In the summer of 2023, a street corner in DUMBO, Brooklyn, became a stage for a conversation about waste, value, and imagination. At The Six Foot Platform, Thai designer Supatida Sutiratana unveiled SUPERTRASH, a public art exhibition that reimagined discarded objects as characters with voices, stories, and personalities.
Rather than relying on guilt or statistics to talk about sustainability, Sutiratana, co-founder of the community-centered design studio Midnight Project, used design and storytelling to transform how we see what we throw away.
“I began to wonder: what if trash had a voice? What if it had a personality?” Sutiratana recalls.
From that question emerged a cast of 16 characters, each based on a discarded object and animated with traits inspired by its function or material. An empty oil bottle became “Oily Warrior” with the power of a “Greasy Punch.” A pair of castoff items transformed into “The Creepy Twins,” eerie yet charming ambassadors for the project. Each character was meticulously designed, complete with names, backstories, and even superpowers, turning refuse into something memorable and emotionally resonant.
The Six Foot Platform, known for its public-facing and experimental format, was the perfect venue for the debut of SUPERTRASH. Positioned in the heart of DUMBO, the project invited passersby to pause and engage, transforming the sidewalk into a stage for dialogue about consumption, waste, and potential.
“I wanted to turn everyday refuse into characters with presence and emotion, sparking a reflective conversation around sustainability without moralizing,” Sutiratana explains.
Visitors found themselves smiling at the playful personalities, while also grappling with the deeper question of how their own consumption habits are reflected in the objects we so easily
One of the most memorable aspects of the DUMBO exhibition was the participatory workshop hosted by Sutiratana. Children and families were invited to create their own trash characters using recycled materials provided on-site, giving them names and stories on the spot.
“The kids were so imaginative, naming their characters, giving them personalities, and turning them into toys or storytelling prompts,” Sutiratana recalls. “They took them home, and it was heartwarming to see design sparking joy and creativity while opening up meaningful conversations.”
At the heart of SUPERTRASH is a powerful message: waste isn’t just a byproduct; it’s a mirror reflecting our values and the systems in which we participate. Through her design practice, Sutiratana invites the public to see waste not as the end of something, but as the beginning of a new narrative.
“If even one person walks away seeing trash as potential instead of something to overlook, then SUPERTRASH has done its job,” she says.
SUPERTRASH is part of Sutiratana’s broader commitment to community-centered design and public storytelling. Trained at the School of Visual Arts in New York, with a background in graphic design from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, she brings a distinctive perspective that blends conceptual rigor with cultural nuance. Through the Midnight Project, Sutiratana consistently uses design to foster inclusive, reflective, and participatory experiences across public art, branding, and exhibition design.
Her work, including SUPERTRASH, demonstrates how design can transform everyday spaces and materials into catalysts for imagination, dialogue, and change, inviting us all to look more closely at the things we discard and the stories they might still hold.