Lighting & Olympian Diving Profiles Made of @CocaCola Bottles >By Artist Sarah Turner #Olympics #London2012

"I was commissioned by Coca Cola to create lighting and a recycled sculpture for their hospitality centre at the Olympic Park.  It has been a very exciting project and such an honour for me to be commissioned by them!" Sarah Turner

Coca Cola commissioned eco artist Sarah Turner to make lighting and a massive recycled sculpture for the London 2012 Olympic games. Coca Cola decided that Sarah was the right person to design and make the bespoke lighting and sculpture for their Hospitality Centre at the Olympic Park. 

The lights make quite a statement being 2 metres wide and are made using 190 plastic Coca Cola bottles each. There are 5 of the large lights in total, each is made up of rings of the plastic bottles and a globe in the middle.  The globe is Sarah's Cola 30 design which are made from of course 30 Coca Cola bottles hand cut and sculpted into decorative forms.  The Cola 30 was the first light Sarah made from waste plastic bottles when she first started her work over 4 years ago.  This was the design Coca Cola first noticed and expressed interest in, after all it is made using their bottles and is named after them!     

Sarah says: "I wanted the lights to have an Olympic look to them which is why I chose to make them as circular disks with rings of the plastic bottles, reminiscent of the Olympic rings.  I also liked the idea of having the classic looking light bulbs visible, it reminded me of the infamous Coca Cola Christmas truck.  I really wanted to include my Cola 30 light, I thought the contrast between the whole plastic bottles and the transformation they go through with the Cola 30 was a fantastic thing to show".   

They also commissioned her to make an enormous sculpture 9 metres tall made from waste Coca Cola bottles and cans. Thousands of pieces were hand cut then tied onto invisible wires in the form of a diver freeze framed in three different stages of a high dive. When the breeze catches the wires the pieces spin and move adding life and energy to the sculpture.  

Coca Cola wanted a sculpture of an athlete to fit in the space in the stairwell, 9 metres tall.  The sculpture can be seen from both the ground floor and first floor and as you walk up the stairs.     

Sarah says: “I thought that as sport and the Olympics is all about energy, activity and movement, I wanted to somehow portray this in the sculpture. This is when I thought about showing a high diver in different stages of the dive. Diving fascinates me, it's so precise and graceful yet quick and over in a moment. I thought by capturing and almost freeze framing the dive in its different stages we can look at them in more detail and celebrate them.”  

 This idea certainly works very well in the space as well. The diver jumps off the high board on the first floor, turns into a pike through the stairwell and the final stage is the diver entering the water.  The final stage is a personal favourite of Sarah’s, just the legs are shown entering the water and a big splash is created. She says:  “I think this adds a little humour to the piece as well as intrigue to the guests as they first enter the centre. They will just see the two legs sticking out of the water and will make them want to see the rest of the story”.  

The 'splash' is made using waste plastic bottles which are then melted to give the wibbley bubbly texture and look of water.  The project was a huge success and hopefully the relationship with Coca Cola will continue.  They have already commissioned Sarah for more work, she has just finished creating table centre pieces for the Langham Hotel in central London.  Coca Cola have taken over this prestigious hotel for their guests to stay in for the duration of the Olympics.