a thing that is pieces: Turning Plastic Scraps into Favourite Objects, and Play into a New Way of Seeing

Plastic bottle caps in many colours sit together in a container. On the shelves are bags of caps already sorted by colour. In another corner, small pieces of plastic are scooped up and weighed, ready for a process that will change their appearance once again.

These are scenes from the workspace of a thing that is pieces, surrounded by tools, material samples and colourful objects that invite a closer look.

There are plastic flowers, chairs assembled from different materials, and small everyday objects with patterns of their own. Seeing only the finished pieces, we might first notice their colours and shapes, or picture where they would fit in our homes, before wondering what they used to be.

For the two makers behind the studio, that desire to pick something up, use it and take it home means a great deal.

It is the moment when a discarded material finds its way back into someone's everyday life.

It starts with wanting to try

Asked how it began, the pair return to their love of art, their curiosity about materials, and their experience decorating shops. That work gave them opportunities to handle, experiment with and get to know all kinds of objects.

When they encountered the process of working with plastic, its colours drew them in. What would happen if they tried it themselves?

That simple question led to experiments in shaping materials and assembling different pieces. Along the way, they found a kind of enjoyment that made them want to keep going.

Used plastic still had properties to discover, colours to play with and possibilities to explore. The experience of their earlier work gradually met this material they were learning about, allowing them to develop work of their own.

The name a thing that is pieces reflects this approach. They enjoy taking fragments, leftover materials and things they find, then making something new. An object's character emerges from bringing those small parts together.

Looking at the finished work, the name almost describes the entire process.

A palette built from what is available

Working with discarded materials brings its own challenges. The waste they receive does not always come in the colours they would have chosen.

What they can do is consider how the colours in front of them might mix, how to arrange them, and how to create a new palette that still feels exciting to work with.

The bags of caps sorted by colour become a starting point for design. Each bag reveals both what is available and what the next piece might become.

In the film, we see plastic passing through a shredder, coloured fragments being scooped and weighed, heat being applied, and pieces being trimmed. These processes gradually take the material from its original form towards a new shape and purpose.

Throughout, the makers are making decisions about mixtures, colours and how different materials will fit together.

Constraints naturally become part of the design process. Every new batch of material brings another question to work through.

Fun, creativity and sustainability

There are three things the pair always want their work to hold: fun, creativity and sustainability.

All three need to be present from the moment they begin a product. They matter enough to help determine whether a piece is worth pursuing.

Fun appears in the colours and unexpected pairings. Creativity lies in turning fragments into objects with shape and purpose. Sustainability enters the process through the decision to use discarded materials from the start.

Interestingly, they are perfectly happy for customers to choose a piece without knowing that it is made from plastic waste.

Someone might like it for its appearance, its colour, or simply because they want to use it. The story of the material can be discovered later.

This reveals their intention as designers: to make objects that people value enough to live with, allowing the story behind each piece to travel with it.

Learning to let the material teach

The playfulness of the finished work has taken plenty of trial and error.

When they started, the pair never imagined that the plastic in their hands would lead to the work they make today. Getting here has required patience, commitment and repeated hands-on effort.

A piece may go through several failures before it succeeds. The first experiment does not always offer the answer they are looking for, and understanding the material grows gradually through those experiences.

With practice, they begin to recognise how different materials behave, which approaches produce a beautiful result, and which do not work as expected.

Their skill carries traces of pieces that never made it further, even if viewers only see the finished work.

Their thinking about the environment has changed too. Spending so much time with these materials, they explain, has gradually and naturally shifted their habits and outlook.

The learning happens as they work: in examining each piece of material and trying to discover what the thing in front of them might become.

Doing today's work well, and letting it speak

When they talk about the future, the pair focus on staying in the present and doing their current work well.

That attitude also shapes how they want to communicate about the environment: through objects people can use, materials given new forms, and small ideas carried within everyday things.

In the conversation, they describe their work as a way of expressing a position. Each piece offers a way to show what matters to them and what they are trying to do.

Of course, making the work they want to make also has to provide an income. They acknowledge that this is a balance they are still seeking. Their love of the work and the practical realities of sustaining it remain closely connected.

They hope these objects might inspire someone to see that this approach is possible, and perhaps worth trying for themselves.

Looking again at the bottle caps in the container, we can see more than raw material waiting for the shredder.

Ahead of them might be flowers, everyday objects or part of a piece of furniture, depending on the makers' next experiment. When one becomes a favourite object in someone's home, the material's story continues.

And the person who picks it up may begin to see the next bottle cap a little differently too.