Coline Le Quenven
UK
Coline Le Quenven is a multidisciplinary designer and artist based in London. She explores the future aesthetics of materials, using waste as raw material to encourage more sustainable practices. She uses design, research, and craft to create new narratives about the human impact on Earth. Playing between traditional and digital crafts, her objects o"er a new life to waste, restoring a sense of preciousness to materials which we despise but depend on.
Recently graduated from MA Material Futures at Central Saint Martins in London, she is now working on commissions and collaborative projects, developing her practice around collectible design, functional art, and fashion accessories.
Reliques of the Plasticene, Coline Le Quenven, 2022
“Reliques of the Plasticene” o"ers new aesthetics for plastic waste. The research began with an observation of the sheer scale of single-use plastic discarded during the pandemic crisis drawing Coline’s attention to the wider impact of plastic pollution. Alarmed by the recent discovery of plastiglomerates, a new type of rock formed by plastic waste melting onto natural debris, the designer reflects on how we can craft these new conglomerates and build resilience to the continuous degradation of our planet.
Crafted from locally sourced plastic waste, these artefacts of the Anthropocene are dystopian witnesses of plastic entering the natural environment and becoming an integral part of Earth’s geology. Drawing a parallel between plastic and archaeology, the “Reliques of the Plasticene” are references to the ostentation of the Victorian and Roman eras, being the sum of translated ancient crafts and ideologies to digital techniques and our contemporary waste.
The mirror object utilises digitalized animal bones scavenged on the internet and a found car mirror, reflecting on the Anthropocene. The cup is inspired by a bronze cast of the “Three Graces”, honouring the craftsmanship of French sculptor Germain Pilon through a 3D printed reinterpretation. The jug top is made from plastic bags refashioned as a roman style container. The coral is fully 3D printed and embellished with a 3D pen to extrude recycled plastic and mimic traditional goldsmithing. And the nautilus is a mix of plastic debris worked on a 3D printed base largely inspired by nautilus shells seen as natural marvels and therefore often given elaborate and
precious mounts in the seventeenth century.