Artist Foekje Fleur became interested in the creative potential of rubbish as a student at AKV Sint Joost in Den Bosch. “I read an article about the plastic soup in the Pacific Ocean, a place where all floating trash collects,” the Dutch designer tells Co.Design. “Rivers bring it to sea, where it will stay forever–the plastic just breaks into smaller pieces, but doesn’t disappear.” Figuring her hometown would have its own unfortunate supply of debris, she took to the banks of the local Maas waterway. “There were all kinds of objects–toothbrushes, toys, etc.–but it was stunning how many bottles I found, from cleaning detergent to motor oil to shampoo. Some pieces were quite new, while others were almost 50 years old,” she says.

Slip cast in porcelain by Middle Kingdom, a company founded by Bo Jia and Alison Alten. They combine their love for Chinese history with their passion for traditional craf, producing the goods In their Jingdezhen workshop. Their work  has been collected by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, MD.