Yukiko Morita is Transforming Stale Bread Into Quirky Lamps

Most people throw their stale bread away, but Yukiko Morita found a way to turn it into something truly dazzling. The mastermind behind the Japanese brand Pampshade is buying unsold bread from local bakeries and transforming it into quirky lamps that will light your heart with joy.

Morita spent some time during her studies working part-time at a bakery, and she couldn’t stand the sight of unsold bread being thrown away. She would take as much of it as she could home and had a moment of epiphany after the light from the western sun illuminated a piece of bread in her home.

“For a brief, inexpressible moment, it glowed beautifully within the darkened room. This was the foundation for my work through Pampshade, and the point at which, as a creative, I knew what I wanted to do,” she explained on her official website.

Morita joined forces with local bakeries and decided to shine a new light on old, unsold bread by purchasing it at the highest possible price and transforming it into shiny lamps. Her lamps are treated with antiseptic and mildew proofing to keep the mold away, and they take shape of croissants, baguettes, toast slices, and many other types of baked goods.