Recycled plastic

Flotsam

Ocean plastic fragments and bio-resin.

Cast as a singular piece, the Flotsam bench harmonises form, function, meaning and process. Recycled and reclaimed ocean plastics are collected and made into ocean terrazzo, a novel material the designer first made in 2016. Multicoloured fragments are set within a black bio-resin. Flotsam’s namesake is those objects lost at sea, by accident or through shipwreck, whose owner is both the finder and the loser.

Ocean terrazzo, is an innovative material produced by fragments of ocean-plastic waste.

Ocean Terrazzo was first developed for the Australian Pavilion at the inaugural London Design Biennale in 2016. To produce the terrazzo-like composite Neill collaborated with an international network of scientists, researchers, environmental experts, beachcombers, engineers, artisans and manufacturers to collect and reconstitute small fragments of plastic washed up on the shores around the globe.

Making process

Brodie Neill is known for his mastery of materials, form, and process. He crafts inventive, resourceful, beautiful contemporary design works. Tasmania-born and bred and London-based, Brodie Neill launched the work ‘ReCoil’ at London Craft Week in 2022, alongside Continuum, a selection of his major upcycled works. This show is presented by not-for-profit design advocates Design Tasmania, with timber innovators Hydrowood.

Brodie Neill recontextualises and transforms not only recycled materials, but the forgotten, the waste, the discarded, into mesmerisingly beautiful and refined designs. All of this is with the strong message that is elegantly contained in each piece. They embody care, environment, origin, and lifecycle. Eminently collectable, Brodie Neill designs can be found in galleries and museums, as well as the home, particularly with the self-produced Made in Ratio collection. Neill’s work starts conversations, invites collaboration and takes you on an unexpected journey of the reimagined.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.