Mater launches the Ocean Collection: a 1955 design classic by Jørgen and Nanna Ditzel

Mater, the sustainable and ethical Danish design brand, has just launched the Ocean Collection – a new table and chair range that reimagines an original 1955 design by renowned 20th-century designers, Jørgen and Nanna Ditzel.

In a nod to its materiality, the Ocean Collection is largely made from ocean plastic waste, one of the most important environmental issues facing the planet. Jørgen and Nanna Ditzel themselves used organic and innovative materials for their product designs, and with this new collection Mater seeks to continue their inventive approach to design.

Dennie Ditzel, Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel’s daughter, has been overseeing the Ditzel archive since Nanna’s death in 2005. On the collaboration, she says her mother "was fascinated by new materials and always experimenting with them, so this would just be ideal for her – this new iteration is very much in her spirit."

Mater has been committed to sustainable solutions since its inception, marrying high design with the latest in material innovation. The Ocean Collection is another example of this, aiming to help tackle the critical problem of the pollution of the world’s oceans.

Henrik Marstrand, CEO and Founder of Mater says, "Our planet is struggling and never before has it been more obvious that we need to take action to protect our environment.

"We are facing a global recycling crisis with waste plastic filling the ocean, being left carelessly on land and blown or washed into the sea. If we can create a product that is attractive, functional and durable, while cleaning up after the side effects of our collective consumerism, it’s a win-win."

A new innovative business model motivates fishermen across the world to dispose of their discarded fishing nets to the only recycling plant for fishing nets in the world, located in Denmark. Mater searched for a design that could fit this pioneering sustainable production method and partnered with Dennie Ditzel. Together they searched the archives for a design that could work using ocean plastic waste. The result was the Ocean Collection.

Characterised by its light structure with repeated slats and metal frames plus made and tested for outdoor use, it represents sustainable and innovative thinking and honours the United Nations Global Goals of sustainable development, pushing the design industry towards a greener agenda. One single Ocean chair uses 960g of ocean plastic waste.

The Ocean Collection is designed for disassembly, meaning that the design allows each component in its purest form to be recycled into new production circles when it comes to the end of its useful life.

The original design from 1955 was made up of a steel frame and timber veneer. The reissues of the pieces have been scaled up by five per cent to accommodate modern proportions, but otherwise, the form remains the same. The table and chair’s simple shape and lightness epitomise the Ditzel’s precise, practical and playful design sensibility, and are perfectly suited to the use of ocean plastic.

Discover more at materdesign.com.