World’s first zero waste design shop
What do you get if you take 60 000 plastic bottles and a 3D printer?
LONDON recently saw the launch of BOTTLETOP in Regent Street, the world’s first store created using zero waste design. But what does that actually mean?
It means robots and high tech 3D printers created the interiors entirely from a filament made from plastic waste, specifically plastic bottles. The floor is made from 75 recycled car tyres and the canopy from 3 500 recycled aluminium cans.
Speaking about the new store design, BOTTLETOP Co-Founder Oliver Wayman said: “For the first time, visitors to our store have been able to witness the sustainable use of this technology first hand while shopping the BOTTLETOP collection and learning about the mission of the brand.
“This is so exciting for us as our customers have watched the transformation of the store, from a clean exhibition space to an up-cycled ecosystem. Overhead hangs our trademark metal canopy, with thousands of cans embedded in to a 3D printed lattice structure suspended from the ceiling.”
BOTTLETOP as a brand is pretty impressive. Started in 2002 as a collaboration with Mulberry, it creates luxury bags from upcycled materials, and has become known for reusing bottle tops from Kenya and offcuts of leather.
It now has a studio in Brazil where bags and accessories are made with certified zero deforestation leather and upcycled materials by fairly paid artisans. It has partnered with the Rio Olympics, BAFTA, DKNY and others.
For the world’s first 3D printed store, BOTTLETOP partnered with Reflow who specialise in creating sustainable materials for 3D printing, Krause Architects and AI Build, who use robots to run large scale 3D printers to cut down on waste.
And it certainly flies the flag for ethical luxury; the store comes complete with its own fragrance and soundtracks by record producer Mario C, the visionary behind Beastie Boys and Bjork
