Waste needn’t be wasted - designs by Heath Nash

8 Sep 2006 Category: Arts & Crafts, Features, Products, Top Page 10, Worldwide

Waste needn’t be wasted - designs by Heath Nash

Heath Nash with a white and a full color flowerball light

Heath Nash studied sculpture at the University of Cape Town, but began making lampshades and other life style products after graduating. Exploring the question what South Africa could look like or what design language could express a contemporary aesthetic of his country, he experiments with ‘craft techniques’ as a high end design tool. Named as the 2006 Elle Decoration South Africa Designer of the Year for his treasures from trash, Heath has also just been appointed the SA creative entrepreneur of the year - a British council initiative. Before he will be visiting London for the 100% Design show in late September PingMag wanted to know how he actually manages to recycle empty bottles to perfectly crisp precious objects, what difficulties he occurs when creating handmade products and where his small business is heading.

Written by Uleshka

Heath, creating lifestyle objects from other people’s rubbish doesn’t sound too sexy at first, but when looking at your objects all possible doubts are immediately blown away.

People are generally quite shocked that those things are made from rubbish, which I find really pleasing. (laughs) That shows that I’m obviously doing it right and that’s exactly the point I am trying to make! It is possible to re-use this kind of plastic straight away and take it to a sophisticated level.


Plastic Proteas - experiments with flat sheet materials

greeting card

one of Heah’s beautifully folded lamp shade objects

The Whorl - lampshade

How did you end up mixing your crisp designs with a “handmade touch” of local crafters in South Africa using empty bottles and plastic waste?

In the beginning all my work had been based on sheets of paper and plastic folded to objects: lampshades, greeting cards and that kind of stuff. I had a bit of an origami meets Swedish feel to it, but nothing really showed that it was made in Africa. Consciously, I kept looking for some way to express what Africa is and then suddenly met Richard Mondongwe at a crafts market making these plastic flowers. That was when I thought that by using the right materials and knowledge - wire and plastic combined with skills of traditional crafters and a contemporary design - a new aesthetic could be created which really suits the country.

We South Africans basically brand ourselves in crafts and design right now, creating a new look and feel for our country - and that’s quite exciting!

wireworks clothes hanger with a beautiful message

That all sounds as if you see yourself as a designer with an educational mission. A bit like what the CCDI in Cape Town are trying to achieve by teaching the crafters to take their traditional products to the next level…

In a way, yes. I really like to discover skills and people and combine them to creating products with a more contemporary sensibility, making things that are able to compete on the world market. Relevant objects rather than old school, standard local souvenirs.

Now Richard is my factory supervisor and leading craftsmen. He is very good at wirework and his wife now works with me, too. It is a nice passing on of knowledge and combining forces, besides giving work to those who need it.


Candellabra - wireworks rotating around a central point – folding flat for easy packaging, freight and storage or opening up for an African style candle holder

Stool - This little stool is paying tribute to the very African small seat tradition.

Cutout Cylinder Light, Plastic Proteas and white Flower Ball light

Full color Flower Drum light, white and ginger beer light and a flower screen in the background

Your initial stunning folding objects with dye cut elements are now combined with Richard’s wirework techniques - that lead to an interesting range of products. What is the core of your designs?

A lot of my work is very modular. A unit, a component that repeats itself. I like to make smalller units that make up a bigger whole. It is like drawing lots of small lines which eventually add up to a circle.

hands symbolizing crafts and knowledge paired with recycled resources make a beautiful product

I’d like to know a little bit more of the process of making your objects: from the milk bottle to the final sculpture - how does that work?

First it is trying to get the plastic, which unfortunately is much harder than you might imagine. I finally located some nice collection points, a couple of different recycling centers. The bottles we get are all dirty, so we take them to our studio, rinse, clean and wash them and then hang them up until they are dry and clean.

white and colorful bottles gathered from recycling centers or simply picked up from the streets

Then you cut the handle and the bottom off, so they transform to a plastic sheet. We punch leaves out with a hammer and a blade attached to a piece of wood.


cleaned bottles at the studio

Landela punching out and correcting the small plastic flowers

Each leaf has little crease lines on it and each leaf has then to be creased by hand, basically creating little veins. While that is happening, Richard and Landela are making the wire components.


Richard preparing the wire frames

Juliet creasing each flower by hand

Then the leaves get strapped onto the wires. That is how you get your units, your modular base pieces. From those you either built a wall or a screen or a cylinder…


wireworks and flowers attached to a Full Colour Drum

Full Colour Drum

They are all slightly different pieces, since everything is handmade, but this is the basic process.

Do you have to adjust your designs in terms of what materials you can get hold of? I guess there is not always the same amount of pink bottles around?

Yes, the color is really difficult to deal with. That is why the white lights are much easier to do. There is never a shortage of milk bottles, but getting enough see-through purple or blue plastic… I am totally at the whim of the recycling place to get hold of these things. Crazy actually, that I need more garbage than there is available!

beautifully crisp white flower ball light

…and with the lights switched on!

You mentioned somewhere that you are dreaming of a centrailzed recycled material bank…

Absolutely! That is what I would love to have, so I wouldn’t have to collect my own plastic! Just call and order 50 red bottles, 30 in pink… - but that’s a dream so far! It is actually much easier to drive around, pick up some bottles and do it yourself. But if you want to organize something that is always sustainable and that you can keep drawing from, it still takes so long to actually get it done!

I can imagine! What do you do if you get really big orders? How do you keep up your production?

Recycled material designs are very expensive to make, because it is a very time consuming process. Just like organic vegetables - it is more expensive to get those, too. The full color flower ball for example is something I only really sell outside of Africa, to people who understand that some things are worth paying a lot for. It is more of a high end product right now.

fullcolor ball light glowing

I am now trying to collaborate with a company called Street Wires. I hope to teach their group of crafters how to make my products so that they can take my orders and manufacture products for a bigger market. Then I could keep my team of 5 as some kind of a prototype facility, making models and trying out new stuff.

I really want to keep the manufacturing in South Africa, keep it local, but that is difficult because it’s actually very expensive to produce here.


one of Heath’s screens

the same screen in front of a window lit by daylight

Some of your products - the large separating walls for example or folding lampshades - are not using recycled materials but die-cut polypropylene instead. Will you keep producing some recycled and some new products?

I am constantly looking for new ways of using recycled materials, because there are lots of ways that haven’t been used, but at the same time I have to find ways to make easy products that I can sell for cheaper. Die-cut products fulfill that role, because you just buy plastic, have it set into a machine, cut it, fold it and it’s done. It’s a much cheaper way of making things and easy to distribute some of my stuff around the world. That basically keeps me going.

pretty big see-through screen at Heath’s studio ready for delivery

You just wrote a little manifesto for the Design Indaba Magazine about recycling. What is your most important point here?

I demonstrate that recycling has to happen here in South Africa (and everywhere else in the world). No-one here recycles! There is no infrastructure for it, so it is basically down to each individual to separate things - but no-one is really is doing that! When I discovered this material that looked so beautiful, I just thought is was a great opportunity to raise some consciousness and awareness, that these things are too precious to be wasted!


every small bit can be recycled: ginger beer colored napkin-ring

transparent napkin-ring

You won a couple of great prices recently, have the great opportunity to be invited not only to 100% Design in London, but also to other entrepreneur programs by the British Council, a meeting with Sir Terence Conran… Apart from your plans to expand your business and delegating work to find more time for actual designing - what would you like to focus on in the future once you established that freedom?


Curl lights and screen at one of Heath’s various exhibitions

The Curl - a die-cut sheet of polypropylene, which folds into this soft spiral, curling around a light bulb. The curl can be used vertically (hung) or horizontally – and reminds of geometric African carved furniture details.

Being a sculptor originally, I love playing with space and it would be beautiful to make things for larger areas, panels, screens and objects that really communicate in a big room… but all that is a slow process. For now I just want to contribute positively to the world, rather than just contributing arbitrarily.

Heath, thank you so much! Very much looking forward to the reactions in London and checking out what new products you introduce at next year’s Design Indaba!

click to view on my google map

73 Comments

  1. Thats fantastic. There should be more people taking care of the enviroment by designing good & usable products out of wastage.
    Cheers to Heath!

    Posted by: Paavani on September 8th, 2006 at 11:23 pm

  2. frikken brillaint, well done heath! Nice work!

    Posted by: tracey on September 9th, 2006 at 12:40 am

  3. He turned crap into a different kind of crap. Now it won’t be thrown away for another 6 weeks.

    Posted by: billy on September 9th, 2006 at 10:45 am

  4. sounds like someone being pissed off with life, ey billy?

    nevermind!

    heath - well done! beautiful aesthetics worth going to 100%design for

    Posted by: janis on September 9th, 2006 at 4:10 pm

  5. Heath! Keep on keeping on and look after those blue prints. ;-)

    Posted by: Elaine on September 9th, 2006 at 9:08 pm

  6. Love it Heath! So creative and different.
    Keep on making the world more beautiful.
    We all need it.

    PS. Silly Billy - maybe you just need one of Heath’s stunning designs to bring some light into your life. Sounds like you’re in a dark space.

    Posted by: Siobhan on September 10th, 2006 at 1:54 am

  7. YES… but WHERE can you BUY it!? Arg.

    Posted by: Ralph on September 10th, 2006 at 2:35 pm

  8. contact Heath here and find out the best option for you:
    http://www.incapetown.com/subsites/pack3_4.aspx?mid=8

    Posted by: Uleshka on September 10th, 2006 at 4:20 pm

  9. Oh! So this is the original creator. I saw similar items sold in few countries. Especially the white plastic lamps. Great vision and well executed, Heath! All the best for a cleaner planet. [Smile]

    Posted by: mcgr on September 10th, 2006 at 7:14 pm

  10. So beautifyl!

    Posted by: Shall Zou on September 11th, 2006 at 12:31 pm

  11. Looking at your work makes me proudly South African, can only imagine how hugely proud your parents are.
    Well done Heath!

    Posted by: Tish on September 11th, 2006 at 4:30 pm

  12. [...] If you don’t read PingMag by now, you should! They have an interview with Heath Nash. He’s a designer and uses other peoples garbage to make products. art, design, furniture, product design [...]

    Posted by: today and tomorrow » Blog Archive » Heath Nash on September 11th, 2006 at 7:09 pm

  13. room

    Posted by: Reed on September 11th, 2006 at 9:11 pm

  14. we’re proud of SA Design

    Posted by: Zahira Asmal on September 11th, 2006 at 10:28 pm

  15. T^T
    power of create.

    Posted by: toh on September 12th, 2006 at 12:22 pm

  16. [...] [...]

    Posted by: screwhead.org » on September 12th, 2006 at 9:14 pm

  17. the link on indesign isnt working. Seems to have a syntax area. Still, beautiful work Heath. I think you’ve got fans all over the place

    Posted by: Jamie on September 13th, 2006 at 8:11 am

  18. Incredible! you siblings must hate you! :-)

    Posted by: lil bruva on September 14th, 2006 at 6:09 am

  19. Hey Heath shows what perserverance and hard work can do. well done !!!!!!!

    Posted by: Don on September 14th, 2006 at 2:55 pm

  20. Wow, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my whole life…this is what I want to do! I want to make beautiful things out of recyclable goods.

    Posted by: Jonelle on October 6th, 2006 at 2:10 am

  21. this kind of thing is always a good thing!

    Posted by: tim t. on October 7th, 2006 at 6:51 am

  22. you got a wonderfull idea and you did it reality i realy like it i did similar creations at school with my pupils and the children loved them 5 years ago.keep on …sofiab

    Posted by: Anonymous on October 20th, 2006 at 3:16 am

  23. What a great idea! Sometimes there are so good ways to great design from really simple things…

    Posted by: Dimitri on November 5th, 2006 at 9:06 pm

  24. It makes me proud to see your work everywhere and encourages me to keep up the hard work. I’ve known you since we were 5 … you were an inspiration in art class and still are in the art class of the streets! ps I recycle everything so if you need some of that coloured plastic give me a call! Keep it up! And good luck!

    Posted by: lynette Bester on December 8th, 2006 at 9:00 am

  25. Hola Health, Your work is great. We would love to work with you on some projects. Our festival for Creative recycling is this week. http://www.drapart.org in Barcelona. We are working to organize a festival for Bulgaria later in 2007 because they are entering into the EU as of January 2007. So nice work Health. Besos Douglas.

    Posted by: Douglas E. Smith on December 12th, 2006 at 4:35 am

  26. i was on stumbleupon.com, and I was introduced to your work. I think its a fine idea. How about a solar lit bird house or a parasol?

    Posted by: robyn on December 15th, 2006 at 3:43 pm

  27. [...] If you like to see more pictures and details by Heath Nash, you can visit this website. [...]

    Posted by: Peggy Chow on December 19th, 2006 at 3:49 pm

  28. [...] And if you’re interested in a more eye opener advertising ideas, head to TWENTYFOUR. I’m totally in love with the one for Body Coach. You can always see there are ideas that’s extremely kinky yet effective. Neat. Heath Nash An incredible designer I would say, that makes good use of recycle-able items. Who would ever thought a waste could be turned into a designer products that look as good as IKEA’s? My god. [...]

    Posted by: Design Enterprise » Blog Archive » Creative Juices Galore on January 8th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

  29. THANKS! IS A GREAT WORK, METICULOUS AND INGENIOUS! A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR RE-THINK IN THE POSSIBILITIES OF ALL THE PRODUCTS THAT ARE CONSIDERED AS WASTE.

    Posted by: Isabell Ramirez on January 19th, 2007 at 12:42 am

  30. [...] Capetowner Heath Nash strikes a pose with this “nothing need be wasted” room divider entirely made from cutout precycled plastic flowers, made by hand with love in his local community. [...]

    Posted by: article » Blog Archive » Tasty round-up on January 30th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

  31. these are amazing! makes me want to do more recycled art!

    Posted by: Andrea on February 6th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

  32. It’s absolutely gorgeous!!!

    Posted by: Veselina on February 13th, 2007 at 3:25 am

  33. This is absolutely wonderful, the best use that I’ve seen for boring plastic bottle waste!
    These lights made with the white bottles are absolutely gorgeous, the light actually FINISHES the piece instead of it being beautiful simply on its own as I’ve seen most lamps do, and fail at lighting!
    Smashing!

    Posted by: Kendra on February 19th, 2007 at 2:51 am

  34. [...] PingMag favorite Heath Nash’s booth at the expo was one of the most colorful and lively ones. Although known for recycling and reusing materials where ever he can, it is hard to believe that Heath’s beautiful products are actually made of trash! [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Conference Deluxe Part 2: The Design Indaba Expo on March 16th, 2007 at 7:00 pm

  35. ur simply awesome!

    Posted by: hardeep on May 8th, 2007 at 2:28 am

  36. all these things are amazing

    Posted by: raunak on May 8th, 2007 at 2:31 am

  37. You guys are doing a great job,please l would love to do it and teach others
    Thanks
    David

    Posted by: David Adembesa on July 28th, 2007 at 10:39 pm

  38. sono di catania, e cercavo idee per la mia tesi di laurea su design, sei davvero eccezionale!!!complimenti, vorrei tanto poter lavorare come te!
    contattami se puoi darmi una mano via i-mail!

    Posted by: GIADA on August 28th, 2007 at 12:03 am

  39. [...] PingMag interviewed Nash recently, and it’s demonstrably clear that the British Council’s SA Creative Entrepreneur of The [...]

    Posted by: The Trash Men « on September 28th, 2007 at 10:15 pm

  40. AMAZING

    Posted by: Lawrence H. Song on October 30th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

  41. FANTASTIC

    Posted by: Lawrence H. Song on October 30th, 2007 at 1:31 pm

  42. I AM ABSOLUTELLY SPEACHLESS…I LOVE IT!!!

    Posted by: Anonymous on October 30th, 2007 at 10:37 pm

  43. Hello Heath, I CANNOT believe how difficult it is to find a place to take my goods for recycling and here you are with a ’shortage’ of plastic!!! What to do about the situation?

    Posted by: Norma on November 3rd, 2007 at 5:54 pm

  44. [...] by Heath Nash via.  Made of recycled plastics.  Approximate price tag: [...]

    Posted by: Blawgalicious on November 11th, 2007 at 10:48 pm

  45. [...] fantastiline lilledega lambivari, leitud siit. Ja toolike samalt [...]

    Posted by: Low-budget/no-budget « N¤erev l¤ps on November 21st, 2007 at 4:41 pm

  46. It is so ..so beautiful!!!!like it!!!XD

    Posted by: who's Jane on December 4th, 2007 at 10:54 pm

  47. [...] more about Heath, go to Treehugger.com  or here , or simply go to his [...]

    Posted by: Recycle, re-use, re-think | thegraffiK on December 7th, 2007 at 11:44 pm

  48. Well! aren’t these something. Recycling and waste minimalising are becoming LESS popular in New Zealand as the old ’she’ll be right with some no.8 wire’ lot lose out to galloping consumerism and conspicuous waste. I am so inspired. Can,t wait to collect some placcy bottles myself now. No scrap banks here that I have found - yet. Keep on with the crazy ideas.

    Posted by: cynder on December 11th, 2007 at 11:31 am

  49. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/09/08/waste-neednt-be-wasted-designs-by-heath-nash/ Share and Enjoy: [...]

    Posted by: LED Cube - » PIN LEDs for Indicator Light applications. Also great for custom work, special effects, accent/mood lighting. on December 31st, 2007 at 4:00 am

  50. [...] Things Magazine Heath Nash for the British Council @ LDF ‘07 September 23, 2007, 9:43 pm Filed under: design, exhibition, festival/feria Some wonderful work. Read more about the process here. [...]

    Posted by: Heath Nash for the British Council @ LDF ‘07 « o b s e r v a t i o n s . . t h i n g s . . p e o p l e & i d e a s . . on January 3rd, 2008 at 5:59 am

  51. So beautiful!!!

    Posted by: Silvia on January 19th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

  52. Inspirational - great ideas and commitment to an ideal. Keep on collecting and making….

    Posted by: Pete on January 26th, 2008 at 8:37 pm

  53. just awesome.

    Posted by: Aggie on January 27th, 2008 at 6:04 am

  54. just know u and ur work from a friend that watched u in chiado - lisboa last weekend and i just love the life that u give to ur objects with the colours …. life makes no sense without colours.

    mariajfp@hotmail.com

    Posted by: Anonymous on February 21st, 2008 at 8:34 am

  55. utterly fantastic

    Posted by: Lynsey on February 25th, 2008 at 6:11 am

  56. These are beautiful! I absolutely adore the plain, white ones.

    Posted by: nataJane on March 9th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

  57. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Posted by: mp on April 23rd, 2008 at 5:05 am

  58. Heath my greatest respect for a wonderful artist. Coming from a recycling back ground to work for someone who creates from other peoples garbage WOW GREAT

    Posted by: Colleen W on April 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm

  59. Wow!
    I love his designs.
    Does anyone know where to buy one of those coloured lamps?!

    Posted by: Hana on June 11th, 2008 at 11:47 pm

  60. IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN HEATH’S DESIGN’S THEY CAN CONTACT US DIRECTLY ON 021 447 5757 OR ON 078 398 4851
    AND WE WILL ARRANGE THE ITEMS AS PROMPTLY AS POSSIBLE.

    Posted by: Colleen W on September 17th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

  61. [...] The beautiful, colourful new objects that he creates communicate a South African visual aesthetic expressing what Africa is, he says. His work shows how designers can make a difference to the environment by recycling [...]

    Posted by: Rubbish? « design for change on October 17th, 2008 at 7:39 am

  62. [...] to recycle plastic lids. If you’re more of an artist than a crafter, you could take your cue from Heath Nash’s plastic bottle designs or sculptures, or Aurora Robson’s gallery of plastic bottle sculptures, or Kosuke Tsumura’s “Bottle Armor” or [...]

    Posted by: Got a crafting urge all bottled up? | MetaFilter on November 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm

  63. [...] Chandeliers, fantstistka! Svenska Maria Westerbergs t-shirtstol är också fin, liksom sydafrikanske Heath Nashs blomsterboll av [...]

    Posted by: Kurbits på resa 1 - Remade Sweden i Eskilstuna | Kurbits - din slöjdkompis i inredningsvärlden on December 30th, 2008 at 5:54 am

  64. Exageradamente maravilhoso,você esta de parabéns!!!!!! SUCESSO!!

    Posted by: Anelise on January 30th, 2009 at 8:08 am

  65. [...] Hier zie je wie en wat. Klik. [...]

    Posted by: Nog meer dingen gekocht | Dagelijks Paradijs on March 25th, 2009 at 7:53 am

  66. i can’t belive on my Eyes….
    how beautiful are these(!!!!!!!!!!)

    Posted by: aman basi on March 25th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

  67. i loVe it.

    Posted by: ricky on March 25th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

  68. very ………very……nice.!#$^&()

    Posted by: jasleen on March 25th, 2009 at 1:22 pm

  69. very ………very……crafty

    Posted by: harman on March 25th, 2009 at 1:26 pm

  70. Excellent. As an aspiring illustrator this article was really inspirational. Thank you Ping Mag. I love your site. :)

    Posted by: bursa evden eve nakliyat on March 31st, 2009 at 7:02 pm

  71. [...] Other Peoples’ Rubbish by Heath Nash via PingMag [...]

    Posted by: Repurposing Roundup: Lighting « notbeige on April 27th, 2009 at 10:57 am

  72. [...] Our new friend Uleshka from PingMag in Japan did a good interview with Nash last year, which you can read here. [...]

    Posted by: Heath Nash at Design Indaba | ArkiNotas.com on October 4th, 2009 at 12:45 am

  73. you are briliant! i like it!

    Posted by: sekocinorlie on February 18th, 2010 at 4:57 pm

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