Behind the scenes with PlasticScene

If there’s one material that’s stolen the show at this year’s LDF, it’s plastic. Curated by Modern Design Review’s Laura Houseley and designer James Shaw, LDF show PlasticScene, which runs at the Gas Holders in Kings Cross between the 15th and 23rd of September, has invited international designers to make experimental works using recycled plastic – some for the very first time.

Named the Material of the Year at London Design Fair for 2018, plastic is also the subject of numerous other LDF projects, from great minds coming together to think about how to reduce plastic bottle use in the city to an exhibition of the huge advances in bioplastics. The increased conversation around how damaging single use plastics are to our planet has lead to a huge uptick in designers using the material, with the aim of finding ways to both recycle materials destined for landfill and changing the perception that plastic is a low-value substance – in the hope that we no longer think it’s acceptable to chuck it away.

Long interested in plastic, and the contradictions therein, designer James Shaw has been experimenting with the material since his graduate project in 2015. While still a student he developed his own extruding guns that heat lentil-shaped pellets of recycled plastic allowing him to ‘paint’ in three dimensions with molten plastic. With this process he can create small objects like candlesticks and mirror frames to large tables and sculptural pieces – as seen in last year’s Ready Made Go LDF show at Ace Hotel London Shoreditch.

It was after working together on Ready Made Go that James and its curator, Modern Design Review editor Laura Houseley, started hatching a plan for an exhibition that captured the momentum of this plastic zeitgeist. As well as exhibiting new work from designers already playing with plastic, Laura and James also threw down the gauntlet to designers yet to pop their plastic cherry. We spoke to Laura to find out more about the process behind the show…

Why do you think the conversation around plastic has changed so radically in the past year?

It has become part of the public consciousness, thanks to extensive mainstream media coverage. I think the general public were genuinely shocked at the extent of the problems around plastic waste and now everyone is talking about it, which is a good thing.

We hear PlasticScene will include new works, plus more information about plastic. What do you want people to take away from the show?

Plastics are a huge issue with a lot of complex, evolving themes. The first thing to say is that we aren't attempting to discuss all of them at PlasticScene. We are coming at this material from a very specific angle: we want to show the creative use of waste plastic in design from a new generation of independent designers. What interested us were the fresh approaches and innovations, often a little ad hoc or rudimentary but always exciting and stylised and original, that were coming out of small workshops and studios. These designers are treating waste plastic as a raw material full of potential, rather than an obligation, and that was what we wanted to explore. There are several new works that have been produced for the show. In most instances these have come about because we approached a designer whose work had potential to be produced in waste plastic, or they were using a technique or process we saw could be adapted easily. There will also be a material library at the show and a display of historical plastics.

How did you select the designers that’ll be involved in the project?


We chose the work of designers who are, in our humble opinions, producing some of the most exciting and original work. Also, we tried to concentrate on the techniques or process that were scaleable; it’s important to consider if these creative works can offer some ideas or solutions to industry.

Tell us more about what we can expect from the space and the exhibition design…


We have a wonderful location at the GasHolders in Kings Cross, Granary Square. We were very clear from the beginning that we wanted the show to feel sophisticated, more akin to a gallery show than anything else. That was because the work itself is covetable, collectible, stuff – we wanted to promote the idea that waste plastic can be desirable and exciting.

How has working on the project changed your own view on plastic?

It has certainly broadened my knowledge of it! We (my co-curator is designer James Shaw) gathered together a group of experts to help us along the way and the whole process has been very enlightening. In particular, what has struck me the most, is the amount of 'nearly there' work; projects or ideas or material experimentations by designers in waste plastic that were just not far enough evolved for us to show in PlasticScene. The only conclusion to make from that is that this is very much the beginning of something; that in the next few years we will see many more products made from waste plastic coming out of the studios of our most experimental and innovative designers.

Interested in designers experimenting with plastic? Find out more about London Design Fair’s Material of the Year in our feature here.