We recently showed you Formafantasma’s crafty vessels made from flour, agricultural waste and limestone, but the design studio has developed another amazing set of archaic-looking objects. Commissioned by Plart, Formafantasma created ‘Botanica’, a collection made from natural polymers with vegetal and animal origins. Using rosin, dammar, copal (a sub-fossil state of amber), natural rubber, shellac, bois durci, and other natural materials, Formafantasma developed a quirky, biodegradable, and very innovative line.
Another project from Design Academy of Eindhoven‘s graduates, Botanica was commissioned by Plart, an Italian foundation dedicated to scientific research and technological innovation for the recovery of works of art in plastic. Designed as if the oil-based era never existed, Formafantasma researched methods dating back to the 18th and 19th century, when scientists started experimenting with animals and plants in search of plasticity. The result of their efforts was this amazing archaic-looking collection that is based in the use of organic materials and reinterprets centuries old technology lost to mass production.
The Botanica collection was nominated for the Designs of the Year Product Award 2012 and is on show until mid July at London’s Design Museum.
+ Formafantasma
Photo © Luisa Zanzani
