Design can change people’s lives and improve the planet. In 2012, the PET Lamp project took shape in Colombia, working with artisans from the Cauca region who had been displaced by guerrilla conflict and were living in Bogotá. The project was born from the troubling contradiction embodied by every PET bottle: a product with a very short useful life that takes decades to decompose. Over its 12-year history, PET Lamp has expanded globally, collaborating with artisan communities in Chile, Ethiopia, Thailand, Ghana, Australia, Japan, and Rwanda. While maintaining its original focus on environmental awareness, the project has evolved to explore its anthropological dimension more deeply. In this talk, National Design Award winner Álvaro Catalán de Ocón will present this initiative, which brings together environmental action, craftsmanship, and the principles of industrial design in an ongoing dialogue with artisan communities from across the globe.
