Pioneers of Plastic

Print Design, Book Design

Pioneers of Plastic: Chairs for the People 1859 – 2010

Pioneers of Plastic was a project that evolved from Ed Tritton’s love of photographing furniture. Through his conversations with designer Richard Snell, the scope of the project morphed to focus on the collaboration between designer Robin Day and manufacturer Hille as well as the use of polypropylene.

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As well as celebrating this partnership and its influence, the project aimed to acknowledge the important designers that came before Day, such as Eames and Jacobsen.

Our role was to aide Ed and Richard through their discussions as to what the structure and focus of the book would be, and then to visually realize that. Together, we decided that the the book should contain written pieces about the Day and Hille partnership, along with photographic examples, as well as a chronological run-down of some of the 20th Century’s finest chair designs.

Furniture photography: Ed Tritton | www.edtritton.com

Written work: Richard Snell

Book photography: Andy Pilsbury | www.andypilsbury.com

Pioneers of plastic was a project with quite a short deadline, and quite a lot to do in that time. Wild Ilk were incredible throughout the process, continually pushing and developing the design, and keeping everyone else involved on track. Tommy was professional and enthusiastic throughout, delivering the work on time without any issues. The end product is something that I’m incredibly happy with, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use Wild Ilk again!

Ed TrittonPhotographer