If asked whether the glass is half empty or half full, we’re pretty sure that Israeli artist Cecilia Cohen would say full. Full of possibilities.
A self-described “mother earth type”, Cecilia has always been conscious of her impact on the environment and is the kind of person “who worries about the survival of coral and bats and picks up garbage at the beach.” She has brought this awareness to her art production and business practices.
Working mostly with glass and in a wide variety of ways, Cecilia creates beads, jewelry, boxes and other decorative items, all the while constantly finding ways to recycle and upcycle. She transforms wine and beer bottles into beads (as shown above), old jewelry into stained glass, and integrates found shards of ancient pottery into her designs (as seen below). She finds uses for even the smallest pieces of material, rather than throwing them away.
(On a personal note, we think that her Goldstar Beer beads would make a great necklace or bracelet to accompany Yoav Kotik‘s Goldstar cap rings and earrings.)
Cecilia’s environmental practices extend into the way that she conducts her business. She has always used recycled packaging materials, collecting or buying bubble wrap from businesses that are throwing it out or friends that are moving. She also shreds her old papers and junk mail and uses it as filler when shipping stained glass. She has also set up her business so that she can do most of it from home, eliminating the need for a commute (she doesn’t have a car for that, anyway).
As Cecilia says about her own impact on the environment, “the world is very large and my personal impact on it can only be very small, but I believe that if we each do as much as possible, and keep trying, it adds up to something. In light of Global Climate Change, the future of our world, as we know it, is rather uncertain. It saddens me to realize that our children will not inherit a clean, plentiful world from us. We owe it to them to do the best we can, and to appreciate and protect the resources that we have left.”
Check out Cecilia’s website – Glass and Light – as well as her Etsy shop, stringythingy (where you can find a great tutorial for turning beer and wine bottles into beads).
Read more about other upcycling and recycling artists::
“Waste Lb” Design Company Encourages Lebanese to Waste Fewer Plastic Bags
Ten Sustainable Israeli Designers Who Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Always great to see new creative uses for other people’s “trash
“. It brings us one step closer to a green planet!