Resin, once primarily associated with industrial manufacturing and mid-20th-century furniture, is experiencing a renaissance in contemporary design. This versatile material is now being used to explore our complex relationship with the natural world and the interplay between organic forms and manufactured objects.
Natural resins have been utilized for millennia, harvested from trees and plants to create varnishes, incense, medicines, and decorative items. Ancient civilizations valued pine resin and frankincense, while amber, a fossilized tree resin, was crafted into jewelry and artifacts. The transition to modern design came with synthetic developments in the 20th century, enabling mass production, vibrant colors, and innovative forms. Pioneers like Charles and Ray Eames showcased the potential of resin-based materials, such as their iconic 1950s fibreglass-mix shell chairs, which embraced color, malleability, and mass-production capabilities.
Embracing imperfection and experimentation
Italian designer Gaetano Pesce pushed the boundaries of resin’s expressive possibilities, treating it as a medium for experimentation and chance. His epoxy resin Broadway collection and polyurethane resin Fish series exemplify his fascination with organic, anthropomorphic forms and the unpredictability of synthetic materials. For Pesce, irregularities were not flaws but integral parts of the design, allowing furniture to exist somewhere between functional object and sculpture.
Today, designers continue to explore resin’s potential in preserving natural elements and embracing imperfections. Polish designer Marcin Rusak’s Flora series embeds discarded flowers in resin, transforming ephemeral blooms into lasting furniture and sculptural objects. This process captures the flowers’ color and form indefinitely, creating a dialogue between the transient and the permanent.
Resin at the London Design Festival
At the 2026 London Design Festival, design studio Paraforma will showcase a series of resin-cast pieces inspired by Charlotte Perriand’s Table Studies from the 1930s. These epoxy resin furnishings, featured at the Mayfair boutique Monologue, explore the material’s ability to manipulate light and perception. Paraforma cofounder Valentina Grittini notes, ‘Rather than pursuing absolute clarity and perfection, we became particularly interested in the bubbles, impurities, and irregularities that emerge during the casting process. What might conventionally be considered mistakes became part of the material language of the pieces, giving each cast its own character.’
The Lumen resin dining table by Paraforma, displayed in the Monologue showroom, exemplifies this approach. The table’s appearance changes throughout the day as light interacts with its surface, making it responsive to its surroundings rather than static. Like Pesce, Paraforma embraces the unpredictability of resin, allowing the casting process to influence the final form.
Nature and manufacture in harmony
A similar dialogue between the natural and manufactured can be found in the work of Andrianna Shamaris. Her Cracked Resin collection combines reclaimed teak with resin, filling the wood’s natural grooves and fissures with a deliberately cracked surface reminiscent of quartz or fractured stone. These pieces were recently incorporated into the interiors at 180 The Thames and the new hotel St Clement by Eagle + Hodges.
For cofounder Alex Eagle, the appeal lies in the tension between the contemporary and the natural. ‘The encapsulation of nature frozen in time in this resin just felt so beautiful,’ she says. ‘They are like sculptures but they can be used as tables, which I love.’
This combination of permanence and unpredictability makes resin a compelling material for contemporary designers. Air bubbles, color variations, uneven curing, and fractures can all become part of a finished piece. In the hands of today’s creators, resin also serves as a means of preserving moments in time, capturing flowers and the imperfections that emerge through the making process. As Valentina Grittini describes, ‘The final material is shaped as much by the process as by the original intention… It shifts design away from the idea of a predetermined object and towards a process of collaboration, testing, and discovery. Resin becomes interesting not only for what it can produce but for the way it asks us to work.’
