Espresso Renaissance
1,115 capsules. Nearly two years. One Mona Lisa.

What started with a coffee break slowly became a ritual, collecting, cleaning, sorting. As architects, we drink a lot of coffee. One day, we stopped throwing the capsules away.
Nearly two years later, those pauses in the day became something else: a portrait of the Mona Lisa, built from 1,115 recycled Nespresso capsules. Hidden behind each one is a small act of repetition, patience, and intention.

We designed a custom black wooden frame with a local carpenter. Then came the long process of composition, color, shadow, depth, each capsule placed by hand, one after the other.
This piece is not just about coffee or recycling. It’s about seeing potential where others see waste. About transforming what’s fleeting into something that stays. And about how even in the smallest rituals, there can be space for creation.