West Michigan designers Jared Seifert and Lauren Copping have teamed up on a recycled plastic project called Design Declassified, which they showcased at Kendall College of Art and Design's "Fragments to Form" exhibit, Rapid Growth Media reported.
Right now, plastic is a major problem in our world. It takes a century or more to break down in landfills, pollutes the environment with tiny microplastics, and is rarely recycled.
But Seifert and Copping want to change the fate of industrial and post-consumer plastic waste by recycling it into furnishings and interior design elements.
The duo, who each have separate businesses, were inspired to begin this project by their trip to Bali. There, they saw plastic being recycled into durable sheets.
"I was familiar with this material before we went to Bali, but being there allowed me to actually experience it firsthand," Seifert said. "That experience really inspired us to come back and make a difference. That's where the story began."
The pair decided to do the same thing in their home state of Michigan. They collected milk jugs, detergent bottles, pill containers, and more. These materials are shredded, then recombined without any added glues or dyes to form mottled, multicolored sheets of plastic.
That plastic sheeting can then be used in all areas of interior design, as everything from countertops to wall decorations to furniture.
"Jared focuses on the technical side, like typical thicknesses and materials for making furniture, while I focus on interior finishes and design," Copping said. "Our roles complement each other perfectly, allowing us to create products that are not only functional but also beautiful."
The duo's "Fragments to Form" exhibit included a wall board full of hardware, chairs, a record player, a box for a projector, and many more unique items. Each one was made of recycled plastic and showed off its natural mix of vibrant colors.
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Promoting clean energy 🔋 "Visitors can see not just the prototypes of lighting, desks, and furniture we're making, but also how the reclaimed plastic evolves from empty containers to finished sheets," said FLEXgallery exhibitions director Michele Bosak. "It invites you to envision the full potential of the material."
The exhibit even included a bulletin board where visitors could share ideas for the material, possibly cycling into the next generation of recycled products.
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