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BottleHood

The set of four heavy emerald green glass tumblers with unusual bottom dimples once held an especially flavorful California Cabernet Sauvignon in an earlier life. But rather than end up in a landfill, San Diego entrepreneurs Steve Cherry and Leslie Tiano of BottleHood are intercepting used glass bottles and converting them into useful and decorative household items such as juice glasses, tumblers, champagne flutes, candle holders, votives, candy bowls, vases, jewelry, cheese plates, light fixtures, and more.

BottleHood launched in August 2009 because Cherry had grown tired of his life as a hi-tech telecom CEO. He needed a change in direction that briefly included the idea of opening a taco stand in Costa Rica. “I know the exact intersection where it would be located,” he says jokingly. Instead, he and Tiano created an enterprise that aims to support the local economy, create local jobs, and keep valuable glass out of local landfills.

Bottlers select or design physical attributes such as glass thickness, color, and shape to perform specific functions that enhance or protect their product. Even if those bottles were recycled and the glass reused, the value of those attributes is wasted. Within the recycling stream, a high quality triple-weight

21 www.artizenmagazine.com

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