Recycling by design

By Richard Solash

article from columbia university news service 

.......... Creative upcycling is not only confined to the United States. Gulnur Ozdaglar, an architect in Ankara, Turkey, has taken the trend to new heights. With the help of an open flame, scissors, a knife and a soldering iron, she transforms soda bottles into brooches, necklaces, vases and even plastic “petal” chandeliers, which sell for $250. Her pieces were recently featured in a well-known Turkish design store, and she is now working to win the sponsorship of environmental organizations in her country.

“Recycling is not one of the bigger issues in Turkey, as we are dealing with unemployment, human rights and more, but I think it is everyone’s responsibility to live without harming the earth,” says Ozdaglar. “I, all of my friends, and all of my neighbors, did not put one single bottle to waste last year. I make something out of all of them.”

Her work, she said, represents something that is at once personal and public. “I see this as my very personal answer to filling the world with waste, as well as the statement that we should all be against throwawayism.”

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