"Now Spinning" LP Record Vinyl Display Shelf

Cool Trash is the work of Emma Crutcher, a Minneapolis-based artist who turns discarded plastic into colorful, functional objects. What started as a long-running fascination with “cool trash” she’d photograph and collect eventually became a full practice built around reworking single-use plastics into something worth keeping.

Emma gathers materials from her community and processes them by hand, melting and reshaping them into new forms using a mix of DIY and small-scale machinery. The result is work that feels playful and design-forward, but still rooted in material curiosity and experimentation.

There's so much talk about the need for more sustainable production processes, but not always a lot of action. I love that Emma has taken matters into her own hands, establishing a recycling process that directly reduces waste in her community and makes such cute things in the process. Her work reminds me that even without access to industrial equipment and materials, individual artists and creators have the power to make sustainability a priority in their craft. --Gigi