USE OF MATERIAL

Style, substance and sustainability

In a quest to manufacture better, the design world is channelling its efforts into material research, pushing toward a more circular way of producing furniture. Our favourite examples include &New’s bench, made from recycled landfill waste, Konstantin Grcic’s chair for Magis, using waste from the car industry, and Dutch studio Plasticiet’s blocky pieces, made from plastic waste and resembling mother-of-pearl. Studio Thusthat has been experimenting with copper byproducts, creating a strong, black geopolymer from slag with a carbon footprint that’s about 77 per cent lower than cement, while Hong Kong-based Studio Ryte’s light, stackable flax stool uses a material that behaves like carbon fibre while being fully biodegradable. And not only does Supernovas create recycled plastic objects and furniture, but these can also be returned or swapped for alternatives. We’re totally embracing Plasticiet’s mantra that ‘plastic is the new gold’. *

From left, ‘Bell’ chair, £67, by Konstantin Grcic, for Magis. ‘Mother of Pearl’ chair, €5,500, by Plasticiet. ‘Afterlife’ crate, £360, by Odd Matter, for Supernovas. ’Sparkly Black’ chair, price on request, by Studio Thusthat. ‘Jää’ bench, £7,295, by Jo Wilton and Mirka Gröhn, for &New. ‘Triplex’ stool, price on request, by Studio Ryte For stockists, see page 121