Stale bread usually goes to waste, but one talented artist from Japan came up with a unique way to give it a second life. Yukiko Morita is the founder of Pampshade, a Japanese brand of unique lamps made from unsold stale bread collected from local bakeries.
Morita’s love affair with bread started during her time as a student at the Kyoto City University of Arts when she used to work part-time at a local bakery. She often took the unsold bread home and even used it as decoration, and that’s how the idea for Pampshade was born.
“This modest attempt at daily resistance changed when one evening I saw the light from the western sun illuminating a piece of bread whose white contents I had hollowed out and eaten. For a brief, inexpressible moment, it glowed beautifully within the darkened room,” she explained on her official website.
She decided to shine the light on bread that often goes unnoticed by joining forces with local bakeries and purchasing the bread and pastries that would otherwise go to waste. She then transforms it into quirky lamps taking the shape of croissants, toast, baguettes, and other baked goods, using antiseptic and mildew proofing to keep the mold at bay.
