'I make jewellery from old graffiti paint'

Daniel Dowson uses sandpaper and water to reveal the paint layers

Whether you see it as art or vandalism, the sight of graffiti is inescapable in most of our cities and towns.

But when weather and time take their toll, chunks of the plastic-based paint can flake off and litter the streets with non-recyclable plastics.

Spotting an opportunity to help the environment and try to make something beautiful, Daniel Dowson began collecting the fragments of paint.

"I took it back home and I started experimenting with it," he says.

"I thought 'wow, I could do something with this'.

"I was studying product design at the time at university, so I was very familiar with lots of materials."

After four years of working with the paint, Mr Dowson now says he can spot the difference between graffiti from different cities - with materials from London, Paris and Sheffield all revealing their own colours.

"They can vary depending on the wall, the city, paint trends, sometimes there's a few layers of certain colours," he says.

Daniel Dowson began making jewellery from paint scraps four years ago

Mr Dowson collected his first flecks of paint from the ground at Mount Pleasant Park in Sheffield, where he was skateboarding, four-and-a-half years ago.

Now he creates jewellery and artwork from the fragments.

"Initially it was working with what I had and what I could use. At that earlier stage I didn't realise polishing it revealed so many textures and layers, and complicated patterns.

"So, I was doing rudimentary jewellery with chunks of paint. And eventually it developed as I learnt how to use the material properly," he says.

Mr Dowson says he started out sanding the chunks of paint on his skateboard, but now after experimenting with a host of tools he is able to create "psychedelic gobstoppers of colour".

"One piece of paint can go very far, because it's made of layers I'm able to split it up and turn it into thinner sheets," he say.

"So, I don't need much of this to do the magic.

"It's different every time and these colours have a wonderful effect on the imagination. I find it therapeutic, I really get into the zone.

"The thing I enjoy most is looking through the paint and finding colour combinations that are unique.

"It's random every time so I never know what I'm going to reveal."

The technique took some experimentation, he says, involving sandpaper, chisels, woodworking tools, razor blades and even a laser cutter.

"Initially I put it in the bath to heat up the paint, I also put it in the oven but my housemates didn't appreciate that – toxic paint fumes aren't good. But I've now refined it," he says.

"It was a matter of pure commitment and I had to keep experimenting with it."

Layers of paint from the graffiti can be seen through a magnifying lens

While Mr Dowson is removing some graffiti from the streets, he is careful to make sure he does not destroy any art work.

"If it would ruin the artwork by pulling a bit of paint off the wall then I won't do it," he says.

"However, if it's deteriorating so much the paints already on the floor, it's good for the environment because the paint is plastic-based.

"I've always been very environmentally conscious. I love recycling, a lot of the things I do as a designer have been about recycling and looking at materials differently."

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