I donated one of my cocktail tables to the annual Benefit Auction for the Design Trust for Public Space.
The Cocktail Table is from a series that focuses on re-use. These pieces re-purpose the vestiges of our lives. I did a whole series with tin cans, and here I am transforming liquor bottles.
It’s easy to create meaningful work with recycled packaging as everyone has a point of reference to the source material. To me, these liquor bottles connote good times, some may see danger and sadness in them, others may relate to the particular brands, or just to the iconic nature of bottles in general. Whatever the association, meaning is decoration.
I have discovered so much potential in trash. The bottles used in the Cocktail Table, for example, are extremely structural. Reuse redeems the energy that went into making them, and conserves the energy needed to recycle them.
The beauty of these pieces is not fully realized until the artifacts are ordered and finished. Re-using waste is not as easy as it sounds. Each bottle is painstakingly cleaned and prepped. In a batch of random bottles there are many sizes and shapes so each of the tables in this series are unique.
I hope one day to have the opportunity to create a bar using this technique. It would be so beautiful.
In the mean time, this particular table is for sale at the auction which has already started on Paddle 8. The image below, when clicked, will take you to the auction. In addition to my Cocktail Table, there are some very nice pieces for sale.
