Expanded Polystyrene

French-Mexican designer Thierry Jeannot and Austrian artist Gisela Stiegler use waste packaging material to create enchanting light objects and sculptural pieces. Chandeliers made out of 1000 PET (plastic) bottles, made with the help of poor Mexico City people. A series of lamp sculptures carved out of expanded polystyrene packaging material obtained from fishmongers of Viennese markets. The pieces surprise and disturb our clichés and preconceptions about the value of materials. They fake a luxury object, just to actually transfigure into one themselves. The chandeliers look like crystal, reminiscent of Baroque or glass-blown pieces from Murano. The polystyrene lights appear like ivory or alabaster. Thierry Jeannot will also show silver jewellery made with elements of the PET bottle. These creations represent pure and genuine up-cycling. The designers re-stage this unwanted material and demonstrate to value and respect our resources and look at the possibilities for raw material afresh.