5th July 2018

New Designers' melting pot

Frequent anywhere where there’s a mix of pubs and chippies, and you’ll also find mountains of polystyrene. The nemesis of anyone with even the slightest aversion to chalk board squeakiness, it’s also terrible for the planet, with approximately 30% of our landfill space being taken up by this packaging cast-off.

Exhibiting as part of New Designers Week 2, which runs at London’s Business Design Centre from 4 to 7 July, Manchester-based designer Sam Lander specialises in making furniture from waste materials. His Poly table, a colourful piece wrapped with stringy strands, has been made by melting polystyrene salvaged from TV packaging. ‘Living in Manchester I saw loads of polystyrene takeaway boxes just lying about ready to go in the normal bin without anyone thinking about where it was going to end up,’ Sam tells us. Months of experimentation with the material has lead him to the finished table, a colourful tangle made from would-be landfill. ‘The challenges of repurposing polystyrene is that it doesn’t do anything you think it’s going to do,’ Sam laughs. ‘However you think it’s going to go in your head, it doesn’t happen.’

‘Poly table’ made from recycled polystyrene.

Sam’s experiments have included trying to form the unruly material in a mould, and even spinning it in a washing machine to create cylindrical lampshades with its centrifugal force. ‘I’ve tried loads of different ways of using a mould with the polystyrene mixture but, in the end you have to go with the material and how it likes to be pressed and sheet-formed. The one surprise I found in working with the material (which lead me to keep working with it no matter how many times it nearly drove me to tears), is how hard it sets.’ A perfect material for creating experimental furniture.

One of the attractions of exhibiting at New Designers for Sam is the opportunity to discuss his work with a vast range of people. ‘I love criticism and having conversations with people about what they would do if they were in my position,’ he says. ‘Hearing another view can open your eyes up to different ways of working.’

Despite the trials and tribulations of unpredictable polystyrene, it’s a route of investigation that Sam is keen to pursue. ‘I still feel polystyrene has so much potential in it and I haven’t found all that potential yet,’ he says. As well as colouring and marbling the colouring and marbling, the next step is to experiment with vacuum-forming. ‘It’s a new process that people haven’t really allocated to anything in design and furniture-making,’ Sam adds. ‘There’s nothing I would rather work with at this moment in time.’

Catch work by Sam and hundreds of bright minds like him by booking your New Designers tickets here.

'Poly coffee table’ made from recycled polystyrene takeaway boxes and roof instillation.