Mighty Morphers

Tim Antoniuk aims to reinvent all that plastic junk we have lying around with a product that has developed from a collaboration with his students and colleagues at the University of Alberta. The team is working on a plastic that loses its rigidity when submerged in hot water, so that it can be re-formed into something more useful—or attractive. “The lifespan of a product is more often determined by when we’re sick of it than when it breaks” says Antoniuk of our current consumption pattern. With plastic products that can be reformed in water, the designer and his chemical-engineering collaborators are approaching sustainable design through material innovation. Antoniuk has created tables, frames, and lamps from his plastic, and imagines broader applications in automobiles, airplanes, and your living room.