Westminster alumni create sustainable festive sculpture for Oxford Street

This three-metre-tall sculpture will be on the corner of Oxford Street and South Molton Street throughout the festive season. In January 2024, it will go on tour across Westminster. Starlight Faerie is made from waste items, which were recovered from across the Westminster district and repurposed by Julie and Danil into sculptural material. These include a mannequin body from an Oxford Street store and repurposed tea lights from Westminster Abbey integrated into the faerie’s corset.  

Starlight Faerie inspires passerby to look at waste materials in new ways and take sustainable action. The sculpture is also an interactive donation point for the Starlight Children's Foundation UK, the official charity partner of Oxford Street this Christmas season.    

Julie and Danil said: “It has been a privilege for us to work on this project with New West End Company and Veolia, elevating waste materials into something beautiful to raise awareness about the need to be resourceful. Experimentation, randomness and intuition has dictated the design process, led by the unpredictable nature of using found materials. We see ourselves as urban foragers, finding value in what may be seemingly useless or undesirable. Collaborating with lighting designer and electrician Corey Xavier has been an integral part of the design process, enabling the Starlight Faerie to be animated with light. We also commissioned Birch Engineering to fabricate the armature and plinth for the sculpture.  

“As recent graduates at Westminster University where we studied Interior Architecture, we both benefitted enormously from our tutor Ro Spankie’s mentoring.  Ro, along with our other tutors, guided us to find our visual and material language, enabling us to now confidently express and realise our ideas in professional situations. Having collaborated whilst at university, we realised we worked extremely well together - combining complimentary skills, similar aesthetics, work ethics and social values. We could not have done this project as individuals, and it certainly would not have been as enjoyable!” 

Chief Executive of the New West End Company Dee Corsi said: “What makes the West End so special during the festive season is the sheer breadth of experiences on offer, from the iconic lights on Oxford Street, to the very first ice rink in the district, housed at Hanover Square. We are delighted that the ‘Starlight Faerie’ will join this list, and that we have had the opportunity to work with Veolia and University of Westminster artists to bring her to life. 

“The faerie is a beautiful piece of interactive public art which will inspire passersby to not only make sustainable changes in their own lives, but to also change the lives of children in hospital this Christmas. By donating to Starlight through the sculpture, members of the public can share their support of the charity’s mission to bring the joy of play to children who need it the most.” 

Learn more about courses in Art, Design and Visual Culture at the University of Westminster.