MiDEA is the dream of Emilio Milani. It is his idea to bring happiness to children through constructive creation in their own play house. Whether the horse came first or the cart, Emilio had a dream to convert old waste bins to play houses, to allow children to enter through a hole in reality and play games coached by the decals and outfitting of the house.
What are these houses? They are the recently displaced recycling bins for plastics, paper and glass. Emilio buys them and work on them to transform each into something to dream of. Everything starts from a specific idea: both educational and fun. Safety is a prime consideration in materials, design and construction: all the houses are security certified.
Firstly he deconstructs the bin removing the lids and steel frames. Then he hot pressure cleans the whole surface to remove any waste material and carefully identifies if cracks may need repairing. When the repairs are completed and the structure finalized by adding reinforcement elements, then the surface is painted. Penultimately, doors and windows are cut and smooth edge finishing applied.
Finally the house is decorated with personalized decals and kids’ furniture to represent the final application such as vegetable shop, robot, car repair, fire station.
Where can you find these brightly coloured houses? On the beach, in the garden, at the pool, at school, in a city playground, in a park, at an adventure farm, in the grounds of a hotel, or at an arena.
Emilio is still a dreamer, and to the kids who play in his houses, he is a giant, but he is a ‘bambino’ at heart. He has truly upcycled an industrial waste product with ingenuity and craftsmanship to give it a long life for generations of children coming along behind him.
So what is next for the creator of holes in reality? Maybe an Energitismo house where kids can play creating works of art emulating great masters. For Emilio, there is no waste in the recycling bin.
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