Japanese designer Kodai Iwamoto has used glass-blowing techniques to remodel plastic pipes into flower vases, with the results currently on show at this year’s Milan design week.
Tokyo-based Iwamoto began his Plastic Blowing project with the desire to transform a mass-produced material into a piece of art.
He combined the “old-fashioned” manufacturing process of glass-blowing with the cheap, readily-available material of PVC pipe typically used as a construction material.

First, Iwamoto warmed a PVC pipe over a heater for 15 to 20 minutes, until its surface adopts a soft, rubber-like consistency.
He then placed the pipe into a wooden mould and blew into a hose-like tube to inflate the pipe – a process similar to glass-blowing. The mould creates the unique indented pattern onto the surface of each vase.

“As with glass blowing, many factors such as the shape of the mould, air-pressure and the speed of heating the pipe’s surface, affect the shape of each object,” said the designer.
“Even though it is a mass-produced and cheap material, I believe that the hand-making process gives each pipe a new value by transforming it into a well-made object,” he continued.

Also in a bid to showcase the ability of construction materials, Eindhoven-based designer Lucas Muñoz used industrial steel ventilation pipes to create a Tubular chair,
Iwamoto’s series of flower vases are on show as part of the Ex-Portation exhibition taking place during this year’s Milan design week.

The collective showcase will be open to the public from 17 to 22 April 2018, in a Milanese gallery called Loft, hosted by Ventura Future.
Dezeen is main media partner for the Ventura Future event – the successor to the well-known Ventura Lambrate district, which has now been cancelled.