For The Birds, a series of food-based lamps by Florian Kräutli, came about when the young designer was left to make decisions about a previous tenant’s belongings following a move. The pieces that Kräutli liked became his; the others ended up as garbage. This arbitrary approach led him to the realization that products that are no longer owned by anyone are, in fact, anyone’s. He says, “But it is our concept of value, which makes them garbage or (precious) objects. Often there are chairs standing on the street as bulky waste which only shortly before were inside a house and were valuable objects.”

The For The Birds lampshades have been designed to be moved outdoors when the user tires of them, allowing wildlife to feast on tapioca, wafers or vegetable matter. Instead of becoming garbage when rejected, the lampshades are passed along to more appreciative users such as birds and squirrels.

The process, which Kräutli describes to being quite close to paper-making, is based entirely on food products. He says, “In the beginning I was thinking of other objects from different kinds of edible substances. But most of them are really better off staying food.” Kräutli stuck to leeks, beetroot and blue cabbage for the lamps after trying a variety of other produce. Satisfactory results depend on longer fibres and more starch than sugar. “Cauliflower has a beautiful colour and texture, but it is very brittle, because it has no long fibres. Ginger on the other hand is very tough, which makes it hard to process. Fruit in general work as well, but the sugar in them makes it sticky. In general, you can use the same process for any ingredient, but the outcome can be very different.”

The lampshades, currently prototypes, will last a long time in a dry environment, as the warmth from the bulb will dry the material out further. Kräutli is developing the process so as to be able to produce greater quantities more efficiently should the need arise. He points out that paper can be made of almost anything, and once came across a book made of elephant poo. “Luckily,” he says, “it did not smell anymore.” Perhaps this triggered his unsuccessful quest for communion wafers to be used as a material. “Originally I wanted to use consecrated wafers from an abbey. I contacted them and explained the project and what I intended to do with them, but they were not happy with me misusing their wafers. A nun even told me that had I not have explained my project but just ordered the wafers, I would have gotten them. I responded that I just wanted to be honest about it, but she told me that in this case I should not have been so honest…” But when a project involves sustainable lampshades that are literally for the birds, the whole concept is about as honest as you can get.