Plastic Fantastic - Part 3

"I just want to say one word to you. Just. One word."

"Yes sir?"

"Are you listening?"

"Yes I am."

"Plastics."

"Exactly how do you mean?"

"There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?"

                This clipped string of dialogue plays out within the first 10 minutes of the film "The Graduate", just after the protagonist speaks of his uncertain future. Mr. Maguire's advice was written to represent the aloof, materialistic qualities of an older generation which seemed captivated by the dull, cold world of corporate capitalism.  While it rang true for its time, with confused youth grappling with the horrors of the Vietnam War and shifting values, plastics today are being embraced in an alternative fashion by DIY makers and artists.

                Plastics are perhaps the most perfectly tailored, malleable materials available to today's small fabricator. With small investments in equipment and a few faltering attempts under one's belt, there are great possibilities in plastic. From entry level 3D printers like MakerBot to cobbled together vacuum forming machines and 2-part liquid resins, few classes of materials offer more while requiring so little capital to be productive. This is a huge inversion of the standards in place when "The Graduate" was released in 1967. Plastics then were still an emerging market, dominated by the hegemony of a few massively successful corporate firms like DuPont and Dow. The amateur was far from being aware of the potential uses of plastics for fabrication, much less having the means to work with them effectively.

MakerBot 3D Printer in operation.
(photo: Andy Dingley)

                While a few early adopters (ambitious architecture students, forward looking artists and inventors) delved into synthetic materials early on, it was decades before plastics as a sculptural or design material became accessible to the average maker. While the plastics most frequently used by DIYers today are far from chemically new, (Delrin in 1960, HDPE in 1953, ABS in the 1950s ) they are only beginning to be viewed as materials native to personalized design and art making; to some degree displacing wood, metal, and gypsum as go-to substances.

                For Ben Braddock, plastics represent the stiff conformity of the older generation he wants no part of, a quietly ominous closing of doors. Walk through a hackerspace, architecture firm or sculptor's studio in 2012 and ask about plastics and you'll likely get a very different  take- one heavy on opportunities while aware of potential consequences, engaged with the pros and cons of the material world, rather than indifferently adrift within it.