Circular Design Takes Centre Stage at JIA Curated with Sungai

From stools made with old coffee grounds to tables made with old chopsticks, circular design was a key theme of JIA Curated, a craft, design and culture event held in Bali from 14-18 August 2025. Waste to Wonder, a new initiative of the vent, aimed to “reposition waste as a tool for craftsmanship within community-focused functions.”

One of the brands doing just that is Sungai, an organisation started by three siblings Gary, Kelly and Sam Bencheghib, whose aim is to clean up Indonesia’s rivers. The trio started cleaning the rivers themselves as teenagers, dismayed to see the waste that accumulates there on a daily basis.

Many years later, with a team of 170 people employed to clean the rivers (“we pay them more than they would make as a waiter in an average restaurant,” says Sam Bencheghib), and warehouses full of garbage, they have released their first designs made of the waste.

The Ombak chair is a flat pack design created in collaboration with American designer Mike Russek, and is produced entirely from discarded plastic bags, with around 2000 used for each chair. “The plastic bag, which is 40 per cent of our collection, has nowhere to go,” says Sam. “We [wanted to] reimagine and redesign the material into something that’s practical and that’s long lasting … If you come up with a beautiful product, we can also help raise awareness.”

Other Sungai designs include the Muara stool and the Muara bench, also made from plastic waste, and the Sungai Carafe created with UK designer Sara Howard, partially made from glass waste.

More info: jiacurated.com | sungaidesign.com