The Muvbox: The New Cheap Expensive

The Muvbox: The New Cheap Expensive

Muvbox kitchen, pizza oven and standing area

The Muvbox is the brainchild of entrepreneur and restaurateur Daniel Noiseux. He has drawn on his love of design and background in architecture to repurpose objects so that they are used for something other than their original intention. With a critical eye for functionality, Noiseux has taken used shipping containers and transformed them into solar-powered canteens. At night, the entire unit can be shut down, reverting to a shipping container in just two minutes. The beauty of this concept is that no building permit is required, and the unit can be transported by land, rail or sea. What's more, Noiseux and his team outfit units to the owner's specifications, and they can also be made into art galleries or pop-up stores.

Certification and licences for the shipping container

Specializing in lobster rolls from the Magdalen Islands, the original Muvbox in Montreal opens annually on May 15. Last week, my husband and I went for lunch at the Old Port to check out this incredible feat in design. Initially, I was not disappointed. As incredible as it may seem, in addition to the five staff members working inside the container, there was also a pizza oven. Psst...Noiseux has also been credited with bringing the first pizza oven to Montreal in 1981. In addition, there was a standing area with tables for people who want to eat on the run on one side, and a terrace on the other for those who want to eat with a view of the Old Port.

As I walked around the container and checked out the government certification on the metal container, my husband ran into our friend Francois, who was having lunch with some colleagues. When I asked him about his lobster roll, I got a one word answer, "Bof!" Not what I call a ringing endorsement. I went to place our order, and was stunned to find that the lobster rolls cost $9.00 each. If you order two, add a can of Coke, the tax and a tip, you have a bill for an astounding $25.00, for two very average lobster rolls.

I assumed that if I chose to eat food prepared in a refurbished solar-powered shipping container, which does not require a building permit, that overhead costs would be low and, thus, food would be relatively inexpensive. I also erroneously believed that with Mr. Noiseux's extensive background in running high-quality restaurants the food would be good. I don't think I would have minded the price so much if the food had been better.

We can only assume that we were paying for the design...which is worth a look! You just might want to eat before you go.




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Upcycled Parking Meters Offer Help for the Homeless

Upcycled Parking Meters Offer Help for the Homeless

In the past, I've reported on vintage candy machines dispensing seed bombs to guerrilla gardeners and cigarette machines dispensing art, now I've discovered that repurposed mechanical parking meters are being used to collect funds for Montreal's 30,000 homeless. What a novel idea! Novel, yes, but new, no. The ParcoDon (don is French for donation) began in 2007.

Three years ago, the City of Montreal donated 70 of its old parking meters to Itinéraire, a community organization that assists the homeless with social and occupational reinsertion programs. The bright green mechanical meters installed at locations with high pedestrian traffic were used to collect $23,000 in the first three years.

"But just a second," I said. "Does the person giving the donation get free parking too?"

"No, that was the problem," said Karoline Bergeron of Itinéraire. "We used to receive calls from motorists who thought that they had paid for parking, unaware that they had just made a donation to help the homeless."

The obsolete green meters had been phased out in favour of the black electronic version several years ago, but they were still evidently part of the collective memory of Montreal drivers. In order to ensure that there was no future confusion, 70 organizations and celebrities were invited to showcase their creativity by customizing a ParcoDon. A star was put at the foot of each hand-painted meter for better visibility, creating a walk of fame on the major arteries of the downtown. Some of the celebrities and organizations that took part include sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, author Dany Laferrière, the Montreal fine arts museum (MBAM), the group Mes Aïeux, the Montreal Opera (OM) and Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay.

Reader would you be more inclined to make a donation via a ParcoDon or give the money to a homeless person directly?

The City of Montreal, the Montreal Parking Authority and Itinéraire held a press conference for all the local media to make sure that the message was clear: this initiative was to raise funds for the homeless, not to provide parking.


I drove around downtown yesterday with my husband to take a look at some of the customized ParcoDons, and some were indeed spectacular.

According to Bergeron, the celebrity walk of fame received extensive media coverage, and the phone calls inquiring about parking have since ceased. She said that the situation has heightened awareness vis-à-vis the homeless and Itinéraire. It has also been great PR for local celebrities and participating organizations.

But has this initiative increased donations?

"Yes, it has," said Bergeron. "Our goal was to match the previous $23,000, and so far, we have collected almost $5,000 or 20% since the launch in May, just three months ago."

To see all the various upcycled meters and their customized new look, view the video below:




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Upcycling Meets Guerrilla Gardening

Upcycling Meets Guerrilla Gardening

Pssssst...my book giveaway for a copy of the Spare Room is still on, and you have a great chance to win. Just follow my blog or leave a comment.


Three years ago, I picked up a copy of the Troublemaker's Teaparty on urban activism and discovered covert ways to beautify our urban surroundings. I live close to some abandoned factories, and people love to come here to work on their cars, spray paint graffiti and sell drugs. In this book, I learned that by creating a presence, through keeping the area clean and planting flowers, you could keep undesirables out of your neighbourhood. I figured it was worth a try.

The next year, while on maternity leave, I did some guerrilla gardening, which involved gardening on private property. This was a lot more work than I had anticipated, and I had to contend with theft, vandalism and a coup organized by a nearby condo-dweller who subsequently took over my plot, as she wasn't thrilled with my choice of flowers.

I also discovered that a gardenless condo dweller could create "seedbombs," which are thrown into empty or abandoned lots. If all goes well, you will see a spray of flowers instead of the broken remnants from last night's party. I briefly toyed with the idea of creating seedbombs and selling them for $0.25 each, but I thought it would be dishonest to sell something that I hadn't actually tried and tested for results.

If you've made seedbombs that actually took root, please send us the recipe. Officially planting day in these parts is the third week in May.

To date, we have tried two seedbomb recipes. The first one simply involved combining wet clay and seeds. The second, the Liz Christy seedbomb was much more elaborate. Liz Christy was the original urban gardener. Her seedbomb involved filling balloons or Christmas ornaments (?!) with water, adding bits of paper towel, peat moss, soil and seeds. Anyway, last year, my kids and I tried her recipe.These bombs were a lot more fun to throw than those from the previous year, but were much messier to make.

Alas, neither recipe yielded any blooms, but the birds and squirrels will be forever grateful.

A pair from California has, however, cultivated the idea of commercializing seedbombs. Their Los Angeles company, Greenaid, has taken old gumball machines and used them as seedbomb dispensers. For $0.25, the buyers get two seedbombs and a small map showing them the best place to throw their ammo for optimal results. You can purchase the gumball dispensers from the company, and Greenaid will help you come up with a seed mix that will work in your area.

Maybe that's where we went wrong--the seed mix.




Other Seedbomb and Guerrilla Gardening Related Posts:

Delinelle Park and Garden: Adjectival Transgression
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More on Guerrilla-ing in NYC and St. Henri
Trespassers in St. Henri Win City Gardening Contest
Liz Christy Seed Bombs and Some Not So Covert Bombing
More on Guerrilla-ing in NYC and St. Henri
Attention Guerrilla Gardeners: the Liz Christy Seed Bomb (a how-to)
What Exactly is Guerrilla Gardening?
Guerrilla Gardening: Tips for the Novice

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Upcycling: Big Cig Icon Turns Over New Leaf

Upcycling: Big Cig Icon Turns Over New Leaf

Nearly a decade ago, publisher Louis Rastelli was looking for a new way to distribute his zines to readers. This happened right around the time that the Canadian government banned cigarette vending machines in bars and restaurants. Given this surplus of machines, Rastelli expanded on an idea he had seen in Winston-Salem. In 1997, a US company called Artomat began retrofitting vintage cigarette machines to dispense art. As Canadian cigarette packages are nearly twice the size of their US partner in smoke, Rastelli reasoned that they could be used to dispense both art and literature, and the Distroboto was born, expanding our minds through arts and culture rather than killing us slowly with tar and nicotine.

In the back of the Expozine program, I saw an advertisement for the Distroboto and learned a few details about the products dispensed. The machines deliver miniature books, comics, mini CDs and DVDs, arts and crafts, photos and other handmade surprises. As you can see from my photo above, the cost is only 2 bucks, $1.75 of which actually goes to the artist! Pretty good percentage I'd say, and an excellent promotional tool. In addition, it's open to anyone. In other words, there's no council deciding what is artworthy.

I tried the Distroboto a few years ago. Intrigued by the novelty, I made two purchases and got a mini CD, which was forgettable, and a really cute hand-drawn comic. Now this is a bit of crap shoot, and of course, you will come across some things that don't suit your cultural tastes, but guaranteed fun will be had just the same.

I have recently heard from Louis Rastelli, and in a subsequent post, I will write about a few of the 700 emerging artists who have used the Distroboto on their butt-less path to success.

Click here to see some of the funky vintage Artomat vending machines, which today dispense les chefs d'oeuvres of 400 contributing artist from 10 different countries. Pssst, double click on the individual machines to get a better look. My favourite is from the Motor City.

Sources:
New York Times Magazine
Distroboto
Louis Rastelli
Artomat

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