Nienke Hoogvliet reveals the dark side of recycling plastic

Nienke Hoogvliet is a Dutch designer whose work explores environmental and social issues in the leather, textile and food industries. She hopes to change peoples’ perspectives and improve existing systems, and more importantly, also offers solutions.

In this interview, Bridget Cogley talks with Hoogvliet about the future of plastic and how her connection to the ocean influences her work, like her proposals for seaweed and fish skins (“fish leather”) to be used to create more sustainable designs.

Hoogvliet lives in The Hague, a city on the North Sea that is home to the United Nation’s International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and she founded her studio there in 2013 after graduation from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam.

BC: What’s the one most promising technology or development you think the industry should adopt more broadly?

NH: I’ve been working on industrializing the production of textile yarn and dye from seaweed because I believe that can make the textile industry much cleaner. I hope the industry will adopt these materials and processes as soon as they are ready. But in general, I really hope the focus will be on plastics. Not about how to recycle them into new plastics or other materials that can release microparticles or nanoplastics, but about how we can get rid of them without these issues.

BC: The cost of something is most often on people’s minds before impact. What are some ideas to get more people on board with thinking about sustainability?

NH: This is actually a topic I’m researching at the moment for a new project that we will show at Dutch Design Week this year. We want to start a discussion with the audience about value and how it's created. When and how do people value an object or product? Is the value in the used materials? The time that went into the production? Or the function? How sustainable it is? The price? The workers? The aesthetic? The cultural value?

We want to get a better understanding of this in order to be able to produce products that have the best possible value, so after this project, I hope to have found an answer to this question.

Hoogvliet made this rug from discarded net and fish skins leftover from the fishing industry. Photo by Femke Poort

BC: What’s the one major thing you think has to happen right now to further efforts in sustainable design?

NH: We need to start to apply a holistic point of view. A lot of projects around sustainability are looking at the topic from just one perspective. That means that often the effect on something else is forgotten, which can cause environmental, social or health issues.

Take the recycling of ocean plastics into fabrics, for example. It seems to solve a problem because the plastics are removed from the ocean and turned into a new resource. But actually, the problem gets way worse, since, during wearing and washing, the textile will release microfibers and nanofibers that are much harder to remove from nature and the oceans. We should try to prevent that from happening. If we try to see the whole picture, we can find solutions that work for the whole system. Designers can give the right examples by not just looking at one perspective but instead have a holistic view.

Before working with fish skins, she made a green rug made of sea algae yarn

BC: How would you describe your work to your grandma?

NH: The online magazine Trendland called me an Artivist in 2016, a merging between the words artist and activist. I think it's a perfect description of me and my work. I use art (or design) as a tool to be an activist with the dream to make the world a better place.

BC: Some people think sustainability isn’t the right word because it’s so vague and used for almost everything. What do you think?

NH: In my opinion, the word sustainability can still be applied. It still has a meaning that is related to not having a harmful impact on the environment. But the definition is now often (mis)used as if a sustainable solution is a comprehensive solution, and I don't think that's true. We should try to see the big picture when we are looking for solutions. Therefore, I prefer to use the term holistic.