Plart houses a research center, an event area, a training space, and the permanent exhibition of objects from one of the best-known collections of historical plastics. The collection – built over 30 years thanks to the patient research work of Maria Pia Incutti and curated by architect Nunzio Vitale – represents an important reference point in the world of plastics.
The collection tells the history of plastics and with it the evolution of society’s customs and uses, from the late 19th century to the 1970s, highlighting the heterogeneity and versatility of this eclectic family of materials: from bakelite to celluloid, from resin to polyurethane.
It is a museum-grade collection of over 1500 pieces consisting of anonymous design objects – pens, dolls, boxes, lamps – and works by contemporary designers and artists such as Piero Gilardi, Gaetano Pesce, Franco Mello, Guido Drocco, Tony Cragg, and many others. In 1990, the historic exhibition In Plastica was dedicated to the collection at the Museo Pignatelli Cortes in Naples.
In 1991, it was exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris, at the VIII Saint Etienne design exhibition, and in 2002 – promoted and organized by the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation – in São Paulo, Brazil.
