ANASTYLOSIS - Light Sculpture

The ANASTYLOSIS light by Thierry Jeannot is made from recycled PET plastic bottle waste and other reclaimed materials, including metal and acrylic. Evoking the archaeological reconstruction technique of anastylosis, the work reconfigures waste into a structured object, and reverses the value of the disposable.
The piece was commissioned and made for the HOMO FABER BIENNALE VENICE 2026 and exhibited there in September 2026.
The ALCHEMIST and master craftsman in plastics presents upcycling at its best and demonstrates how waste can transform into luxury:

The piece is a result of Jeannot’s over 25-year-long research into the PET material and its characteristics and origins within the trash system in Mexico City. The artist achieves a true transformation of those specimens of plastic into a luxury symbol, the chandelier.

Jeannot's chandeliers are constructed from hundreds of plastic bottles meticulously selected, cut and reassembled as an exceptional object. From afar, they appear as crystal or glass lights, but the result of a closer look reveals another origin and shifts our preconceptions about the value of materials.

His work indeed transfers waste into luxury and carries the inherent message that ‘waste is a luxury’. Thierry's work has a social aspect additionally. He incorporates groups of waste collectors (the so-called ‘pepenadores’) from the streets of Mexico City to provide him with the right type of bottles and rescue those from trash before they are destroyed or smashed. But not only that: since 2018 he has been working with the same group of around 10 people in his studio-workshop several days a week, involving them in various aspects of the production process. This work has changed lives and given new perspectives. As such, the pieces are stunning, sparkling light objects and a powerful testimony to life and beauty.

Jeannot's chandeliers are in 2 museum collections and private collections, have been shown in a range of exhibitions (e.g. Museum of Art and Design - MAD, New York City, 2014 / ‘Beauty Show’ by Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh - Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, 2018/19 / ‘Neo-Barocco’- at Museo Franz Maier, Mexico City, 2019), and have been featured in high-calibre press internationally.