The Furniture of Chemistry

At its best, the bright new plastic furniture now invading U.S. stores can transform an ordinary room into something straight out of 2001; at its worst, it changes the same space into something uncomfortably like Motel Modern. Either way, plastic furniture--no longer disguised as wood but blatantly and unashamedly plastic-looking--is now showing up in homes all over the United States.

The reason for plastic's new-found popularity, even in once off-limits living and dining rooms, is summed up by Los Angeles Housewife Audrey Kaufman: "It's light and it's fun, the colors are marvelous, and all you have to do to clean it is wipe it off." The new furniture comes in a dazzling variety of colors and shapes. There are orange, red, green and yellow bookcases, Parsons tables and nesting tables. There are stools that can be converted in an instant into planters or round tables. There are chairs resembling eggshells, wombs and opened eyeglass cases. Some can be stretched into bench-couches; others resemble human molars but are considerably more comfortable.

Plastic furniture has been accepted for years in Western Europe. Scandinavians and Italians were among the pioneers in molding a wide variety of chemical glop into dazzlingly new and comfortable forms. The European furniture failed to sell well in the U.S., however, largely because its prices were too high for the average American buyer. When domestic plastic furniture began coming onto the American market about five years ago, the pieces were mostly one-of-a-kind and also expensive. Now, mass production is solving the cost problem. It has resulted in plastic Parsons tables that sell for only one-third the price of the traditional wooden variety. It has also enabled New York City Designer Neal Small, whose cocktail tables of clear or smoked Plexiglas retailed for $600 each, to produce a slightly smaller table of the same material that sells for only $75. Several major furniture stores report that, largely because of the lower prices, plastics sales have doubled over the past year.

Saving Trees. Thus far, the new furniture is selling best to young, intellectually oriented and often ecology-minded buyers, many of whom also buy the philosophy of Max Lawrence, a Los Angeles furniture-company executive. "If man is committed to preserving his natural environment," says Lawrence, "furniture through chemistry is one of the ways he can avoid further decimation of forests. Beyond that, the furniture of chemistry, by offering fluid, poetic forms, can help to humanize the indoor environment of the future. We have passed the aesthetic of square hard-edged furniture."

The raw material for plastic furniture consists of a wide variety of chemical compounds. One of the newest entries --used for many of the bright, nearly indestructible, solid-color pieces--is ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene), from which football helmets are also made. Polyurethane, which can be used in varying consistencies as either soft filler or rigid outer shell, is increasingly used for chairs and couches. Other widely used materials are clear acrylics, like Plexiglas and Lucite.

None of the plastics is without its disadvantages: most are easily scratched --although some chemical firms are soon to market a nonscratchable film designed to protect plastic surfaces. The acrylics often build up a large charge of static electricity, which in households with pets can produce strangely hairy furniture. The static electricity also attracts dust to the plastic surfaces, adding to the housewife's cleaning problem. Some of the chemical compounds have another problem: in Chicago, a furniture buyer brought home a clear plastic coffee table, which he set down next to a fireplace. "Next," recalls his boss, "he lit a roaring fire and the damn thing melted."

Honest Pieces. The impact of plastic on furniture manufacturers has already been considerable. Says A. Stuart Wood, an editor at Modern Plastics: "The use of plastic as plastic is changing the furniture business like the textile business was changed 30 years ago by the introduction of synthetic fabrics." As far as Chicago Department Store Executive Marcia Coontz is concerned, that change is all for the best. "I like everything to be honest," she says. "I don't like the plastic that's designed as wood. This new furniture is very honestly plastic --and that's why I like it. And that's funny, because just a few years ago everyone thought plastic was, well, ycccccccch."

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