That dressing gown? It's wood. Inside London's strangest materials exhibition

"This is just one item in a display that looks at how wood can be turned into all sorts of things that don't look or feel like wood at all. It's all because wood is a renewable resource and could be a viable replacement for plastics and other oil-based materials."

"What the exhibition promotes is that bio-based alternatives are no longer experimental. They are market-ready, scalable, and already replacing fossil-based materials. In a way, it's just an exhibition of packaging that looks familiar - plastic bottles, packing materials, shopping bags - but with the quirk that none of them are made from what you expect."

"It's an uplifting exhibition because it shows that packaging can get greener, that clever people are making it happen, and that they're doing so now."

An exhibition showcases innovative wood-based products that challenge perceptions of what wood can become. Wood waste and derivatives are processed into unexpected items including soft dressing gowns, transparent packaging films, ceramic-like baths and sinks, and various packaging materials. These bio-based alternatives demonstrate that sustainable replacements for plastics and oil-based materials are no longer experimental but commercially viable and scalable. The exhibition highlights how cellulose and starch-based plastics derived from wood already appear in everyday products like supermarket packaging. The display emphasizes that greener packaging solutions are currently being manufactured and implemented, offering an optimistic view of sustainable material innovation.

Read at ianVisits