate nests — Bowerbird celebrated how overlooked materials can be transformed into new narratives, new forms, and new futures. The exhibition was a living manifesto: proof that sustainability is not only about conserving resources, but also about cultivating relationships with materials, processes, and communities.
The projects that filled the nest:
“INÊS DE CASTRO | SÃO FLORES | TEMOS PENA | VALHA-ME DEUS” by Ana Catarina Antunes, Ana Margarida Amaral, and Eliézer Nascimento, united industrial offcuts of wood, surfboard resin, and shards of porcelain into four sculptural pieces that proposed unexpected dialogues. These works questioned how distant, incongruent materials – and by extension, ideas – might come together in empathy, respect, and beauty.
“DAS TRIPAS CORAÇÃO”, by Eliézer Nascimento, reimagined Portugal’s rich ceramic tradition through plates crafted from fine porcelain and vintage decals. By fusing past and present, industrial surplus and meticulous handwork, each piece became a quiet statement on slowness, care, and the poetic potential of what industry leaves behind.
In “INDELÉVEL“, Ana Margarida Amaral salvaged a wood slab once destined to be a school bench – forgotten in a basement since 1984 – and revealed its wormholes and growth rings as a landscape of memory. The piece was shaped, planed, and respected for its imperfections, becoming both a technical and deeply personal journey.
2NDLIFERESIN, a project by Ana Catarina Antunes, transformed resin waste from surfboard production into functional objects that honor the ocean, nature, and the second life of discarded materials. With a minimalist yet organic aesthetic, these pieces made visible the ethics and transparency behind sustainable design.
Sérgio aka Cachibache, with Carolina Caldas, Cláudia Costa, and Juliana Peixoto, led “MÉTODO PARA COMPORTAMENTO”,a kinetic sound sculpture made from dismantled cameras and obsolete video heads. Controlled by a microcontroller that activated light and vibration, this eerie, poetic machine invited us to listen to what old technologies still have to say.
In “MINERAÇÃO URBANA”, Mayra Deberg, Diogo Rodrigues, Paulo Rodrigues, Laura Oliveira, and Mafalda Fernandes explored the city as a mine for value – reclaiming construction debris, wood, metal, and even human hair to craft terrazzo furniture, translucent biomaterials, and stone-textured hybrids. Each piece carried the name of the street where its materials were found, tying design directly to territory and story.
The collective installation “ONDE SOMOS”, by Matilde Rodrigues, Mariana Araújo, Marta Cortesão, Mafalda Fernandes, and Luca, built a symbolic house from found wood, paper, and cotton. This work became a metaphorical dwelling, reflecting on identity, belonging, and how we construct ourselves with and through others.
The ephemeral fashion collaboration “METAMORPHOSIS: AN EPHEMERAL FASHION COLLECTIVE“ by Specimen Studio (Camille Moço), Bold Nature Design (Lara Capelas), and Sensihemp (Marta Vinhas) combined deadstock lace, reclaimed yarns, and hemp offcuts into a modular garment. This piece could be rearranged and reused, accompanied by digital stories accessible via QR code, inviting viewers to see fashion as a living, evolving ecosystem.
In “REFORMAR A FORMA”, Lígia Soromenho transformed what would typically be backstage — molds and surplus from prototype construction — into sculptural protagonists, questioning the borders between disposable and permanent, the original and the derivative.
Marina Costa’s “LADY LAZARUS”, born from scraps of window hardware and leather belts gathered during the CREA-UP Working Lab in Berlin, reconfigured these cast-offs into jewellery and wall sculptures. Her work evoked cycles of decay and rebirth, urging a reconsideration of beauty, value, and environmental responsibility.
Finally, “A VÁRIAS MÃOS” brought together Marina Costa, Lígia Soromenho, Ella Línner, and Mona Sheikh in a layered process: Ella etched a star into discarded resin, Mona split the piece to create new paths, and Marina reassembled it, turning separate gestures into a unified sculpture. This was CREA-UP distilled — many hands, many stories, woven into something larger.
A collective statement for circular, conscious futures
Throughout the week, Bowerbird was more than an exhibition: it was a space of encounter, conversation, and shared imagination. It showed that upcycling is not merely an environmental tactic – it’s a relational, cultural, and artistic practice that asks us to care differently.
Bowerbird stood as proof that creativity, when rooted in responsibility and community, can transform not only materials, but also mindsets. It invited everyone who stepped through the doors to see that what is left behind is not the end of the story — it’s the beginning of countless new ones.
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