The idea is simple: collect post-use, single-use bamboo chopsticks from restaurants, thoroughly clean them, sanitize them at extremely high temperature and pressure, and use them to make high-quality accents for the consumer’s living space. The idea is Kwytza (pronounced k-why-tsa).

Kwytza Chopstick Art was the original idea of founder Bryan Parks, an American who lived in China for several years. It’s not surprising that Bryan made a steady habit of eating with chopsticks while there. One day during lunch—which was of course being eaten with single-use chopsticks, Bryan rather nonchalantly asked his lunch partner how many chopsticks did he imagine were used per year considering China’s population size. This simple question would prove to be the catalyst for an innovative coupling of art and conservationism.

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