Have you ever thought about what we can do with all the plastic waste we discard?

Smile Plastics have, and for a many years now they have been collecting consumer and commercial waste, filtering it by hand and processing it into new materials for use by architects, interior designs and furniture designers.

Typo will collaborate with different makers and production specialists for each design collection. Launching in March 2024, the first collection available for pre-order will be a small side table or stool called Replica, made from 100% recycled waste including yoghurt pots. No glues or resins are added into the material, making this furniture piece fully recyclable at the end of its life. Within the material, visual fragments of labels from yoghurt lids can be seen, which gives the design an off-white marble effect with a contemporary twist.

This innovative, sustainable use of recycled materials was created by Smile Plastics - a Welsh based manufacturer of architectural panels and surfaces. Alex and Smile Plastic’s CEO, Rosalie McMillan, met years ago through a collaboration with John Lewis and discovered they shared a mutual passion for sustainable design. In 2021, Rosalie and Alex agreed it was time to develop a furniture piece together, and so Replica was born.