In each room, on the terrace or on the balcony, you can find oil lamps, so you can enjoy the mild nights of Guanacaste, before going to sleep.
These lamps are made of a ceramic base and a glass vase. Unfortunately, these glass vases were very fragile and used to shatter very easily, so we started looking for alternatives, which was not an easy task. To find a glass vase that looked nice, was resistant and was available here in Costa Rica was not that obvious.
Until a few weeks ago, when Danilo, one of our staff members, had a great idea: to upcycle used glass bottles - which we had a lot of!
It was a win win win solution; we had ready-available lamps, more resistant then the old ones, they looked good, it’s a solution that supported our sustainability vision and they were even for free!
Old lamp
New lamp
The next step was to figure out how we could cut and prepare the bottles for their new life as a lamp vase. Another one of our staff members, Sergio, came up with a clever solution. He built a small machine, consisting of a round wire that heats up with electricity. The glass bottle is placed within the wire, and continuously rotated, until the heath of the wire produced by the electricity cuts the bottle.
We are always surprised and grateful for the creativity and affection with which our team members at Capitán Suizo look for solutions together. In a very practical, simple and environmentally friendly way.
Now, we can offer our guests our new upcycled oil lamps!
Compiled by Milena Re
Marketing Assistant – Hotel Capitán Suizo
June 7th, 2022