Looking for the fizziest POP art around?
Portraits and pop-culture icons built cap by cap from metal bottle caps collected worldwide. No paint: just found colour, recycling and shared work.
Metal caps, not brushes
Since 2013 I have been collecting crown caps — from beer, water and soft drinks — through a network of more than 1,700 collection points across nearly the whole world. They are washed, sorted by colour and brand, sometimes re-shaped with dedicated moulds, and finally assembled into a mosaic until a face or an icon emerges. It is up-cycling: waste that becomes a work, and a message — steel can be recycled forever.
The TAPPOST project in numbers
2012
the year the project was founded
230+ m
caps recovered to date
1.700
collection points worldwide
How a work is made
Collecting
Thousands of caps come from bars, friends and collectors around the world. Nothing is bought: everything is salvaged.
Sorting and moulds
The caps go to organisations working with people with disabilities: they sort them and, at times, re-shape them with purpose-made moulds.
Composition
Cap after cap the image takes shape on the panel. From afar it is a portrait, up close a mosaic of logos.
Donate your caps
I accept metal caps from all over the world for TAPPOST’s next social projects. Save yours and message me on WhatsApp to arrange a drop-off.
Who is behind the caps
Luigi Masecchia, from Naples, born 1975. From graphic design and art direction to art: in 2012 the non-profit association TAPPOST was founded, bringing together creativity, respect for the environment and social inclusion.
The pop language
Solid colours, sharp outlines, repetition: the grammar of Warhol and Lichtenstein, rewritten in the steel of bottle caps. Some of the works:
Selected works
- Sophia Loren — 9 m², 15,600 caps, Florence
- Totò — 1,482 caps, the tribute I care about most
- I Love Napoli — a participatory work for the Santobono children’s hospital
- Marilyn, Frida Kahlo, Dalí, Mona Lisa, Campbell’s, Coca-Cola, Rolling Stones — pop icons
- Cubo and Rubiko — sculptures and objects made of caps
Want a portrait of your own, made of caps?
Commissioned portraits, logos and works for venues and companies. Tell me your idea.