Watermarks – Ieva Jātniece

Ieva Jatniece is the founder of the “Watermarks” society, an upcycling business that specializes in glass. In this interview, she talks about her work, the challenges she faces, and the benefits of upcycling. Her business is in Latvia.

Ieva started her upcycling journey seven years ago when she bought a glass melting furnace as part of a project to start an economic activity related to culture, education, and community development. The team lacked glass processing skills, so they decided to use the cheapest material available at the initial stage, which was window and bottle glass. However, they soon found that recycled material is often not only cheaper but also more efficient and decorative.

The business sources materials from surrounding residents who bring in used windows and bottles. Ieva admits that working with recycled material is capricious and harder to predict. Recycled glass often has internal cracks and defects that are not noticeable at first, and there is a higher percentage of failure when working with it. However, they put up with it by considering the specifics of each material. The only solution is to accept the material’s specificities and expect some works to fail. Ieva Jatniece uses material testing before complex, larger works to reduce the chances of failure.

One of the most memorable upcycling projects Ieva has worked on is the “Salna” jewelry collection, made from window glass and dried plants. Initially, there was disbelief that it could succeed, given the high firing temperature of the glass. But after long-term experimentation, adjusting plant species, their moisture percentage, glass, and melting temperature, they developed a unique collection of jewelry that is still their most requested product.

For Ieva, upcycling develops creative thinking and the spirit of experimentation. It also reduces waste and encourages people to see the value in their used items. However, the environmental impact of upcycling should not be exaggerated, as the consumption of natural resources is also included in processing. By overemphasizing the “made from recycled material” aspect, the product’s quality and aesthetic categories can be temporarily lost, leading to the opposite effect.

In her personal life, Ieva practices sustainable living by growing her food, going to the forest for walks, heating her house with firewood from overgrown farmland, and buying locally as much as possible. She sorts garbage and tries not to buy unnecessary things.

Ieva believes that the volumes of recycling and upcycling will increase, and a sustainable lifestyle will become more important in society’s value scale.

Her advice to someone who wants to start working in upcycling is to expect many experiments and stay focused on the product’s quality and aesthetic categories. Ieva measures the success of her upcycling business in terms of stability and interest. She collaborates with other sustainable businesses, such as the association “Selijas laivas” and ZS “Vilkapurvi.”

Ieva’s upcycling business is a valuable addition to Latvia’s community development initiatives. Her work has shown that recycling and upcycling can be efficient, decorative, and profitable. With the growing importance of sustainable living in society, her work will inspire others to follow in her footsteps.