FANTASTIC PLASTIC

Fantastic Plastic:Product Design & Consumer Culture, esteemed contemporarydesigners, artists and scientists explore the evolution of this ubiquitousand endlessly malleable material, through its trademarked names - Spandex,Teflon, Nylon, Rayon, Formica, Tupperware - through to looking at how itsfunction and reputation have changed over its lifetime. Plastics have beenused in the manufacture of everything from children's toys, to furniture,to clothes and has played its part in the creation of contemporary designicons from the ipod to the Tom Vac Chair.The history of plastics is in so many ways the history of contemporaryindustrial design, and the book provides a fascinating look at how designsusing plastics can be considered as works of art, as well as objects of oureveryday lives. Fantastic Plastic provides a comprehensive survey of theecological, technological and aesthetic qualities of plastic and considersthe future of the material that made such a mark on contemporary life. Anessential book for designers, academics and everyone interested in ourconsumer culture.