CASCADE

Michelle Brand is an eco-designer whose interest lies in sustainable waste management. She designs and makes screens, room dividers and pendant lights out of a material which most people in the western world would perceive to be rubbish - used plastic soda bottles. She loves seeing design opportunities where most people only see problems.

Ms. Brand collects most of her material — about 100 to 150 bottles a week — from institutions like St. Mary’s Hospital for Women & Children, near her home in Manchester, England. Back at her studio, she uses a machine to slice the bottoms off the bottles, washes and disinfects the cutoff pieces, which resemble flowers, by hand, sands them and tags them together to form a decorative ‘fabric’ which she uses to make curtains and light shades.

www.michellebrand.co.uk

Available in Canada at:
Galerie CO 5235 St. Laurant Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec

Awards

• May 2007 Editors choice (Inhabit) at HauteGREEN, New York
• Feb 2007 Global Award in Environmental section at the 9th Annual British Female Investors and Innovators Network, London
• Jan 2006 Prize winner, Reworked Exhibition, Washington Gallery, Wales