Like thousands of other young men, James Lee spent his spare time flipping through the pages of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazine.But while admiring some of the model’s curvy assets, he stumbled on an usual bikini, comprised solely of guitar picks by designer Susan Holmes.With further digging, he learned how fashion line Letarte Swimwear had once used beer bottle caps for its bathing suit creations in 2002.It got his creative wheels spinning and Mr Lee was challenged to take the idea to the next level.The 23-year-old has since created five elaborate bottle cap bikinis, with another ten currently in the construction phase. The budding designer is also working on a jewellery collection and said dresses, men’s tank tops and board shorts could be his next project.“My main thing was ‘Let me see if I could do that. Let me see how I could execute it’,” he told The Royal Gazette.“Once I came up with the basic plans I collected the bottle caps for a year and then created the designs and laid them out on the floor. The next issue [I had to deal with] was figuring out how to connect [the caps together].”He got in touch with local jewellery designer Alexandra Mosher, who gave him a leather hole puncher and wire for his initial designs.Mr Lee’s pieces are currently featured alongside artists like Christopher Grimes, Kok Wan Lee, Christopher Marson, Vanessa Turner, Tricia Walters, Chesley Trott and Annette Dickinson in the ‘Wet’ exhibit at the Arts Centre in Dockyard. They will be on display until next Thursday.One thing people are always curious about is whether he drinks all the alcoholic beverages himself. Mr Lee admitted he doesn’t like beer, but has enlisted some of his bartender friends to collect the bottle caps instead.A basic bikini takes the young designer around 12 hours to complete; while his latest design — a multicoloured one-piece swimsuit — has taken 48 hours.He said his pieces were quite different from the originals in the magazine. “They flattened their bottle caps out, so these are definitely a different design,” he said.“They also attached theirs to materials whereas the models I use are just bearing it all underneath.“They are very brave models,” he said, with a laugh.Mr Lee has been interested in art since he was a child, but said it was mostly just a hobby. Then while taking part in a travel-adventure programme in Malaysia, with Raleigh Bermuda, he was encouraged to use more unconventional materials in his art.“The people there [in Borneo] made jewellery out of vines, pieces of wood, seeds and shells. The possibilities were endless.“Even utensils and other miscellaneous items could be crafted from the land around them.“To me all of this was just unreal and fascinated me on a whole new level. I ended up taking on the challenge while I was out there and was making jungle and island bling jewellery for [people I met on the remainder of my trip].”He later completed an associates degree in art and design at Bermuda College. From that sprang other opportunities to create pamphlets and banners for the college; as well as book covers for local publishing group CKC Corporation.Mr Lee has also dabbled in modelling, having taken part in the City of Hamilton’s ‘Evolution’ fashion shows and a handful of other local productions.He said art helped to keep him busy and moving in a positive direction; his plan is to study graphic design, photography and fashion at a university in the UK.“I chose art because it’s a release and an escape that allows me to take on many challenges and work with many amazing people. My art ranges from sketches and graphic design to photography and fashion design.“Like I said the possibilities are endless in this field. You can work for any number of businesses, most companies have a communications and marketing department or team, so I feel that this is my calling to take on the world and face every challenge.”His ultimate goal is to establish his own local fashion house, catering to swimwear design. Though he admires other local designers, Mr Lee felt there was gap in the market for a beachwear label.He said he was impressed with the quality of his collection so far, and admitted: “I didn’t think it would get this far or this big or look this good.“Most of the time you fiddle with it until you come up with a neat design and my goal is to make each piece look slightly different from the others. My philosophy is if you can do it with fabrics, you can do it with anything.”‘Wet’ will be on display in the Arts Centre in Dockyard until October 25; open every day from 10am to 5pm. To contact Mr Lee directly, e-mail james_lee_89@hotmail.com.