Copenhagen, Denmark
Instead of being industrially manufactured, the Crafting Plastic furniture collection by Kasper Kyster is handmade, bending two-millimeter thick PETG plastic sheets, which are heated to facilitate molding them into furniture pieces.
Each chair, table, and both lamp models are individually shaped, but not as works of art.
On the contrary, the furniture “features a deliberately archetypal design,” as the designer states.
“I try to make it as round as possible so it gets stronger, and the joints are also very strong – I heat up the plastic even more where it connects, so that the surface kind of melts and is welded together,” explains Kyster.
“I was focusing on trying to make the furniture pieces as archetypal as possible, so that you are more focused on the materiality and the process of it than the shape – you’re not in doubt that this is a chair and this is a stool, and so on.”
The lighting designs are more sculptural, as they had to be bent in a different way to function as lights.
Kyster describes the Crafting Plastics collection as embodying “a transformation from the industrial to the organic,” aiming to demonstrate how plastic can be utilized in a more artisan-like manner.
“We’re used to plastic being this very industrial material that we use for casting a chair in two seconds and it’s perfectly shaped,” he says.
“But here, I tried to take it down a little and actually make it more stupid than it is.”
The designer claims that in that way actually shows us another potential of how you can use plastic in a more craft kind of way – everything is handmade and it can only be handmade for this kind of look.
The plastic Kyster uses consists of 30 percent recycled material, which is the maximum percentage he can use without compromising the structural integrity of the furniture.
“They are unique pieces, and plastic is kind of looked down upon because we’re using it in so many different ways and so many bad ways,” he says.
“But this is a good way to use it because it’s furniture and it will last forever if you’re treating it right.”
The Crafting Plastics Furniture Collection is presented at the 3 Days of Design Festival in Copenhagen.
Project: Crafting Plastics Furniture Collection
Designers: Kasper Kyster Studio
Lead Designer: Kasper Kyster
Manufacturer: Kasper Kyster Studio
Photographers: Peter Vinther