Playing with ply: the popular modernist material is the subject of a new V&A exhibition - but what should we be buying in plywood today?

Design show Plywood: Material of the Modern World traces the history and impact of plywood, which has been commandeered for everything from furniture to planes.

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Barbara Chandler19 July 2017

Of all modernist materials, plywood has the biggest fanbase. Collectors drool over chairs from the middle of the last century, with designs by Finnish Alvar Aalto and American Charles Eames topping their wish lists. They love the slender outlines, the curves, the pale finishes and the intriguing “layers” revealed at edges.

“From the beginning of modern design, plywood has appealed for its elasticity, comfort and shape,” says Simon Alderson, director of the Islington design store twentytwentyone. “It offered a soft modernism, a humane, warm and natural material in contrast to the cold steel of the Bauhaus.”

London author/curator Lucy Ryder-Richardson has a growing collection of plywood pieces. Her recent book Midcentury Chairs turns the stories of the chairs themselves — revealed by the children and grandchildren of the designers — into a racy, highly informative read. “Bent plywood kicked off the midcentury for furniture design,” she says. Ryder-Richardson, who also runs the popular Midcentury Modern selling shows, has “an early Eames DCW, a Grand Prix chair by Arne Jacobsen, a Cherner chair, and a Bruno Mathsson Eva”.

Plywood’s scope goes way beyond furniture, as is revealed in a new show at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington from Saturday until 12 November. Plywood: Material of the Modern World reveals the surprisingly eclectic history of plywood. You might know it from a chair, or a sheet in a timber yard, but it has been popping up in many other guises all over the world for about 150 years.

Says exhibition co-curator Christopher Wilk, of the V&A: “Since Victorian times, plywood has been one of manufacturing’s most popular and versatile materials. Today it is more popular than ever.” Plywood, a lavishly illustrated hardback by Wilk, is on offer at the V&A for £25.

Fun and functional: Bermondsey designer Georgia Bosson is screen-printing bright colours on to plywood (georgiabosson.co.uk)

Layers make the difference

When thin sheets of wood are glued together, each with the grain in a different direction, the result is plywood, a stable and flexible material that can be easily cut and shaped. Though thin, it is stronger than solid wood.

Relatively cheap and needing only simple tools, plywood products have been in mass production since the 1870s. At the same time, it has been at the cutting edge of design. As well as for familiar furniture, plywood has been commandeered for planes, tea chests, hatboxes, machine covers, surfboards, and skateboards, all illustrated in the show with photos, artefacts and film clips.

A poignant exhibit is the 1908 book printed by explorer Ernest Shackleton on his first voyage to Antarctica bound with plywood covers from the numerous packing cases needed for the trip. There are also striking transport designs, including a 1917 moulded canoe, a Sixties British racing car with a plywood chassis, and early surf and skateboards. And, of course, there’s plenty of furniture by celebrated modernists.

The show highlights the three key plywood production methods. First there’s the rotary-cutting of veneers; then mould making, with examples of a chair by Isokon Plus. Finally CNC cutting — computer numerical control — is shown by a full-size section of the simple-to-assemble WikiHouse. The design for this radical concept can be downloaded free from the internet and cut locally.

CNC cutting: Plywood designs by London-based Nikki Kreis include new peg-board storage, the holes cut with ferocious speed and accuracy by a CNC machine (kreisdesign.com)

What should we buy in plywood today?

There is no shortage of places to shop — plywood is everywhere.

Check out classic chairs in production at twentytwentyone, Aram, Skandium, Vitra and The Conran Shop. There are many current summer sales and special offers.

Vintage plywood pieces have become collector’s items with price hikes accordingly. The Midcentury Modern fairs are good hunting grounds and also list dealers on their website. The next show is in Haggerston on Sunday 15 October.

Plywood designs by London-based Nikki Kreis include new peg-board storage, the holes cut with ferocious speed and accuracy by a CNC machine, while Bermondsey designer Georgia Bosson is screen-printing bright colours on to plywood.

Flick through the gallery above for more top plywood picks.

Plywood: Material of the Modern World opens on Saturday until 21 November in the Porter Gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington SW7. Open daily 10am to 5.30pm, and until 10pm on Fridays, admission is free.