Artist Veronika Richterova has a shed full of bags of plastic bottles at her home in the small Czech town of Bustehrad — the raw material for her lifelike sculptures.

"I like to create art from things which are used up," Richterova said, adding that she has thought about the creative possibilities of other people's cast-offs since she was a child.

She regularly searches for new additions to her store of materials, going to recycling and waste collection centres to find colourful bottles or other items.

Currently, she is working on an installation for a window display in Paris' Printemps department store — a jungle of palms and tropical flowers inspired by a scene from the film Up to His Ears starring Ursula Andress.