The art & business of recycled aesthetics

Rotterdam, Netherlands based company Plasticiet specialises in processing large volumes of plastic waste, and transforming it into a sustainable material for various applications. Plasticiet was founded in 2018 by designers Marten van Middelkoop & Joost Dingemans, two Rotterdam based designers with a passion for sustainable material development. The idea for Plasticiet was in fact born during a visit to India on a field trip. In India the designers saw various micro-economies popping up based on local demographic waste streams such as cotton clothes, plastic bottles and metal parts. They saw how local craftsmen in India were able to translate these waste materials into something functional with added value. They also saw how these products were made available for other local industries resulting in revenues for other craftsmen, thus keeping both industries thriving. The designers decided to follow this approach in their work and thus was born Plasticiet. The company was recently involved in an interiors project for eye wear brand Ace&Tate, for their store in Antwerp, Belgium. The store interior project involved re-purposing tonnes of local plastic waste streams for creating something beautiful. Here’s a look.

- N. Jayalakshmi

NETHERLANDS

When designers Marten van Middelkoop & Joost Dingemans, Co-Founders of Plasticiet, were trying to find solutions for people’s and industry’s disposed plastics, they went back to the idea they studied in India and knew that the outcome should not be a final product. Inspired by the primal beauty and longevity of natural stone they aspired to create a sheet material that would inspire other creators to build objects that can last. To make a waste material appealable they underwent a thorough research on how to give their plastic products a distinct super-natural marbled or terrazzo appearance, for as they say, “if the material isn’t beautiful it won’t sustain”. And this is the approach they took for Ace & Tate’s Antwerp store too.