Material Moulding Design

An exhibition on plywood brings into focus the various ways in which the highly versatile material has revolutionised object design, right from furniture to aeroplanes. Alongside influential experiments by modernist designers and architects, the mise-en-scène of the exhibition also highlights the otherwise overlooked attributes of the material.

- Meenal Kapadia

Plywood, all over the world, has been used by designers, architects and engineers to find practical, creative and aesthetically pleasing solutions to make modern life more comfortable. Plywood has become an integral part of our lives. Over the years it has gradually replaced many other materials due to its intrinsic qualities of strength, durability, pliability, lightness and low cost. Once considered to be a cheap alternative, to be hidden behind other materials, it came to its own in modern times. Showcased and designed for contemporary use, it is favoured today for its digital applications as well.

‘Plywood: Material of the Modern World’ curated by Christopher Wilk and Elizabeth Bisley, portrayed the history of plywood, by showing the processes of manufacture of the material itself, its design applications over a large spectrum, as well as its surprising and unusual uses. Held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, at the Porter Gallery on the ground floor, the display celebrated plywood in a “world-first exhibition”. Restricting itself to the regions of Europe and North America, the exhibition needed a couple of visits to fully absorb the wealth of information presented so attractively and ingeniously.