Dezeen · Creativity & design

Plant Life exhibition explores design's future with plant-based materials

The NGV in Melbourne presents "Plant Life: The Nature of Design," showcasing over 60 works on the potential of plant-based materials as alternatives to non-renewable resources.

The exhibition spans furniture, architecture, and photography, emphasizing historical reliance on natural materials and envisioning a plant-dominant future. Displays use Plantbord, a hemp-based material bound with bio-resin.

Innovations include bio-masonry blocks from algae and oyster shells by Kate Scardifield for carbon-storing buildings. The Awajún people present a shiringa tree sap leather jacket, preserving traditional methods.

Joris Laarman's Ply Loop Chair uses plant-based resin from agricultural waste. Crafting Plastics developed Sensbiom 2.1, a biopolymer that changes color under UV light.

Fernando Laposse's daybed uses avocado seed and marigold dyes, addressing avocado demand's ecological impact. Bart Schilder's chair uses hemp fiber and mycelium, a fungus adhesive, for a low-carbon footprint.

Lo Silk features a traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai made from rare black silk dyed with plant-based processes. An RMIT University prototype fire jacket uses mycelium leather for fire resistance.

The exhibition runs from August 28, 2026, to February 7, 2027, at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.