Il Plart houses a research center, an event area, a space for training, and the permanent exhibition of objects from one of the most well-known collections of historical plastics. The collection – built over 30 years thanks to a patient research effort by Maria Pia Incutti and under the curatorship of architect Nunzio Vitale – represents an important point of reference in the world of plastics.
The collection tells the story of plastic and with it the evolution of society’s customs and uses, from the late nineteenth century to the seventies, highlighting the heterogeneity and versatility of this eclectic family of materials: from bakelite to celluloid, from resin to polyurethane.
It is a museum-quality collection of over 1500 pieces consisting of objects of anonymous design – 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. The collection was dedicated in 1990 to the historic exhibition In Plastica at the Museo Pignatelli Cortes in Naples.
In 1991 it was exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris, at the VIII design exhibition in Saint Etienne and in 2002 – promoted and organized by the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation – in São Paulo, Brazil.
