colored-plastic-strips

Started as a project to help a small community in Sossego, rural Brazil, where a non-profit organization enlisted designers, social workers, and organic farmers to help the indigenous people establish a sustainable community. Creating saleable crafts and designs from materials that are available to them, while cleaning the environment, is an important way to generate income and raise self-esteem for most women of the community. The goal was to transform the PETE bottles into objects that could be made without special tools and equipment.

gyroscope-eye-rings

#1 PETE OBJECTS are some of the results of experimentation with that material. Elaborate, but a beautiful process of preparing, decorating and heat setting of the PETE results in an object that looks part glass part metal. Heat setting phase is done by special sun baking process without use of any artificial energy. Finished by hand each roll is made into a pendant, clip, broach or ring.

gyroscope-necklace1
PETE-rings
ring-necklaces