Alvaro Catalan de Ocon Spanish designer born in Madrid in 1975, he graduated in Business Administration and Product Design. After completing his studies in Business Management, Álvaro began his training in Product Design at the Instituto Europeo di Design in Milan and then graduated with honors from Central Saint Martins in London. His thesis project, the GLOW BRICK, is still manufactured and distributed by Suck - UK. In 2004, he founded his own studio in Barcelona, where he designed the LA FLACA lamp, winner of the DESIGN PLUS AWARD. In 2009, he moved to Madrid, where he also teaches at the Instituto Europeo di Design.
He has always made furniture, lighting and accessories with sober and neat lines, but it is with his PET Lamp brand that he finds his fame. In 2012, Catalán de Ocón returned to Bogotá to set up a workshop for weavers from Cauca, displaced by the guerrillas, and launched the PET Lamp collection in 2013 at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. It was an immediate success and Catalán de Ocón received countless invitations to exhibit and sell in design venues around the world, as well as several prestigious awards, including a nomination for Product of the Year from the Design Museum in London. Today, Catalán de Ocón is extending his project to Chilean artisans. PET Lamp is an eco-design project that highlights traditional crafts from Colombia, Chile, Japan and Ethiopia by making lamps from recycled plastic bottles and woven palm fibers. Colorful and authentic lamps, handmade by the ethnic groups of each country. A beautiful way to promote local crafts, support local work and tackle the problem of plastic waste.
Álvaro Catalán de Ocón is assisted by a group of artisans from the Colombian Amazon, the PET Lamp collection is an exciting and soulful project that transforms waste into treasure. Each PET lamp is one of a kind see "Mapuche" and "Eperara Siapidara" in the catalog. The lampshades are created by hand from discarded plastic bottles, cut into strips and interwoven with dyed and undyed palm fibers by artisans in South America. Catalán de Ocón then assembles the electrical plugs and colored fabric cords in his workshop in Spain. This unique PET Lamp chandelier brings together 21 individual pieces in a joyful celebration of craftsmanship and color, a true love at first sight. The look is masterful and the story behind it is even more mysterious.