Chair
1996 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This chair has been made out of high density polyethylene packaging discarded as rubbish and recycled. You can clearly see the cleaning product bottles and plastic containers that have been partially melted down and put to another use after their expected lifetime. Product packaging, such as the bottles used in this chair, make up 35% of the plastic consumption in this country. Plastics are usually non-biodegradable and therefore pose environmental problems. Although there has been an increase in the number of recycling schemes across the country, land-fill sites are still the most popular form of waste management for most local councils, although sites for such dumping are rapidly being exhausted. It is thought that only 7% of plastics are currently recycled.
This chair was commissioned by the Furniture & Woodwork department at the V&A and made from plastic items donated by staff.
This chair was commissioned by the Furniture & Woodwork department at the V&A and made from plastic items donated by staff.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Recycled plastic |
| Brief description | Chair, designed and made by Bär + Knell Design, recycled plastic post-consumer packaging, 1996 |
| Physical description | A chair with a low back support without arm rests made from recycled plastic products. The exterior appearance of the chair is formed of packaging graphics and solid colours predominantly of red, blue, green, yellow and white are formed in a loose patchwork configuration. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Unique |
| Gallery label | 103-6
CHAIR
Designed and made by Bär + Knell (Gerhard Bär, German, born 1959; Beata Bär, German, born 1962; Harmut Knell, German, born 1966), Bad Wimpfen, Germany, 1996
Recycled plastic packaging
Formed over a mould by melting successive layers of waste plastic, the manufacture of these chairs is endlessly repeatable, although each piece remains unique. The chair is both a statement about the potential for re-use of post consumer waste and a practical piece of furniture. The waste packaging used to make this particular chair was provided by Museum staff during June 1996.
W.12-1996(2006) |
| Object history | Commissioned by the V&A Furniture & Woodwork department using discarded plastic items donated by staff. |
| Production | Reason For Production: Commission |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This chair has been made out of high density polyethylene packaging discarded as rubbish and recycled. You can clearly see the cleaning product bottles and plastic containers that have been partially melted down and put to another use after their expected lifetime. Product packaging, such as the bottles used in this chair, make up 35% of the plastic consumption in this country. Plastics are usually non-biodegradable and therefore pose environmental problems. Although there has been an increase in the number of recycling schemes across the country, land-fill sites are still the most popular form of waste management for most local councils, although sites for such dumping are rapidly being exhausted. It is thought that only 7% of plastics are currently recycled. This chair was commissioned by the Furniture & Woodwork department at the V&A and made from plastic items donated by staff. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.12-1996 |
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| Record created | July 26, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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