We partnered with sustainable design studio, Good Waste and Waltham Forest Council to deliver an innovative public making experience: Plaster Works. The focus was on highlighting the hidden potential of building waste material – showcasing the design potential of recycled plasterboard, from a transformed disused high street shop in Chingford Mount. 

The Plaster Works project (23rd October – 14th November 2021) was inspired by research into local business waste streams in and around Chingford which identified skips full of plasterboard, destined for landfill. Exploring how this under-valued and abundant material could be recycled, Good Waste developed a process to extract the plaster powder creating a new plaster type material with many applications. 

Influenced by Scagliola, a traditional 17th century Italian plaster technique, local pigments from other discarded construction materials, such as brick dust are added to create a stunning new material with a beautiful marble finish. This material was used to design the shop’s interior and furniture elements to showcase its potential. An old agricultural corn crusher was modified by Blackhorse Workshop technicians to process the plasterboard, stripping the paper and refining the plaster into dust.

We worked with seven young people to help develop the material, technique and design the space to showcase this creative solution to waste material. Together we designed a public making activity, turning and testing wooden moulds on the lathe to test bowl shapes that could be used to cast the reclaimed plaster.

For three weeks we delivered making activities for the public, and partnered with Age UK, local community groups and schools in the area to welcome over 1,000 people to come and take part and learn about the process.

Click here to download the original press release

Click here to read about the impact of the project in our evaluation