Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A love of the countryside, combined with artistic flair, has enabled student James Day to create something special: recycled gun cartridge homewares and chandeliers.
The 19-year-old collects spent cartridges from his university’s clay shooting club during practice (an arrangement that also helps the club to recycle the cartridges more easily and reduce their costs).
James, who is studying for a BSc (Hons) in Rural Enterprise and Land Management at Harper Adams University at Newport in Shropshire, spends around two days constructing the chandeliers, which are made from used cartridges, high tension wire and decorative chains.
He said: “Really, I’m just developing the idea at the moment, with the aim of starting my own business in the future. I’d seen creations using cartridges on the internet and at craft fairs, so when I noticed a pile of used cartridges in a farmyard, I decided to try and make something with them.
“As it takes around 600 cartridges per chandelier, having the arrangement with the clay shooting club means I have a regular supply, whilst also helping them to recycle.”
James’ creative flair was first put to use when he began making chicken sheds from redundant wooden pallets. He has since created chandeliers in all sizes and colours at his home in Lincoln and has chosen a business name: Glorious Days. He added: “I’ve always enjoyed making and building things, I like to think I am quite resourceful and have the ability to make something new from old or waste objects.”
