Plywood: Material of the modern world

Carol O’Callaghan visits an exhibition dedicated to plywood - an often overlooked material which has now captured the imagaination of architects and designers with its sustainable on-going value.

Plywood - it’s had a bad rap, hasn’t it? In fact, veneer in general has become a pejorative term. Just think about the expression ‘a veneer of respectability’, implying the opposite is true.

Christopher Wilk, Keeper of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion at London’s V&A Museum is a man who knows a thing or two about the material, which led him to co-curate an exhibition on the subject called Plywood: Material of the Modern World, running now at the museum until November 12.