Ryan Frank is South African born designer who learned about re-using materials from a childhood in a country where recycling was par for the course. “Most of the country is pretty poor, so if a sheet of metal or a piece of wood is left out it becomes somebody’s bed, door or roof. Creativity in the townships is amazing.”

He has spent most of his life as a designer in London and Barcelona where people are less accustomed to making furniture out of trash. So he launched a collection to get consumers more involved in making their own upcycled lamps.

It’s call Add Your Own, or AYO. Frank provides a kit containing a rebar stand and natural rubber cord holder, plus the metal and screws, but consumers have to find their own recycled object to create the lampshade.

“The basic idea was to make the end user part designer and part manufacturer” explains Frank. “The lights are designed without lampshades to encourage the reuse and recycle of everyday objects from garden, house or street.”