Designer Brodie Neill has created a contemporary hourglass filled with microplastic instead of sand to highlight the issue of ocean plastic pollution.
The Capsule hourglass, which is filled with microplastic collected by Neill from beaches in Tasmania where he grew up, is an open-edition piece.
"The hourglass seeks to draw attention to the scale of the problem of plastic pollution," Neill told Dezeen. "I work with a global network of NGOs, environmental agencies and beach combers who work diligently to clean up our beaches. Each individual hourglass will hold plastic collected from these partnering sites."
Brodie Neill has designed The Capsule, a contemporary hourglass containing ocean microplastic
Neill said that for future editions, a collector will be able to specify the location from which they would like the plastic the hourglass contains to be gathered. This location will then be marked on a map etched on the silver cap, on the top and base of the hourglass. One cap depicts the northern hemisphere and the other the southern.
By marking the location, the work is "thereby geographically rooting the hourglass to a time and place while also recognising that we are affected by plastic waste in all corners of the world," said Neill.
"With Capsule, I want to draw attention to the limited time we have to save our planet. And if we're not careful our beaches and coastlines will be lined with microplastic, the future sand," he continued.
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