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These nongreasy upcycled lamps were made from McDonald’s paper bags by Gyuhan Lee. They’re a fun example of how packaging and waste can be repurposed to become useful decoration.
Fancy yourself a midnight snack? Craving the golden arches of fast food convenience? Single-use packaging could be worth more than you think, even after it’s been used to store burgers and fries.
Korean designer Gyuhan Lee is known for his sculptures and projects created using recycled everyday objects. He transformed Nike boxes into furniture as part of a series in 2020, reinterpreting well-known brands into functional products. Now, Lee has returned, unveiling new McDonald’s lamp sculptures made from takeaway bags.
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Titled Tokyo Edition: McDonald’s Paper Bag Lamp 12-1 2022 and Tokyo Edition: McDonald’s Paper Bag Lamp 12-2 2022, these two pieces use regular packaging from a McDonald’s at Narita International Airport in Tokyo.
The lamp embraces established fast food logos and branding, wrapping the design around a metal, skeletal frame in a repetitive but deliberate form. The result is elegant, smooth, and refined, re-contextualising our associations with typical burger packaging.
While this work isn’t a direct commentary on food waste, associations with our reliance on plastics, papers, and single-use products is obvious. We tend to view bags and paper as throwaway objects, confined to a singular purpose before being worthless. Of course, we can’t regularly use McDonald’s bags after being wrapped in foods on a day-to-day basis, but Lee’s sculptures are a reminder of the importance of repurposing and upcycling.
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