Material Identity Crisis

Vinyl is never just vinyl. It’s defined by the texture that’s printed on its surface. ‘Material identity crisis’ is a collection of unique vinyl samples that play with the characteristics of the printed material. One sample with the texture of wood was cut into strips and put back together with each piece slightly shifted horizontally. The vinyl is shaped to look like a long strip of tree bark, but the texture looks pixelated and artificial. Since vinyl is strictly cut into rolls of 4 x 4m, flooring companies end up with a lot of left over non-recyclable material. Through experimentation with shaping, cutting, folding, braiding and weaving, Wies van den Maagdenberg demonstrates how discarded vinyl can be transformed and take on new identities.