Recycled plastic side chair designed by Jane Atfield.

FPF415

Recycled plastic side chair designed by Jane Atfield.

Designed 1995, made in 1996

A side chair made from multi-coloured recycled polyethylene, designed by Jane Atfield and made by Made of Waste.

This chair is elemental in form, rigid, square and upright, with very little attempt at ergonomics or comfort. It is essentially a statement about sustainability in the use of materials for consumer products. Together with the child’s version (see FPF 416), it was designed by Jane Atfield between 1992-5 as part of a range of furniture made of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE), a material initially developed in the United States. Working with Colin Williamson (plastics expert and chairman of the British Plastics Federation in London) and a plywood pressing firm, Stanley Smith Ltd., in West London, Atfield began manufacturing HDPE in Britain in 1994, under her company, Made of Waste. Plastic bottles were collected from the local community, sorted by colour to achieve different effects, then chipped into small fragments and fused under heat and pressure to form a sheet material. This was then cut to make the various parts of the chair and these were screwed together. This chair was produced by Made of Waste in c.1996 and was given the design reference RCP2 Chair.

Jane Atfield (b, 1964) studied architecture at the Polytechnic of Central London and furniture design at the London College of Furniture. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1992 with an MA in furniture design. In 1993 Atfield set up a company, Made of Waste, pioneering post-consumer recycled plastics. Since then she has worked as a design consultant and university lecturer, has exhibited internationally, and has examples of her work in several museums. Atfield was shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Furniture in 1999.

See also FPF416, a matching child’s chair.

Good.

Polyethylene (recycled plastic), fixed with Hex socket screws.

H. 81
W. 37
D. 44

‘1’ written in ink on inside of left-hand seat rail.

Purchased for the Frederick Parker Collection from Jane Atfield in 2002.

Lesley Jackson, Modern British Furniture, Design since 1945, V&A Publishing 2013, p.203, fig. 238.
There is another example of the adult chair in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number: W.4-1996. See:
RCP2 chair | Atfield, Jane | V&A Explore The Collections
For details on Jane Atfield see: janeatfield.com