supercyclers!

Piet Hein Eek

2011-12-12T13:51:00.000-08:00

Piet Hein Eek is the super-daddy of supercycling.

With his distinctly Hein Eek aesthetic of recycling, obvious at first glance in his furniture and objects, he has taken the concepts of handmade and re-use to another level.

You will recognise the Piet Hein Eek look in pieces of recycled timber furniture, whose original paint is still partly evident, in chairs, tables, bookshelves, consoles, wallpaper... the list goes on.

For us, his unwaivering commitment to reuse and mammoth productivity is what makes him a supercycler. The work retains its folkish handmade quality because it is still hand made - but it is created on a scale usually associated with big name brands.

We've been following the trajectory of Piet Hein Eek for a while now. When we first discovered his work it was in the pages of the beautiful book (or boek) pictured here published by Bis - it takes us through his early work and gives an insight into the already prolific nature of his practice.

Since the publication of the book in 2006, however, the Piet Hein Eek empire has continued to grow, always in a way that seems to be in keeping with his work. In Milan 2010 we picked up a pamphlet (below) that tells us about the plans for the site of this new empire - an ambitious project to inhabit some disused industrial buildings on the outskirts of Eindhoven.

Now, with this empire inhabited, we see that it has become a cultural centre. A place for design and manufacture and also for exhibitions, guest speakers, music, food and meeting... we want to go to there!

balkenbank enorm by Piet Hein Eek

It's hard to know which of the myriad of objects to include in this post - an image google of P. Hein E's work looks something like this:

That's just the first page - here's the following 4...

Too much!! In a good way!

Here's some things Piet Hein Eek had to say to us when we spoke to him...

supercyclers: Piet Hein Eek, what inspires you?

Piet Hein Eek: In general I'm inspired by materials, technique and craftsmanship. But almost always my ideas start with the material.

supercyclers: Tell us the story of how you came to make your first piece of furniture

Piet Hein Eek: It was a scale model which I made from small pieces of wood, Lucifer's I think, when I was about 12 years old. The model had real doors and hinges and was only 2cm high (I still have this model)

supercyclers: Was it your intention to have a sustainable design practice - or was it purely because of your love for second hand materials?

Piet Hein Eek: Its mainly because I respect and like materials. I use both second hand materials as new and leftovers. We even have a 99.2% cupboard which is made of exactly 1 sheet of metal, so no left over in this case.

banken bij elkaar by Piet Hein Eek

supercyclers: Do you let the form of the material tell you what you are going to do with your designs - or do you have a preconceived idea?

Piet Hein Eek: Most designs come to me at once in a total concept. And as I become more experienced and have more opportunities, the source of inspiration for those ideas grows bigger and bigger.

supercyclers: How would you describe your design philosophy?

Piet Hein Eek: Essentially I love materials and try to make products which will last and are not influenced by fashion. I have a natural aversion to mass consumerism and spoiling.

balkensalonblok by Piet Hein Eek

supercyclers: Your practice has expanded substantially - you are an inspiration to many designers/craftspeople - How big is the Piet Hein Eek empire now?

Piet Hein Eek: The size isn't of any importance. If you're a writer in a little hut in the fields you can be happy and create wonderul literature. We have accidentally chosen to do everything ourselves and we need a lot of employees and space to realise my ideas, but in the end it all comes down to creating a stimulating environment in which to create. The size of this environment isn't of any importance.

We've been working now for more than 15 years and all the time we are adapting to new situations. But in the end we haven't changed our mentality. Both Nob (my business partner) and I really like processes and we're not specifically interested in a 100% success story. If we fail - in the process we have achieved and learnt a lot and also had a lot of fun

Piet Hein Eek - supercycler

Henry Wilson

2011-10-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

wassily chair by Henry Wilson

If our definition of a supercycler is someone who has made re-use seriously desirable then Henry Wilson might be the very personification of the word. Henry's designs are "hacked" reworkings of existing designer (usually well known) furniture, accessories and lighting - executed so subtly and elegantly that you will want to take them home with you and live with them as soon as you see them.

It turns out that by wanting Henry Wilson's designs we are playing right into his hands - the familiarity drawing us in, the changes he has made adding an element of newness, setting the object apart and making it more wantable! - the fox's cunning!!

Residing back in Sydney after several years studying and working in the Netherlands, Henry is making an impact with this light hearted, yet rational approach to design or re-design.

When I first visited Henry's Chippendale studio I was struck by his inordinately good taste. The pieces he has accumulated from off the street and tip-finds (globally!) form a body of work that despite each originally being the creations of a diversity of designers, all now have a definite HenryWilson-ness to them - even a discarded Cappellini produced Marc Newson Wood chair has been salvaged and renovated so that it looks like it belongs in Henry Wilson's world.

It's this fine line of design ownership that Henry has chosen to pursue in his work. How much can a work be altered before it is no longer the author's, or more importantly before it becomes the new author's.

This question has found expression in a myriad of ways, where decisions about something as simple as the type of material used to replace a component play an important part in the new work.

Supercyclers: Henry Wilson, what inspires you?

Henry Wilson: People and their solutions to problems. I'm always being surprised by the little things that happen to me on a daily basis. I try to distil these moments and pass the experience on in my work. There are often many layers to an object, lots of stories, I believe that the most important trait in design is honesty. When that is taken care of then beauty seems effortless.

Henry Theroux wrote 'perhaps we are led often by the love of novelty and the regard for the opinions of men in procurring it, than by a true utility.' This seems as true today, faced with so much newness, we still turn to utility for comfort.

Supercyclers: Why + how did you start rethinking or adding to existing designs as your work.

Henry Wilson: During my master's study at the Design Academy Eindhoven I constantly found myself asking; why design new things for an oversaturated world when there are so many good designs out there. I quickly came to the realisation that this insistent desire to have the NEW is now seemingly built into the consumer's deepest psyche

I proposed with things revisited a way of satisfying this desire whilst paying tribute to that which has lasted so well, I am concerned with conceptual, artistic interventions that could ignite grand intellectual thinking but also concepts that effect the actual everyday nature of objects and our various uses for them.

In the case of the Anglepoise, I left the mastery of the arm and base and 'updated' the light source and shade with LED and glass. Likewise the addition to the Le Creuset pot gives the lid a now dual function, allowing the user to serve the pot on the upturned lid.

The layering of innovation and ideas on top of former designs is for me, a way to reach a wider audience. It seems wasteful to make an entirely new object whenever a new technology or innovation presents itself.

I acknowledge I'm not the first person to 'interfere' with existing designs. However I try to do so in the subtlest and most authentic way I can.

Supercyclers: How do you explain your philosophy of design

Henry Wilson: Let the function dictate the form

As a designer I see myself as a visually literate person; I organise, edit and redistribute materials and theories til some visual order and honesty is reached.

Design is about decision making. I've established a conceptual model to make decisions by.

This quote by Achille Castiglione sums it all up pretty well; "The function, what a nice form!"

Supercyclers: Can you talk us through some of your works.

Henry Wilson: The Tolix Chair is really an exceptional piece of industrial design. It falls into the category of "I wish I made this". Faced with the materials and production methods of the time, Xavier Pauchard went about constructing a series of industrial chairs for the dock and factory workers of industrial France. The chair is a great example of technique and industrial knowledge, informing the aesthetic of the design. Thirty years later, seeing its popularity in commercial settings, his son added arms to the chair. Interestingly this new adition is the one we see in the design collections around the world.

Fifty years later, after noticing its acceptance into the domestic market, I have added a fitted vegetable-tan leather cover, which will 'wear-in' as used. Its addition also reflects and highlights the chair's ingenious method of production, whilst giving it a suitable indoor application.

Inspiration for A-Joint came from what already exists. I believe that in the vast landscape of 'stuff' we often overlook basic and beautiful materials and methods. A-Joint utilises pre-dimensioned timber of the most common varieties (both 90mm x 45mm and 70 x 30) and enables them to be turned into sturdy, logical and truthful structures.

A-Joint is a sand cast, incredibly strong, multi-use joinery system that makes it possible to unite standardised, multi sized, pre-dimensioned timber in up to 4 different configurations with a sturdy A-frame structure. Easy to recycle and produce, the joint is limitless in its potential uses. From tables and benches to market stalls, shop fit-out and temporary housing. A-Joint evolves effortlessly and displays a refinement derived from function. A-Joint has been cast in a limited edition bronze, used with an off-cut of marble and pre-dimensioned pine to create a well-formed table.

Supercyclers: How do you see the kind of work you do in the wider context of production and consumption

Henry Wilson: It's harder and harder to be a designer. All of our materialistic needs seem to be catered for. It is a real challenge to create something new that will actually be used and useful. Now whenever I even consider a new project I have to consult a sort of design ethic checklist I have made for myself.

Will it last or outlast the user? Whether that be stylistically or due to sheer sturdiness - maybe a combination of both.

Is it beautiful - I should clarify that for me beauty consists of truth. So - really the question is, is it honest in how it resolves itself as an object.

Does the world need this? Can I not find a better example of this kind of product already in existence?

I make these additions so as to reignite conversation and interest in classic objects, those which have stood the test of time. Most of my additions and experiments are really excercises in different avenues of sustainabillity. Some provoke, some are just simple growth. It has been interesting for me to watch as the large companies I have built these ideas around slowly take notice. It makes such sound business sense for companies like Anglepoise and TOLIX to embrace these ideas. The marketing advantage seems obvious, not to mention the support and growth of new strands of design thinking - linking that back to the corporate world...

Luckily for Sydneysiders Henry has opened a temporary pop up retail project, Trent & Henry, showcasing his work with that of another clever supercycling designer, Trent Jansen in the Rocks in Sydney. So worth going and checking out - as the pair have styled it up very handsomely. Undoubtedly you will find something oddly familiar that you can't possibly live without...

Henry Wilson - supercycler

Botanica

2011-07-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

Still stretching the supercycling criteria a little - but too impressive to pass us by without a mention, is the work of FormaFantasma.

Since 2008 design duo, Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, have created their own unique worldview and presented the work that illustrates this view as cohesively designed collections to the rest of the world. FormaFantasma have a gift for drawing you into their compelling narrative.

Botanica, an exhibition presented at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan this year, explores the early world of plastics. When the PLART foundation (an Italian Plastic Art organisation) asked FormFantasma to create something for them, they applied their typically culture-o-centric mind set to the task, launching a thorough investigation into the history of pre-bakerlite plastics to discover our earliest attempts to bind material together to create forms. In this investigation the era of oil produced goods is consciously ignored.

This looking back-ness provided the perfect opportunity to move forward with their own aesthetic to create intriguing and beautiful works. Using all types of plant based resin and even animal products they explore the natural world of polymers.

With a bit of a history and obsession with resin and other early plastics paired with a passion to move away from creating waste that damages our environment - even unintentionally, it didn't take much for supercyclers to fall in love with everything about this project.

Supercyclers: What inspires you? (inspiration for the materials you make, and also inspiration for the forms of your objects)

FormaFantasma: We find inspirations everywhere! Once we were used to respond “contemporary art”, but we are getting bored of it. Generally the daily experience is already influencing us a lot. I guess observing people’s behaviours and being open minded to external signals is a good way to get inspired and most of all we trust our feelings and intuitions.

Supercyclers: You blend more traditional craft techniques like ceramics with your new or re-explored materials what area is your background? - where are you from and based now?

Well we studied design first in Italy and later in Eindhoven at the Design Academy. We are both Italians but now based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

We imagine you had pots boiling on stoves as you brewed your various plant and animal based concoctions as part of your Botanica experiments? Is this an accurate description?

I think this is a romantic vision of it. Everything is much more basic and despite some of our work is about experimenting with materials, we are usually not really interested in the technical part of it. Every time we investigate a material we are more interested in its cultural and evocative qualities more then the mechanical ones.

How do you research?

All different methods together. First is always the internet, then books and if needed other experts.

Did you come up with some particular product that you really like and will use again?

When we work there are always elements in each project that end up being in the next one. We would not talk in any case about products but more about ideas.

It is worth visiting FormaFantasma's website to hear about the project from their own perspective, but also because this is not their only clever idea...

FormaFantasma

ett la benn

2011-06-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

Kami pots and lights at the exhibition Poetry Happens
Ventura Lambrate, Milan in April 2011

It's time to take a closer look at the works of another of our favourite designers from this year's Fuori Salone. During our roundup in April as guest blogger's on TheDesignfiles.net we touched on the work of Oliver Bischoff and Danilo Durler who are Ett la Benn and who created their biodegradable kami collection for the collective exhibition of clever Berliners "Poetry Happens". We sorta kinda stretched the supercycling envelope a little to include these honorary supercyclers.

One step more sustainably mindful than ceramics, the technique of air drying cellulose that Ett la Benn are using for their beauitful pots and lights is pretty close to zero emissions in production and is 100% biodegradable. Not that you would want to let any of these covetable objects biodegrade - but good to know that whatever happens they are not going to contribute to landfill (or ocean-fill for that matter).

Supercyclers: ett la benn, what inspires you?

ett la benn: Anything can inspire our work: articles we read, things we observe in nature, people we meet, anything really.

Supercyclers: Many supercyclers are collaborating in pairs. How did the two of you meet and where do you work?

ett la benn: We met back in 2006 and decided to collaborate as a team. We tried, it worked out, and so we moved into our studio in the heart of Berlin where we still work. Our team is constantly growing and it feels good.

Supercyclers: How did you stumble onto the process of making the kami collection?

ett la benn: The process of the 'kami' collection builds on an earlier project. It all started a year earlier, when we worked on the 'malva' lights. With these, we also used cellulose as the basic material. We felt then that the potential of the material had not yet been fully exploited and so we continued experimenting.

Supercyclers: What exactly is the material - and what are its properties?

ett la benn: The material is natural cellulose which is 100% biodegradable.

(we googled cellulose and found it composes up to 90% of plant matter (depending on the plant) and is what we usually think of as roughage in our diet)

Supercyclers: We have noticed that you have shown your techniques on the pictures on your website. Is it something you would like to encourage others to try to do themselves using your methods and know-how to achieve a low energy form of production for objects?

ett la benn: Documentation of the process is quite important to us, especially as we produce so many different prototypes - it is nice to have an overview about the different stages the project is going through, and in the end it is possible to piece together and observe a cohesive documentary.

Supercyclers: Where can we find the kami collection?

ett la benn: At present we are in talks with a producer about the kami pots, but it is possible to purchase the kami lights -

if you are interested - supercyclers has more info - and so has ett la benn.

honorary supercyclers - ett la benn

Natural Grain Kite Stool (b+k)

2011-06-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Food by-products...

The Natural Grain Kite stool is a supercycled delight that grew from a desire to create a mold using a classic shape (in this case Blakebrough+King's own classic aluminium Kite Stool) and stuff just about any waste product that you could think of into it, to create a functional piece.

Natural Grain Kite Stool by Blakebrough+King

In this way it is a work in progress, and we may revisit it down the track. The mold is stuffed with food by-products - ie. the stuff left over from food production - wheat straw and rice straw.

But the experiments continue and are a lot of fun with very rewarding results...

We particularly like the way the raw material is trapped in the resin and its roughness contrasts with the clean geometric form.

Ben Blakebrough - supercycler

Newspaper Wood

2011-05-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

NewspaperWood is a VERY elegant and clever supercycled material and we are super-happy to have the opportunity to talk to the designers behind it. You can see from the pics that the grain exposed when the layers of pressed newspaper and glue are sliced through - is so reminiscent of wood grain that it makes the perfect reference to it's arboreal roots (pardon the pun!!); Trees to wood to paper - paper to wood to useful objects. Neat.

NewspaperWood is the unique collaboration between Dutch supercyclers Mieke Meijer who concieved the idea and DesignLabel ViJ5 - Arjan van Raadshooven & Anieke Branderhorst, who put together the first NewspaperWood collection.

The collection was presented in the AutoOfficina courtyard across the way from us in Ventura Lambrate during Milan Design Week 2011.

(Lucky number) 8 designers were asked by ViJ5 to make products using NewspaperWood - you can see most illustrated here and learn more about their NewspaperWood designs here.

Supercyclers: What inspires you?

Mieke Meijer: My work is the result of an ongoing investigation into the unperceived aesthetics of everyday life. No matter the starting point - from products we daily use like newspapers to industrial machinery, I try to filter the essence and transform ideas into designs that appeal to the imagination for the long term.

Reading Light by Christian Kocx

Supercyclers: Was it a happy accident or by design that you developed the NewspaperWood?

Mieke Meijer: In the spring of 2003 I started my third module in the department ‘Atelier’ at the Design Academy Eindhoven. This department (which no longer exists) was different from all others: the classes took place in the middle of the workshop. Students who chose this direction were ‘makers’. Experimenting with materials was the basis for each assignment.

The assignment with the theme “wood” set me thinking. Wood is, in its smallest form, the basis of paper. Once turned into paper it does not come out of the paper recycling cycle anymore: it stays paper. I thought it would be nice to turn the process around and turn paper into wood again.

When I started making a ‘paper tree’ I didn’t know what it would look like. The result was beyond expectation. Beside the fact that the material seemed to act like wood, it was just beautiful!

Framed by Breg Hanssen

Supercyclers: What qualities does the product have that makes it nice to use when building furniture and objects?

Anieke Branderhorst: When a NewspaperWood log is cut, the layers of paper appear like lines of a wood grain or the rings of a tree and therefore resembles the aesthetic of real wood. The material can be cut, milled and sanded and generally treated like any other type of wood. Personally I prefer the NewspaperWood to be sanded and remain uncoated. In this way, the material feels very soft (almost like velour) since the sandpaper roughens up the fibers of the newspapers.

Mieke Meijer: In my opinion the material has mainly aesthetic qualities. It doesn’t really have a recycled feel and because of this it can compete and combine with other materials.

Display Cabinet by rENS

Do you need to have wood working skills to use NewspaperWood?

Yes and a little bit more of inside information on how to work with the NewspaperWood. You have to be extra careful and use the right tools!

Is it structural - or best used decoratively?

Anieke Branderhorst: It depends on what kind of construction.. We did use it partly in the construction of the ‘Display Cabinet’ by rENs, and as a massive construction in the stool ‘United’ by Tessa Kuyvenhoven. It is still a bit difficult though.. That is why we also combined it with different materials. But the decorative beauty of the material of course is obvious.

United by Tessa Kuyvenhoven

All the products we have seen so far that use newspaper wood are unpainted. Is it possible to finish in other colours - paint?

Anieke Branderhorst: The NewspaperWood desk by Greetje van Tiem (‘From A to Z’) uses a bees wax finish, the ‘Paper Frames’ by Ontwerpduo uses a lacquer finish. It is possible to treat the NewspaperWood with different coatings, painting it would hide the beautiful ‘wood-like’ structure though..

Have you got some new projects in the wings after Milan?

Anieke Branderhorst: The first NewpaperWood prototype collection is a tribute to the new material NewspaperWood, and at the same time it promises a broad range of possibilities for the future. We as designlabel Vij5 and Mieke Meijer deliberately chose to work with a team of designers instead of designing one or two products by ourselves, to make sure the research and experiments with the NewspaperWood done within this project creates a very wide view on this new material. This makes it possible to keep an open attitude to future possibilities. No doubt new designs will appear in the future!

Mieke Meijer: During the development of the materials we discovered that the material can be applied as veneer. This is an interesting opportunity because producing the material is still an expensive process. Applying it as veneer is efficient and makes it easier to work with. We are planning to develop this further.

Can we buy any products made of Newspaper wood yet - and if so where?

Anieke Branderhorst: The first prototypes of the NewspaperWood objects are for sale!! We are planning to take some of the projects into production as soon as possible (for example the ‘Sample Series’ designed by rENs) and others will only be produced on order. Please contact Designlabel Vij5 for the current possibilities!

Sample Series by rENs

What is there not to like about this simple, clever product. If we can keep giving life to the stuff we discard in such an imaginative and desirable way, it really makes us feel very hopeful for the future. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we can have a go ourselves at creating something from the beautiful NewspaperWood...

Mieke Meijer, Anieke Branderhorst and Arjan van Raadshooven - supercyclers

Mark Vaarwerk

2011-03-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

We would like to introduce you to supercycler Mark Vaarwerk. Mark is also a part of the Other Hemisphere exhibition in Milan, where he has expanded on his amazing jewellery to experiment with usable objects; bowls and vessels. So while half of the supercycling team are in Milan we thought it appropriate to post about Mark and his work. Also Mark is the very definition of a supercycler so if we lose the plot as time goes by and incorporate a wider and wider criteria into the supercycling universe, at least we started out well defined!

Here's why he is such a Supercycler: It is a complete surprise to find that his objects and jewellery have been derived from materials that we throw out every day and consider to be "ugly". His alchemical processes turn this debris into covetable objects that girls like us who have VERY narrow jewellery taste (ie hardly ever wear any) desire very much to wear. and eat. though this is obviously not advisable - check this out:

This brooch is called Wella Whirl, and as the name suggests is made from the Wella Balsam plastic shampoo bottle. Once you know this it is possible to recall the bottle as you have seen it on the supermarket or pharmacy shelf, the colours the only evidence of it's former life - but just how Mark got it to look this swirly way is a beautiful mystery.

Supercyclers: Mark, What is it that inspires you?

Mark: My biggest inspiration is the natural world and my work is often inspired by simple natural shapes and geometry. Also, the world of science and technology seems nearly magical and this is something that I like to explore and try to understand and make useful in my craft.

SC: Where do you find your materials?

Most of the plastics I use are materials that have already been - or would otherwise be - thrown out, like packaging and anything disposable. Friends and family will donate materials, knowing that I may be able to one day make something out of them. Expanded polystyrene, a material I have used for my most recent work, I have collected in the form of used food boxes (for example the big white boxes you might get broccoli in) and they are easy to find spilling out of peoples wheelie bins (especially out the back of restaurants).

What is the process you use to shrink the polystyrene and how did you discover this process originally?

When I first developed this process I was doing a small research project on transforming throwaway plastics. I began by reading about the physical and chemical properties of different plastics, to try to understand how and why plastics behave they way they do, and how they can be made and manipulated.

With this information I then began experimenting with ways to transform easily accessible plastic materials in different ways. It was basically a process of trial and error, of observing the various results of different experiments and refining those that seemed useful - with the ultimate goal of making jewellery in mind. The technique I use to shrink expanded polystyrene was one result of these experiments.

The polystyrene is placed in an airtight container, which is slowly filled with acetone vapor. The acetone acts as a solvent on the polystyrene, softening the plastic and gradually deflating the polystyrene beads that make up this material. It eventually shrinks to around half or one third its original size.

What is the process you use to create the plastic bag and plastic bottle works

The plastic bags are either hand spun with a drop spindle to make necklaces, or fused with heat to make rings or brooches. In the case of plastic bottles (generally polyethylene bottles - for example milk and shampoo bottles, tomato sauce bottles, some yoghurt containers, etc) I have fused to make rings, brooches and bracelets. To make a ring i would cut the bottle into strips the width I would like the ring to be and then wind it firmly around a metal rod the same diameter I would like the inside of the ring to be. Aluminum foil is then wrapped around it to hold the layers in place and it is gently heated through in a kiln. once it cools again the aluminum foil is removed, the plastic is tapped off the rod and trimmed into shape and finally the surface is sanded and polished to make it shiny.

Is what you do toxic?

Yes. Any vapors made when working with plastics can be harmful and the health risks need to be seriously considered and researched in relation to the specific plastics and processes you are using before beginning... however, if I am not doing it then it is going to be dealt with somewhere, probably on a larger scale.

We think this is so very true - A big part of the supercycling ethos is one of re-self-empowerment (sorry that is such a clumsy made up word - but it does the job) The notion of having someone else deal with our mess/rubbish/waste has become so natural to us that we think that it is someone else's problem to solve. But it's our own, and we only really need to do a little to help the situation - being mindful of our own waste and what we are doing with it is actually easy - there is no rule against taking these matters into our own hands, though not all of us will do it so eloquently and with such wit as Mark does.

The first image and this one, are the bowls Mark made for The Other Hemisphere in Milan. They are unexpanded polystyrene works with glazes like melted computer keyboard or (as in the below-very right hand piece) - a brooch Mark made me to wear at the show - the pigment of cigarette filter.

Mark Vaarwerk - supercycler

Plastic Fantastic

2011-03-05T03:21:00.000-08:00

Our number one supercycling post might as well be all about us. Just so you know. For this project we set ourselves the task of creating really beautiful usable vessels out of plastic bags... The first one we made coincided with the radio playing "this is the day" by The The, and even if it didn't change our lives, things did fall into place a little.

If you want to try this at home, it is a simple matter of gently heating the bags over objects.

There is a degree of plastic bag fumage, the worst lowest possible grade on the petrochemical chain, but you should never have actual smoke or you have gone too far. Wear a good quality respiratory face mask at all times and even glasses. gloves mean you can get close to the heat source. Just noticed we left the heat gun out of the picture. You will need one of these which shouldn't set you back more that $25 AUD.

Since we are launching the first products of our Plastic Fantastic exercises in Milan in April the colours of Italy inspired us.

And yes!

They are watertight - so you can use them to grow a little cactus or hold a flower or plant.

Plastic Fantastic...Sarah K + Liane Rossler

MORE PLASTIC FANTASTIC-NESS HERE