Piano Transformation Challenge

Creating new instruments and progressing the circular economy one piano at a time.

Image Credit: Holmesglen TAFE furniture making students deconstructing piano to recover and reuse materials for creative projects. (Supplied by Pianos Recycled)

Unknown to most Australians, but we have a piano problem.   It is estimated there are more than 4,600 unwanted pianos in Australia right now, with some 1,200 of these in Victoria.  Sadly, the majority will end up in landfill.

Yet pianos can have upwards of 12,000 individual parts, including quality woods often originally sourced from ancient forests and highly prized timbers such as African Ebony which is considered critically endangered.

This project showcases circularity through the recovery, and creative reuse and repurposing of unwanted piano materials.   Pianos Recycled is a social enterprise with a mission to divert unwanted pianos from landfill and create new futures for them.

In collaboration with local artisans and furniture and design students from Holmesglen TAFE, the team from Pianos Recycled will exhibit prototypes for three types of musical instruments made from recovered piano resources - lap steel guitars, thumb piano and Cajon drums.

The exhibition at the Fishermans Bend Circular Design Collective will be accompanied with a recovered and retuned piano, with an invitation for visitors to look, feel and play the instruments and share ideas for speeding up progress towards circularity through music - and imagination.

Pianos Recycled believes ‘Respect’ should be the 11th strategy in the circular economy R-Hierarchy. This manifests itself in craft skills and cultural heritage, quality materials and embedded value, makers and users and also importantly, respect for future generations. The collaborative community at the Circular Design Collective is an opportunity to showcase and nurture our belief in respect and creative value.
— Peter Humphreys, Director and Co-Owner, Pianos Recycled

Project Partners

  • FB IDEAs

  • Gamuda Land Australia

  • Holmesglen TAFE

  • Port Philip Mens Shed

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Project Lead

  • Pianos Recycled