Provocative Plastics: Their Value in Design and Material Culture

Plastics have now been our most used materials for over fifty years. This book adopts a new approach, exploring plastics’ contribution from two perspectives: as a medium for making and their value in societal use. The first approach examines the multivalent nature of plastics materiality and their impact on creativity through the work of artists, designers and manufacturers. The second perspective explores attitudes to plastics and the different value systems applied to them through current research undertaken by design, materials and socio-cultural historians. The book addresses the environmental impact of plastics and elucidates the ways in which they can and must be part of the solution. The individual viewpoints are provocative and controversial but together they present a balanced and scholarly un-picking of the debate that surrounds this ubiquitous group of materials. The book is essential reading for a wide academic readership interested in the Arts and Humanities, especially Design and Design History; Anthropology; and Cultural, Material and Social Histories.

Professor Susan Lambert worked for many years at the Victoria and Albert Museum where she curated the V&A’s first global 20th Century Gallery and initiated and oversaw its Contemporary Programmes. In 2007 Lambert was instrumental in developing an existing artefacts collection at the Arts University Bournemouth into the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP), where she is currently Chief Curator.