Gallery re-imagines plastic use in ‘the future of craft’

The show is an opportunity to consider the future of craft while reflecting on makers’ unusual uses of materials

Spotted: The Re-Use, Re-Think, Re-Imagine exhibition presents the work of seven UK-based experimental artists and makers, “whose practice explores unique responses to materials and process.” The exhibition is being shown at Make, a gallery dedicated to craft, and is run by Somerset-based Hauser & Wirth. 

The group exhibition includes the work of designer Gavin Keightley, who is exploring ways to replace plastic in the production process. Rather than using synthetic moulds, his work for the exhibition sees him harden food, such as mashed potatoes, which is then used to cast stools and cabinets. Another exhibitor, Charlotte Kidger, is repurposing plastic waste. She combines polyurethane foam dust — an industrial waste product — with resin, to create tables. 

Designer James Shaw hand-extrudes recycled high-density polyethene or HDPE into tubes, to form light fixtures. Aimee Bollu works exclusively with discarded objects, which are combined with ceramics. Lola Lely uses the traditional Korean technique of Bojagi, which involves using randomly-sized scraps of ramie cloth to create larger patchwork textile artworks. Alice Walton works with coloured clay to explore complex surface textures, while Costa Rica-born Juli Bolaños-Durman creates sculptures from found or discarded glass, combined with hand-blown glass.

According to Jacqueline Moore, curator and director of Make gallery, “the exhibition seeks to continue and broaden the dialogue and to reveal new possibilities for materials, methods and techniques.” The show provides an opportunity to consider the future of craft, while reflecting on the makers’ unusual uses of materials, and the way these fit into changing urban and rural environments.

While this exhibition focuses on craft and art, Springwise has also seen a number of innovations that are repurposing materials for other uses. These have included denim repurposed for use in joint reconstruction, and plastic inflatables recycled as tote bags.