Using possibly the cheapest material around—thrift store plastics that have already been used or trashed—Sayaka Kajita Ganz still manages to make pieces that look downright priceless (and sell for over US$ 12,500 each). Born in Yokohama, Japan, Sayaka explains that, “Japanese Shinto beliefs are such that all objects and organisms have spirits, and objects that are discarded before their time weep at night inside the trash bin… or so they teach children at many preschools.”

Whether truth or tale, the image stuck with Sayaka as she moved from country to country. “I had a strong desire to fit in, and to make people and objects surrounding me fit together to create harmony,” she tells. “My goal is for each object to transcend it is origins by being integrated into the form of an animal or some other organism that seems alive and in motion.”