A wine barrel is like no other object and is great to upcycle. These barrels are ready to be discarded after 3 to 5 vintages. And that’s when these beautiful and aged objects can be upcycled. Here on upcycleDZINE you can find some unique upcycled barrels or parts such as the BARRIQUE project by San Patrignano, with designs like ‘Miss Mondola‘ by Angela Missoni and DOC by Marc Sadler. Another example is a company called Barrel Atelier with a great collection of furniture and lighting.
Barrel stave shows swirling motion in midair
Some time ago I came across another company that designs amazing upcycle objects made out of wine barrels. The company is called Wine Country Craftsman, based in Paso Robles, CA | United States and founded by artist Michael Weiss. That time upcycleDZINE posted the fantastic Studio Tetris, a unique lamp made out of steel wine barrel rings. This time it’s about another amazing lamp, the Craftsman HELICOID. It’s a chandelier with a solid and serene character, full of swirling motion in mid air.
If you’re looking for a different kind of chandelier, one that also has a story, well this might be the one. The lamp, that’s part of the Craftsman collection, is crafted from wine-reddened oak barrel staves and a steel wine barrel ring. The Helicoid shows the beauty of these old and used wooden parts and gives new life to the retired wine barrel. The dimensions are approx 92 cm in diameter, 51 cm tall and an overall hanging height of 92 cm.
For this chandelier Michael Weiss and his team took one of their Napa barrels and carefully cut it into strips, which they arranged carefully and attached them with a reshaped wine barrel ring. The result is a stunning lighting piece that projects light upwards and downwards with fantastic shadows.
Michael Weiss:
“Barrel oak—one side natural and one stained deep red only by its years of wine production—really lends a rich character; bound by the barrel ring, it reminds us of the wood’s glorious past.”
Wine Country Craftsman is committed to the environment and Michael has a deep sense of stewardship towards the Earth. This all started after traveling extensively, studying local culture, architecture, and design around the world. and now with his business all these things come together: “I love designing and building new and exciting things and constantly add new items to my shop. We are proud to be 100% green and made in the usa.”
Photos © Wine Country Craftsman
Wine Country Craftsman is a fantastic place to be for upcycle design made out of wine barrels with an incredible collection of handcrafted furniture and lighting. All items are made out of locally sourced 60-100 year old retired grape vines and well-loved wine-soaked barrels from California’s premiere wine growing region.