Normal people would take a day-old bread and turn it into a pudding or save it to make breadcrumbs but in Japan, baker Yukiko Morita has had a different light bulb moment upon seeing pastry go to waste.
“During Yukiko’s time working in a bakery, she was deeply affected by seeing significant food waste as unsold bread was discarded,’” her website information reads. “Today, she collects unwanted loaves from bakeries and recycles them into lamps.”
Yes, that’s right. She turns bread into something more long-lasting, something you can take home and utilize for a different purchase: a lamp made out of real bread.
Cheekily called Pampshade (pan + lampshade), Yukiko’s first bread lamp came to fruition in 2006 while she was studying at the Kyoto City University of Arts. It took her two more years to finalize the design consisting of bread flour, cake flour, salt, yeast, LED, adapter and battery. To give the bread lamp a longer shelf life, each Pampshade is coated with anti-bacterial and anti-fungal solutions to protect and seal it for years to come.
Finally, she launched her brand in 2016.
Today, Pampshade and its hollowed-out pastry creations are being sold around the world. Currently, Pampshade has eight designs—pain à la coupe, croissant, champignon, toast, baguette, batard, boule and petit boule—with prices ranging from ¥5,445 to ¥15,400 (P2,500 to P7,000).
Not all Pampshades, however, are made from stale bread. Some are particularly baked by Yukiko for the very purpose of turning them into lamps. But still, she practices zero-waste creation by selling the hollowed-out crumbs as packaged treats.
The lamps are available to order on Pampshade’s website and yes, you can have one shipped here!
Photos courtesy of Pampshade
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