

gangjian cui documents the rise of the plasticsmith

all images courtesy of gangjian cui

‘the rise of the plasticsmith’ by gangjian cui speculates china’s post-industrial future, envisioning the rise of a new breed of workers who will use plastic crafts to tell the history of the industrial age. in the 1950s, thousands of people moved to downtown daqing in northeastern china, building oil towers and refineries to manufacture plastic. for the people of the metropolis, plastic was more than just an industry, and the struggle of the early fabricators of the material has been immortalized in myths and legends. the city is competing with many other contemporary areas of china, each trying to produce more, faster, cheaper, but each uncertain about their future. with oil production predicted to decrease drastically in the next 50 years, their glory could be short lived. as a result, the project realizes potential in the idea that plastic could play a much larger role in the world of manufacturing furniture, structural elements, and other mechanical objects. to further his argument, cui has developed a set of tables and cabinets constructed entire out of the clear material using simple joints that have been melted together.

video courtesy of gangjian cui



cabinet and side table



air bubble in plastic



round side table



cabinet



square side table



detail of the round side table



detail of the connections used



graph explaining a possible projection of oil production in daqing

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.