Beauty in a Bottle

W;nk Atelier is run by Hong Kong-born, London-trained designers Maureen Hung and Connie Tang.Follow their Instagram Inspired by Hong Kong’s plastic-covered beaches, they decided to start working with discarded plastic using the beauty of jewelry to create ecological awareness. According to their definition, a wink means batting one's eyelashes to attract attention or signal affection – creating effects they imagine their jewelry might have.They also publish do-it-yourself online tutorials for making jewelry items out of other materials commonly considered waste, see, for example this video

In 2019, they received the MUSE award for their very first W;nk Atelier collection Ksana, which is conceptually inspired by the Buddhist concept of rebirth; literally giving discarded materials a second life.See MUSE.World, Interview with Maureen Hung & Connie Tang, Founder & Designer of Wink Atelier, HK

Another theme is the similarity between the upcycled plastic pieces and the shapes that frozen water can take, expressed by titles such as Falling Snow Earrings, Snowflake Bracelet, Frozen Loop Earrings and Icicle Earrings. While works of the latter category are transparent or whitish in color, in their Color Therapy series W;nk Atelier combines PET bottle plastic with pearls, gold and vibrant paints that range from bright yellow to a striking pink. According to the designers, these pieces evoke associations with candy.

Want to read a bit more about the recycling of PET bottles and how artists use their creativity to turn plastic trash into something beautiful, then click below. Or, go to another story in the UpCycling Hong Kong Collection