Designer Brodie Neill has worked with recycled ocean plastic to produce new furniture pieces, and used them to create a waterfall installation in a London hotel.
Called Drop in the Ocean, the installation is on show at the Foster + Partners-designed ME London hotel as part of this year's London Design Festival.
It is intended to encourage people to think more carefully about how they contribute to the vast global consumption of plastics, which has resulted in vast amounts of pollution in the world's oceans.
Brodie Neill has designed a basin-like coffee table made from recycled ocean plastic, which he has used to create a waterfall installation
"I want to make people reflect on their use of single-use plastics, make them more aware of their footprint," Neill told Dezeen. "There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean, so this is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the problem, but every bit counts." Neill started the project by developing a material he calls "ocean terrazzo". This is made in the same way as regular terrazzo, but instead of using chips of marble or granite, Neill set hundreds of tiny pieces of plastic into a resin surface.
The new furniture collection, called Flotsam, also includes a bench with an ocean-plastic surface
The designer first showcased the material in 2016, with the Gyro table he presented during the London Design Biennale. A year later, he has used it to create a new collection, called Flotsam, ...