From cars to aeroplanes, furniture to architecture and hand-making to digital manufacture, Plywood: Material of the Modern World at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, examines how this frequently overlooked material has revolutionised design over the past 150 years. Featuring groundbreaking pieces by Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer and Charles and Ray Eames, the exhibition reflects on the material’s specialist origins in 1760s furniture workshops; its developments in World War II and the post-war period; up until the present-day, where plywood is used on digital platforms and cut with computer-controlled machinery. Its aesthetic is also central to contemporary design and making.
Credits
1. Winnipeg Skating Shelters, Manitoba Design, Patkau Architects Canada.
1. Winnipeg Skating Shelters, Manitoba Design, Patkau Architects Canada.
