An essential guide to the material world

This book traces the development of plastics through a wide range of product types, while highlighting the extraordinary form-giving potential of these wondrous materials. Plastic Dreams is an essential guide to material culture and a must-have publication for all lovers of plastic and design aficionados.

Plastic fantastic

Plastic Dreams is a lavishly illustrated reference work that raises the aesthetic perception of plastics and celebrates their nobility as materials by bringing together an exquisite and highly curated survey of landmark product designs in plastics, from Bakelite in the 1920s to the latest techno-polymers today.

The future’s plastic

Plastic Dreams features over 120 landmark designs, from Wells Coates’ iconic AD 65 radio to Konstanin Grcic’s MYTO stacking chair, that reveal a breathtaking profusion of colours and forms as well as inventive imaginations fuelled by utopian aspirations. The accompanying introductory essay also traces the fascinating history of plastics and assesses their crucial and influential role in industrial design, while the extensive glossary of materials and processes will help sort out your Jaxonite and Xylonite from your Polyethylene and ABS.

Comes with a specially designed slipcase 
by Edson Matsuo of Melissa

About the authors

Charlotte and Peter Fiell are leading authorities on 20th and 21st century design and have written and edited over 30 internationally bestselling books on the subject. They have just founded their own design-led publishing company, FIELL, to publish their own books as well as other titles by other specialist authors.