| Name: Chris Wilks |
| Course: BA Design |
| Stage: 4 |
I have always had a fascination with the transformative ability of light, and the beauty to be found in translucent lit objects. With this work I wanted to give a new life to single use waste products disposed of in large numbers at the restaurant at which I work part time. A scout around the bar revealed potential candidates for transformation in the milk lids(used in coffee making). Collecting the lids was a team effort, with baristas from three cafés contributing daily for a period of six weeks, the placement of a bucket beside the espresso machine rescuing the lids from death in a tip. Beautiful Garbage refers to the reframing of cast-offs as sculptural object. The form recalls a delicate and damaged globe, ravaged, littered, broke. Its light both eerie and calm, its shadows scale like, dappled like the sea or forest floor.
This work juxtaposes traditional weaving techniques with non- traditional materials. It aims to transform the single use object into something more, asking us to reassess disposability, and find beauty in the taken for granted. Its organic form and fragility belie the permanence of the material, which will survive is land fill many years after the basket ceases to exist.