Jua Kali is a Swahili expression for the art of crafting objects of value from the leftovers of everyday life. Literally it means ‘hot sun’, which is where the people who turn one man’s trash into another man’s treasure do most of their work.

Jua Kali is common in Brazil, too, where it’s just plain old recyclagem artesanal. And now it looks like the rest of the world is starting to catch on. Carioca design-junkie Rosana Fe has picked out a few of the finer examples of what some people are calling ‘creacycling’ here.

There’s some nice, referrential ideas like the lampshade made from burnt-out lightbulbs, and a waste paper basket made from waste paper. But I like the simple ideas best, like this easy ‘re-purposing’ of a couple of old plastic film canisters:

I’ve always found it pretty hard to get excited about recycling – especially since serious questions have started to be asked about where it all ends up – but this seems like a nice 2.0 twist.

So is Jua Kali the future of design?