A.R.M, read as one word, means poor in German. A.R.M also stands in short for All Recycled Materials (- Furniture). In summary A.R.M. is an art project in Berlin by German Artist Barbara Caveng. Even though the exhibition part ended in 2006 – the project of some sort is still going on. What exactly is A.R.M.?In the middle of Berlin Barbara Caveng designed a whole apartment – literally out of nothing – or what most people would describe as nothing: junk. In hours of work she picked up Berliner society’s refuses from streets, garbage bins etc.. Took them apart and recycled them into objects of individual design. The furniture she designed is unique, beautiful, fun (just look at this socklamp) and most importantly unbelievably cheap (aside from the physical work). Surprisingly, even for herself the whole art project became a huge success. All big newspapers in Berlin featured A.R.M at one point. Barbara Caveng got invitations to Germany’s biggest furniture fares (e.g. in Cologne). Designers from all over the world working with recycled materials called her up.The apartment which she furnished became so popular that during the duration of the project it never stood empty – people from different financial backgrounds called her up to live in All Recycled Materials. After the project was completed in 2006 parts of the furniture were sold on ebay. But the demand for more furniture never stops so that Barbara Caveng currently thinks about industrializing the production.

The A.R.M. kitchen
What stands behind A.R.M.?The idea for the project was born after the German minister of finance had published the subsistence level report for the year 2005. It started a public debate about the introduction of unemployment funds and their implications for the individual lives. Barbara Caveng wanted to make a statement and a contribution to coping with a life without money - developing strategies against social declassification as a result of poverty and unemployment. Even though she started on that premise, her project quickly became relevant in context of the starting climate change debate - not just because of her choice of materials. Barbara Caveng asks the philosophical question of the value behind the things we buy. The question points to the fragile balance between having and being. Poverty always raises the question of having (simply to survive) – in industrialized as much as in third world countries. Being in the sense of further development (e.g. placing values) can only happen if the question of having is already answered. Therefore it’s in the heads of people who don’t have to worry about their survival, a value shift has to start. Throwing out a usable chair just because of its not fashion design e.g. devaluates this piece of furniture. In that more philosophical view, global warming and poverty are interconnected on more levels than just the global (im)balance between third world and industrial countries.
Berliner Artist Barbara CavengFotos: Website

This furniture/accessory looks so homogenous, made of one piece, so natural in its design, it is hard to believe that….it isn’t!Actually, it’s just a collection of wood scraps piled together. That doesn’t mean that the table will fall apart when you look at it more closely or that the bench won’t carry your weight. Quite to the contrary: this furniture is made to be used and to be living with it and - this is the really good part about it - letting live – the environment as it hardly has any ecological impact on it!The two designers Bart Bettencourt and Carlos Salgado had the idea to develop a unique method of collecting and repurposing discarded scraps of wood from New York’s woodworking industry – because it basically produced industrial junk of no use.
Since 2003, the duo designs the furniture which by its very nature is piece by piece one of a kind. For that reason the name of the project is program: whoever buys a piece of furniture knows what he gets: Scrapile!
Carlos Salgado, left, and Bart BettencourtFotos: Website