From Waste to Wonder

From Waste to Wonder – A Magical World of Second Chances

22–25 October 2026

What happens when curiosity leads the way, and discarded materials are seen through new eyes?

This October, S12 welcomes artists Jimena and Juli Bolaños-Durman for a four-day workshop that celebrates play, experimentation, and creative exploration.

Open to curious minds (18+) from all kinds of creative backgrounds – no glass experience required.

Course Description

This course aims to challenge the student to actively look at our new surroundings and consider locally sourced waste materials in a new way, primarily led by curiosity and optimism.

Through play and creative exercises we will look at the artistic practice under a new light. In this class exploration and experimentation will be more important than creating a final project.

Juli comes from a Glass working background and Jimena comes from a Jewellery & Silversmithing background. The two sisters come together for this workshop to lead the students into experimenting with waste materials collected from the community and guiding them to re-imagine using heritage glass cutting and cold-working techniques; with the idea that we can never underestimate the power of a shift in perspective, appreciating waste materials as raw material, to create something anew.

As a cohort, we will foster a space to flow in the creative process, fully observe our surroundings and step out of our comfort zone together as a class. Only here is where authentic ideas come to life, surprising us with joy and wonder and creating objects that speak of our time.

As designers who are reinventing our relationship with waste, we invite you to look at the future through a lens of optimism and the importance of a circular economy. The class will address the challenges and opportunities for glass to provide solutions by students as a resilient material and how repurposing is breaking out of traditional cycles. Game-changing trends in design are gaining ground, and in the process reinventing materials as future ‘renewable resources’.

This class looks at how everyday humans can adapt through a lens of optimism and foster ideas for the next creative revolution.