Billboards to Back Pockets

With everything we create, we’re conscious of the materials we bring into the world. Wherever possible, we look for ways to reuse and repurpose things, giving old artwork a life beyond its original purpose.

Billboards have always been one of the biggest examples of that. Every time one comes down, the same question lingers in the back of our minds: what happens to it next?

Simplify Money, Amplify Life campaign images by Cait Miers, Dougal Gorman, Luka Raubenheimer, & Jaleesa Vincent.

Turns out, someone else had been asking the same thing.

That’s how we found Bugskin — a team that transforms retired billboard canvases into functional one-of-one pieces designed to last for years, not weeks.

The timing lined up perfectly too. We’d recently wrapped our Simplify Money, Amplify Life campaign, which saw large-scale billboards rolled out across the country in collaboration with some of our favourite Aussie creatives. The campaign was all about showing how Life’s Better on The Upside, so we loved the idea that those artworks could continue living on in another form.

Making of the wallets at Bugskin HQ.

Rather than letting the canvases disappear once the campaign wrapped, we teamed up with Bugskin to rework them into something new. And while Bugskin’s work typically transforms billboards into bags, together we explored something a little different: a limited run of velcro wallets.

Our card front & centre :'-)

Each wallet is cut from a different section of billboard artwork, meaning no two are the same. Every piece carries its own colours, quirks and composition from a previous life out in the world.

The final result is a limited run of wallets built for everyday carry: a place for an Up card, cash, receipts, keepsakes, and all the little things picked up along the way.

Friends of Up hanging out & giving a 'what's in my wallet' tour.

Like the wallets themselves, the wider project was shaped by lots of different hands. To capture the final pieces, we worked with people like multidisciplinary artist BAMITSSAM, who brought the wallets to life through stills and motion that highlighted both their craftsmanship and individuality.

Photoshoot captured in BAMVISION.

The wallets are currently available as a gift with purchase through Bugskin’s website, with more from the project still to come across our social channels.

P.S. If you get your hands on one, look closely, you might just find your own little bug hidden away inside.