Ever since the greening of our world took flight, we've become conditioned into thinking that plastic is the devil, and I'm admittedly one of those people who gamely complied by purging every room of my home.

Once the vision of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is stuck in your head, it's hard to perceive plastic as being anything other than a huge eyesore that causes widespread environmental destruction, but lighting designer Heath Nash has proven that it can actually morph into something that possesses surprising aesthetic beauty, too.

Bear in mind that he has an artistic eye -- I'm not so sure that the mere mortal could pull off some of his amazing creations without getting a little nudge and strategic advice -- but Nash has accounted for that by offering his own workshops to people who are bitten by the recycled art bug.

His clustered neon plastic light pendant, entitled Bottleformball, features assorted found containers in their whole and partially carved states.

Bottlesplice resembles a Chinese latern in which he has woven hand cut white plastic bottle strips diagonally within a homemade wire cage to great decorative effect.

I've lifted plastic containers with handles thousands of times in my life, but I never imagined that when cut and stacked vertically, they could become such an outstanding column of light and art as they have with Nash's Pod.

Of course, his creations may not be for everyone, but Heath Nash's efforts serve a far more noble purpose -- to demonstrate that our waste has unlimited potential to become reincarnated into interesting, practical and even beautiful household goods.

As you can see by the remnants on his workshop table, his light shades require an extensive amount of strategic cutting to make them easy on the eyes -- I hope that he recycles all of his scraps once he's done!