Previewed at the RCA show last week, Plantation, presented by Alicja Patanowska, is a project designed to turn discarded glassware into miniature greenhouses.

Aiming to find a use for abandoned items, Polish-born student Patanowska collected ‘common glass’ from London’s streets, bus stops, benches, curbs, alleys, gates and shopping trolleys, to use for her artwork. Each collected piece of glass has been transformed into a micro greenhouse by the creation of unique handmade porcelain inserts, designed to rest inside each individual glass. Turned upside down these provide a perfect environment for seed germination, and then serve as a resting pot to display its produce.

Patanowska’s simple and elegant design is a delightful reclamation of abandoned products, and echoes previous projects we’ve looked at that aim to reuse waste. Dave Hakkens’ Precious Plastic project, for example, aimed to provide a solution to disposing of unwanted plastics, and Studio Swine’s Can City made use of Sao Paulo's discarded aluminium cans, by transforming them into functional furniture and sculptures.