When it comes to upcycling, it’s not always easy to create something new out of discarded waste that doesn’t appear as repurposed…discarded waste. Yet, Czech artist Veronika Richterová seems to have pulled it off.
For her recent PET Luminaries series, the artist sliced and diced dozens of discarded plastic PET bottles to create a collection of eccentric chandeliers. Due to the existing glass-like nature of the cleaned plastic, the finished products more closely resemble carefully blown glass centerpieces rather than objects that otherwise would have ended up as a $.05 bottle deposit refund.
As one might expect, PET doesn’t take too kindly to excess heat—so Richterová incorporated her pieces with low-heat hardware and bulbs to keep everything neat and tidy.
“PET Bottles inspire me with their lighting properties, which are very close to glass,” explains the artist. “That’s why I started creating different ways of exploring functional light forms that create minimal heat.”
In any case, upcycling projects like these help give us hope that not all is lost when it comes to mass manufactured junk.
Check out the full collection over at Veronika Richterová.