Sometime ago we posted a selection of artistic labels of wines. Little pieces of art on the bottle.

We received a comment one of our readers, Heather, who told us about her work with empty wine bottles. We loved it so much that we reached to her and asked a little bit more about her experience and concept.

 

“As soon as I was able to pick anything up, crayons became my tool, quickly followed by felt tip pens and paints. All through school I was the artist and as a teenager I studied Graphic Design, graduating in 1991 from Art School in Wales, UK.” Heather said.

She has a lot of relevant experience in the creative sector: “I worked as a Creative Director in the Design and Advertising Industry for around 16 years between the UK and Asia. Then had a short stint client side managing an  internal finance brand and went back to freelance brand consulting and copywriting early last year in Singapore, which has become my home.”

“In my spare time I have always been creative, I have published a children’s picture book, set up my own art gallery showing and selling my paintings, developed a Tee Shirt range with my illustrations and designed and launched a silver jewellery collection which now sells in Japan.”

Then she thought of an eco-friendly and creative way to use empty wine bottles: “This latest venture […] came about in December 2014. I became acutely aware of the amount of alcohol being consumed over the festive season, only by my observation of the bottle waste that was piling up everywhere, including in my own kitchen! My friends would tell you I Do like a drink, so I’m not sure why I never noticed it before, but it suddenly hit me that all this glass is going back into landfill and what a wasted opportunity, not only to do something considerate for the planet but also to create a new genre of art. Something functional too, Many restaurants use old wine bottles as water bottles to serve at tables. This has long been trendy and eclectic, but nobody ever dresses them up? Why not? So that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

 

And she had some helpful friends who sacrificed themselves to provide her the right canvas: “My highly accommodating friends have provided me with much more than just wine bottles. I’ve acquired some quite unusual shapes and sizes, from Hibiki Japanese whiskey to 1.5 lt Belvedere vodka and the coolest mexican tequila bottle I’ve ever seen. I’ve been putting the word out and trying to get as many big and unique bottles as possible.

It’s an art form worthy of encouraging I think. I’m all for giving man made items a second life and if they can bring a bit of fun to the table too, all the better.”

It’s the start of trend and also of a business: “To date I’ve probably painted about 50 bottles and have sold quite a few already. As it was soon Chinese New Year, I created a red and gold collection and filled them with traditional decorations. They have gone down very well so far.””

Needless to say my kitchen has even more bottles in it now than ever before. As the collection piles up, I need to speed up my painting technique.

 

I’m having fun and feeling good about all this. And hoping the bottle supply will continue to flow as frequently as the wine does in Singapore.”

You can see more of Heather creative work on this short video, website and blog.

“No bottles on there yet, mainly because it’s such a new venture I haven’t uploaded any, but it gives you a sense of my art.”