Plastic Practice – A Panel Discussion

Join us on 04 Feb 2026 for the introductory event to CSM's fifth Digital Innovation Season, Plastic Practice – A Panel Discussion.
Following an introduction to this year’s initiative from Lukáš, each panellist will present their own creative practice in relation to plastics both materially and conceptually. The discussion following will explore purpose and process, investigating what “plastic” means in design and how it can be valued or approached differently.

The event will be held onsite at Central Saint Martins for UAL students & staff only.

External attendees can watch the event broadcast live on YouTube.

A link will be sent prior to the event start date.

Please select the relevant ticket at the bottom of this page.

Lukáš Likavčan is a philosopher rethinking ecology after nature. In his research spanning emerging technologies, environmental humanities, and outer space, he traces intertwined histories of scientific infrastructures, ideas, and cultures that inform human efforts to sustain planetary habitability.

Lukáš is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences, and he co-runs an independent consultancy company Substrate. He teaches at MA Information Design, Design Academy Eindhoven, and at MA Narrative Environments, UAL Central Saint Martins, where he co-curates an R&D platform Earthsuits.

Previously, Lukáš held positions at NYU Shanghai, Antikythera (Berggruen Institute), FAMU in Prague, and Strelka Institute, where he also authored his book essay Introduction to Comparative Planetology (2019). As a visiting researcher, he was based at Leiden Observatory, Earth-Life Science Institute Tokyo, Vienna University of Business and Economy, Hong Kong PolyU, Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, and Panel on Planetary Thinking at the University of Giessen.

His transdisciplinary research and creative projects have been presented at CERN Arts, KW Berlin, Hartwig Art Foundation, Tallinn Kunsthall, Sonic Acts, Transmediale, Venice Biennale, Goldsmiths, Cambridge University, Vienna Biennale, UPenn, Peking University, Waag Futurelab, Display Prague, or Die Angewandte.

Coline Le Quenven is a French multidisciplinary designer and artist based in London. Her practice investigates the future aesthetics of materials, encouraging more sustainable approaches to materials through critical design, research, and craft. She imagines new narratives that question humanity’s impact on Earth and suggests resilience through craft and ornamentation in the face of environmental pollution.

After discovering the existence of plastiglomerates – a new type of rock formed when plastic debris melts and fuses with natural materials – Coline began transforming local waste plastic into delicate decorative objects and sculptural pieces. Her inspirations span multiple art-historical periods, including Antiquity, Art Nouveau, and Baroque. By integrating digital technologies into her process, she creates works that reflect contemporary society while juxtaposing past and present aesthetics and techniques.

Her current practice focuses on producing unique pieces as well as small-series functional objects.

Coline graduated from the MA Material Futures program at Central Saint Martins in 2022, following a BA in Textile Design at École Duperré in Paris. Her work has been exhibited at Dutch Design Week, La Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille, Collectible in Brussels, Rossana Orlandi during Milan Design Week, and as part of London Design Festival, among others.

Yesenia Thibault-Picazo is a Franco-Colombian interdisciplinary designer and sound artist whose practice unfolds through the lens of a Material Teller. She explores the narrative and ecological potential of materials – rocks, soils, waxes, sounds – using design to spark public engagement with contemporary environmental questions. Through research-led projects that merge speculative inquiry with embodied making, she creates installations, workshops, and objects where materials act as agents that reshape perceptions of our relationship with the Earth.

Since 2012, Yesenia has developed an interdisciplinary practice across art, design, craft, and the natural and social sciences. Her long-term inquiry Craft in the Anthropocene, examines the co-production of material culture between human and nonhuman worlds. She also co-founded the studios IMMATTERS and WAX Atelier (2019–2024), both dedicated to expanding material possibilities by bringing traditional craft into dialogue with contemporary experimentation and innovations.

Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the V&A, the London Design Museum, and MAK Vienna. Yesenia teaches widely and is currently Senior Lecturer at Chelsea College of Art, UAL

Tom Price is a British artist known for his exploration of materials and the processes that shape them. His practice frequently focusses on the human condition and our deep connection to the world around us. He uses materials as a lens to reflect on where we come from, how we interact with our environment and the legacy we may leave behind.

Price often uses chance as a tool to encourage unpredictable outcomes from organic and industrial materials - a strategy that enables him to achieve results beyond the limits of his own imagination.

Drawing on a background in design, Tom frequently explores notions of function and investigates ways in which the perception of an artwork can change when used as a place to sit or play, challenging traditional ideas of what a sculpture should or could be.

Since graduating from London’s Royal College of Art in 2007, Price has established an international career as an artist and designer with works in major collections and museums worldwide, including acquisitions by San Francisco MOMA, Denver Art Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the MKG Hamburg, and Amore Pacific Museum of Art in Seoul. He has also completed several large-scale sculptural commissions for public and private spaces

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