Matthew Whatley - Product Designer
This is the Novum Chair, made by taking natural woven fibers and reinforcing them with a bio-based resin resulting in a composite layered structural material.
The design embodies form, function and an exposed finish allowing a visual explanation of the material composition. The project aim is to bring awareness to plastic over production and alternative methods for future use, as bio-based resins progress they could become a viable option as a plastic replacement material.
This was achieved by saturating long cuts of hemp fabric in bio-resin and draping them over an articulated wooden form to make a laminated structure, next top coating the chair with resin then sanding and buffing to finish.
There is a level of irony in walking down the sand of a beautiful beach covered in plastic waste. The over production of plastic globally has become a world wide issue that some countries have the resources to make disappear while others do not. Recycling plastic isn't the [complete] answer. “We are only able to recycle 19 %of plastic globally and have resorted to incinerating it - a practice that has gone up 34% recently and introduces pollutants into the a
