Its a funny old world…. as I am out here in Spain expecting to post about the nuances of Spanish experience, and away-from-it-all rural niceties. With sporadic internet and therefore a less frenetic absorption of *wider* info.
Only to find East London’s new and cool fashion phenomena Lazy Oaf’s models and photographic team on a photo shoot in the village (look book and details soon!). And after a brief encounter with a number of Spanish plumbers (no that is NOT a euphemism) ; read my unfortunate yet timely connection with an errrrm not-so-rural-nicety and the current exhibition at the Wellcome Foundation London. Which, on similar lines to a number of recent posts here, offers a much closer insight into how we deal with waste from pre Victorian ignorance to our current product rife cleanliness and out of sight out of mind attitudes. To the current reclamation of 50 year old largely unregulated New York Land Fill, Fresh Fields.
So, during my almost internet-monastic few months here ( I did say almost ; ) it didn’t come as too much of a surprise to find, out of the blue, an email from Nottingham designer Sarah Turner, pop into my inbox:
Sarah is an old favourite on this blog, having taken part in the Lives of Artists series with her innovative and sculptural re-use of plastic bottles which form wonderful, colourful and ethereal lighting.
Part of Sarah’s range of lighting, Bluebell and her green Sprite table lamp
Lily table lamp and Daisy ceiling adaptation
With Cola 30 (yup! 30 cola bottles used in the making!)
Sarah’s lighting installation at this years London Fashion Week
With her recent exhibition at Maison&Object in Paris AND being enlisted for her special lighting installation at London Fashion Week earlier this year. The following email content seemed a definite par for the course progression;
SodaStream uses eco artist, Sarah Turner’s recycled bottle sculpture in their latest campaign with British super model Erin O’Connor
I can only say this latest venture just totally fits in with the here and now, of what we do about waste and all the wider issues of consumption crisis, the economy and environment.
And, for the uninitiated, when Sodastream was a mere whippersnapper, us youngsters would go round to play at friends houses and sometimes find this latest gizmo of resounding drooling awe. An astute, ever-so-cool acquisition made by various tuned in mums and dads of the day. A glorious array of refillable glass bottles full of fruit syrups with the added bonus of the lava-lampesque design for the water-from-the-tap fizz dispenser The Sodastream!.
Original Sodastream circa 1960
A tap water aerated drinks idea first pioneered in the 1920’s taken to todays wide ranging and healthy options.
A child’s dream, a dads economical and possibly dental (for the late sixties anyway), fizzy drinks prayer answered. And a mums, how-to-keep-the-kids amused with easy to use 60’s space science all wrapped up in one ever so displayable package. (I know I’m using stereotypes here but it was back in the day!)
And it doesn’t surprise me either that Sodastream should want to collaborate with Sarah and her recycled plastic bottles. As they were very much pioneering the idea of the economical use of product containers from the start. The syrups were the first of the super new concentrate concept and, if memory serves me correctly, refill sachets for the bottles to boot!. A great almost against the grain idea during the advent of mass consumer production.
Hot on the heels of this collaboration Sarah begins her current her exhibitions at Pulse, Earls Court in June from Sunday 5th to Tues 7th and she then moves onto Tent at the Truman Brewery Building during London’s Design Festival this September.
This collaboration has Sarah’s handmade spherical lighting from 562 recycled plastic bottles. And a perfect image to help communicate the message of ‘A World Without Bottles‘ for Sodastream……..
Erin O’Connor with Sarah’s creation
British supermodel Erin O’Connor holds the sphere symbolically on her shoulders, recreating the iconic pose of Greek God Atlas, highlighting the burden of the world’s plastic bottle waste.
Sodastream’s campaign aims to reduce the amount of plastic bottles people buy, therefore reducing the amount that end up getting thrown away.
And, Erin O’Connor who wholeheartedly supports the campaign, added that, “We take plastic bottles for granted in our everyday lives but it’s easy to forget that plastic bottle overuse and wastage can clog up our landfill sites”.
Fiona Hope, Managing Director of Sodastream UK, also commented: “With so many environmental issues competing for the public’s attention, bottle waste often gets forgotten. Yet reducing the casual use of plastic bottles is one of the easiest, most impactful we can do for the environment.”
And as I said its not the first time Sarah’s bottle creations have caught the eye of the fashion world. Snapped here with her light installation for London Fashion week earlier, in February.
Sarah has a wide range of ‘bottle creations’ as mentioned here before, and all can be found on her website www.sarahturner.co.uk .
Oasis range
To see her work up close, she will be exhibiting her recycled bottle lighting at these two fantastic exhibitions in London this year. First up is Pulse at Earls Court in June Sunday thru Tuesday 5-6-7th and then onto her second year at Tent during London’s Design Festival in September held in the Truman Brewery from 22nd to 25th.
back in a couple !….
