Chris Lefteri's examples demonstrate effective use of materials in everything from Smart cars to Swatch watches
Project: Plastic Bags
Client: Symphony Plastic Technologies plc
Designer: N/A
The European Directive for Packaging and Packaging Waste states that 65% of all packaging must be recovered if it is not practical for individual companies to organise the recovery, and recycling, of their packaging waste. A UK company, Symphony Environmental, is one of the main players addressing the issue of plastic waste by investing research into biodegradable supermarket bags.
The technology is based on a tiny amount of a pro-degradent additive, which is introduced into the manufacturing process. The time taken for the products to degrade can be controlled and is accelerated on exposure to heat, stress and light.
Project: Remarkable Pencils
Client: Remarkable Pencils Ltd
Designers: In-house design team
Year: Launched 1996
This is a fantastic example of a company which saw the potential of rubbish. Remarkable Pencils is an award-winning UK-based company which devised an alternative use for some of the millions of polystyrene vending machine cups that are otherwise discarded. The cups were collected and the polystyrene was recycled and re-formed into pencils and other stationery products such as paper.
Project: Lego
Client: Lego
Designer: In-house design team
Year: 1958
Having started by making wooden products, Lego has become one of the world's best known makers of plastic toys and has used advances in the material to evolve the product and keep up to date with children's imaginations and trends in toys.
In 1949, Lego began producing 'Automatic Binding Bricks' but the modern day design came about in 1958. It took another five years to find exactly the right material for it but now Lego bricks are part of a universal system which means that, despite variations in the design over the years, each new part will be compatible with any other.
Project: Tupperware
Designer: Originally designed by Earl S. Tupper
Year: 1946
At the height of Tupperware’s popularity it was said that there was a Tupperware party happening in the world every 2.5 seconds. The use of polyethylene allowed for a new range of products that took the concept of food packaging and storage into new territory.
The sealability of the material meant that liquids could be transported without fear of spillage. The 'bounciness' of the containers also meant that they were virtually unbreakable. The facility of this waxy material to be coloured fitted in with the fashions of the 1950s. Tupperware is a brand built entirely on the properties of the material.
Project: Swatch watches
Client: Swatch SA
Designer: In-house design team
Year: First watch launched in 1983 onwards
The traditional Swiss watch industry, based on quality and relatively expensive materials, was being eroded by the digital watch revolution of the 1980s, which had come from the Far East. Swiss manufacturer Swatch used plastic in a highly sophisticated way, on the basis that it is a cheap, fun material associated with disposable products. Swatch applied this notion to a range of watches providing a fashion accessory to people of every age, social group and ethnic origin. The use of plastic allowed for an almost endless range of colours and finishes.
Project: Tungsten light bulb
Designer: Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, though ductile tungsten filament was developed around 1911 by William J Coolidge and the ribbon machine which allowed mass production was invented by William J. Woods and David E. Gray
Year: First produced in 1926
Great inventions sometimes need the combination of the right material combined with the right manufacturing process to fulfil their true potential. The light bulb is a perfect example of these two conditions coming together. When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879 he needed a material and manufacturing method that could allow his new product to be produced efficiently and economically. A glass was needed that could both withstand the high temperatures that the filament produces and be produced quickly and cheaply. Before the ribbon machine streamlined the process, light bulbs were made at a rate of two per minute. After the ribbon process was perfected two thousand could be produced per minute.
Project: Float glass
Designer: First developed by Sir Alastair Pilkington
Year: Originally developed in 1952
Float glass gets its name from the process used to make it. It provides the perfect example of the development of a new product based not specifically on a new material, but rather on a new way of processing an existing material. Developed in 1952 by Sir Alastair Pilkington, the process allowed for flat, optically clear sheets of glass to be produced economically. The heated glass is fed and floated down a long bath of molten tin in one continuous length where it is gradually cooled.
Project: Nike brand
Client: Nike Inc
Designer: In-house team
Year: 1971 onwards
Sports brands provide some of the biggest advertisements for new materials, for example, their use in products such as tennis rackets, shoes and clothes. Nike is a brand that is built partly on the notion that technology and new high-tech materials benefit the consumer's life. This example is not about a specific product or a range, but more about how a company has sought to use new materials in its products which in turn informs the brand message.
Project: Smile Plastics
Designer: original concept by Colin Williamson
Year: 1995
Some of the most inspiring ideas arise when a product or new form of a material come from the waste that nobody else wants. In 1994, a range of plastic sheet materials was launched that at first glance looked like a multi-coloured assortment of plastic bits squashed together to form a totally new type of surface decoration. Discarded plastic milk bottles, shampoo bottles and detergent bottles were collected, sorted and flaked into small pieces and under heat and pressure were compressed into sheets waiting to find a new life as worktops, shelves etc. Since then Smile Plastics has extended its range to include sheets of plastic made from old wellies and coat hangers. The company has recently added mobile phone covers, retired bank notes and crisp packets to its list of ingredients.
Project: Smart car
Client: Daimler-Chrysler and Swatch
Designer: Designed by Swatch, engineered by Daimler-Chrysler for subsidiary company MCC Smart
Year: 1998
Flexible, deformable and changeable are three words which sum up the advantages that plastics have brought to this cute, intelligent, urban car. The use of plastics in cars is constantly increasing, but there aren’t many examples of such a bold, marketable vehicle. Developed as a joint project by Daimler Chrysler and Swatch, the car was born out of a desire to look at 'the life of materials from factory, through the car's life, to recycling'. The blend of polycarbonate and PBT polymers provides a lightweight alternative to steel and, because the colour is within the material, the panels also don't need painting and don't show scratches easily.
Project: Tetra Pak tetrahedral paper cartons
Client: Tetra Pak
Designer: In-house team
Year: 1952
Packaging has to fulfil many functions. Tetra Pak believes 'that a good package should save more than it costs'. It began life in Sweden as one of the first companies to package milk on a large scale. It took its name from the tetrahedron shape on which the now universally distinguishable carton is based. The original pyramid milk carton used the minimum amount of an already inexpensive material - paper. The incredible success of this company is based on the invention not only of new products but the development of new uses for existing materials.