At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of discarded face masks either ended up in landfills or the ocean every month.
To help alleviate the effects of health-hazard wastes devastating our planet, UK-based designer Joe Slatter took disposable face masks and turned them into a piece of furniture. And who says waste can’t be interesting?
To create his “Veil Stool” masterpiece, Slatter gathered over 4,000 disposable masks (made from a mix of paper and polymers, including polypropylene and polyester) from the streets of London. Before using each piece to design his stool, he made sure to disinfect each face mask by coating them with ozone spray, a disinfectant made from water, and by exposing them to direct sunlight for four weeks.
The stool’s soft, textile look was created by transforming the sanitized blue and white three-ply face makes into a wool-like yarn, while some of the pieces were melted to produce a thick polypropylene structure. Slatter used the elastic straps from the face masks to make a netting, which acted as the foundation to thread the yarn onto by using a simple cross-stitch technique called Smyrna.
The final design is a blue and white gradient cushioned seat made from hand-spun yarn. The full-body textured Veil Stool is then mounted on top of three short stool legs crafted from the hardened melted face masks.
Slatter’s end product not only spotlights the beauty that can come from pollution but also highlights the supportive nature of wearing face masks.
All images in this article are courtesy of Joe Slatter.
