Thomas Dambo

This Copenhagen artist turns trash into giant trolls throughout the USA and the world – https://www.thomasdambo.com/about

“Thomas Dambo, 41, Danish recycling artist is a former rapper with a playful, mischievous streak. As a student at Denmark’s Design School Kolding, he got the idea to make birdhouses out of recycled wood for a project he called Happy City Birds. He has since made more than 3,000 of them. As a kid, “I would always crawl into the bushes. I would have to explore everything … go off the beaten path all the time,” he says. He and his mother spent hours scouring flea markets. She was a theater costume seamstress. His father was a blacksmith and then later fixed up old bicycles and sold them out of their basement.” “My parents were definitely hippies.”

“Our world is drowning in trash while we are running out of natural resources.  In 2011 he quit his job to become an artist and follow my mission to ‘Waste no more’.

“Today, I spend my life showing the world that beautiful things can be made out of trash. I give new life to discarded materials by turning them into large-scale artworks. My journey has led me to create artworks in 20 countries across five continents, including my giant Trolls, plastic works, birdhouses, and Happy Wall exhibitions. All these projects are realized using hundreds of tons of recycled materials, working in and with local communities, who are co-creators of the art that I make because the mission I follow needs the involvement of everybody. I also host talks as a speaker, such as TEDx talk, and sometimes I host workshops to teach people how to reuse and upcycle”.

If you want to join Thomas’ mission, follow him on YouTube,  Instagram or Facebook.