The Modernist #58 - Plastic

The Modernist #58 - Plastic

PLASTIC occupies an ambiguous position: ubiquitous and undeniably useful, yet equally responsible for environmental damage. From a 21st‑century perspective it has become a material villain, often associated with the cheap, the trashy and the throwaway. Its presence is now so pervasive and insidious – think microplastics, industrial residues and the detritus of global consumer culture – that it is difficult to imagine the world without it.

In this issue of the modernist, however, we consider the value and promise of PLASTIC in the mid- to late-20th century through the work of an ingenious and often ground‑breaking group of known – and sometimes anonymous – designers, artists and architects who (until the onset of the 1973 oil crisis) embraced the prospect of a bright, colourful, plastic future.

The articles that follow show PLASTIC deployed as a design statement in telephones, kitchen fittings, tableware, furniture and lighting. They capture a period when the possibilities of plastic were often shiny, saturated with colour, new and fun – not to mention affordable and accessible. At times this optimism produced surprisingly popular and delightfully eccentric results: from mass-produced chairs to three‑wheeled cars and even classrooms.

Together, these stories remind us that PLASTIC once carried a spirit of artistry and invention rather than inevitability. They invite us to look again – not to excuse its consequences, but to understand its cultural moment and the designers who used it and shaped it. They also speak to a continuing desire to document and collect.