Can plastic ever be green?
As global temperatures hit an all-time high and the plastic-free movement gains momentum, can the wonder material of the 20th century ever really be a redeemable choice for 21st century furniture design?
- Words Katie Treggiden
- Photography Nicolas Haeni
Born “surrounded on every side by this tough, safe, clean material which human thought has created”, the “plastic man” grows up with clothes, cars and crafting materials made from plastics, until finally “he sinks into his grave hygienically enclosed in a plastic coffin”. This is how Victor Yarsley and Edward Couzens foresaw the ‘Plastic Age’ in the final chapter of Plastics, published by Penguin in 1941. And many people shared this heady enthusiasm – in the late 1930s, ‘cellophane’ was voted the third most beautiful word in the English language. Initially developed as a replacement for dwindling natural materials such as ivory and tortoiseshell, celluloid promised a democracy that Bakelite,
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Anima talks to the British artist and designer about what's next after selling his stake in his business, A-COLD-WALL*
