Designer behind the PET Lamp on giving plastic waste a new life and struggling artisans a helping hand

How did the PET Lamp project come about? “It started in Colombia in 2011. I was on holiday with friends who were doing a project on plastic bottles in the Amazon River. The problem in those countries is enormous because there’s no infrastructure for recycling. The heavy rains wash all of the plastic waste into the river and then it ends up in the ocean.

“They were a group of creative people – an artist, an architect, landscape designers – and they wanted a product designer to [propose] an answer [to the plastic pollution problem]. I thought about reusing the plastic bottles instead of recycling them, transforming the object rather than breaking it down.”

Why was it important to you that PET Lamps were made locally? “What we wanted to achieve with the project was combining this global product, the plastic bottle, with the crafts technique of basket weaving.”

How did you find your artisans? “In 2012, we went back to Colombia and we were sponsored by Coca-Cola and supported by Artesanías de Colombia, a local company that supports local craftspeople. They introduced us to a group

of artisans.”