Plastic storage boxes in yellow

Mailbox Products - Media release
R for Repair

Mailbox Products containers seen at the V&A!

Mailbox Products containers are seen the length and breadth of the UK in supermarkets, warehouses, restaurants and schools, but we don’t often see them in a museum!

However, that has all changed, as our yellow boxes played a key part in the recent exhibition R is for Repair: London x Singapore, held at London’s V&A, the world’s leading museum of art and design. The exhibition was presented in the V&A 'Design 1900 – Now' section in a concept created by Nice Projects.

Our involvement began when Mailbox Products was recommended to the exhibition’s Creative Producer, Carlotta Jacoby, by a distributor. Impressed by not only our wide range of products but also our commitment to recycling and sustainability, she then contacted us directly to discuss using boxes from the Tower range within the exhibition, which was to receive its international debut at the V&A.

R is for Repair: London x Singapore
R for Repair: London x Singapore is the second edition of the R for Repair exhibition. The exhibition shines a spotlight on consumerism by showing how, with a little ingenuity and creativity, cherished but broken objects can be given both new meaning and a fresh lease of life. It also explores how we have an emotional connection to our possessions, even when they are no longer usable.

Creative repair
People were asked to submit cherished but broken objects and share the stories behind them. The diverse submissions included a brightly coloured wooden puffin, a green glass bottle, and an eighteenth-century maker’s chest, all damaged beyond use. What made them special was the stories that accompanied them, such as the broken saucer with a decorate pink edge that had been smuggled out of Paris’ iconic Maxim’s restaurant in the 1970s by the actress Jane Birkin.

The broken items were then passed to different designers for ‘creative repair’, adding even further to the history and story behind each one. Once the repair process had been completed, the objects were to be displayed within one unifying installation. Designer/Architect Leendert De Vos was asked to create this display unit, which would then be placed within the gallery at the V&A.

Designed to stand out
Galleries are traditionally white and classical, and the installation could have been rather lost within such a space. To counter this, Nice Projects wanted a medium that would really stand out. Bright yellow crates from Mailbox Products turned out to be the perfect solution, arranged to look like a multi-layered cabinet of curiosities, containing the repaired, and now beautiful again, treasures and inviting the viewer to look in to explore and experience each one.

The industrial design of the large crates was in sharp contrast to the smaller, often rather antiquated, pieces on display. Stacked on top of each other, the very graphic style was further enhanced by the reinforcing ribs on the boxes, which provided another layer of texture, almost like the lines of a drawing. As a key feature of the installation is sustainability, De Vos also wanted to use building blocks that could be dismantled easily and return for reuse – again, Mailbox Products fitted the brief perfectly.

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Boxes of light

“I was really pleased with the adaptation of the plastic containers into lightboxes. To achieve this, I placed LEDs behind the boxes on both levels of the ‘cabinet’. As the light came through the plastic, it diffused and softened, illuminating and highlighting the title of the installation beautifully, perfectly in line with the overall aesthetic of the piece. The boxes worked really well, fulfilling our vision for the installation, and I would like to thank Mailbox Products for its participation.”
Leendert De Vos

R is for Repair: London x Singapore was presented by Design Singapore Council, National Design Centre (Singapore), and the V&A (London). It was co-curated by Hans Tan Studio (SG) and Jane Withers Studio (UK) as a London x Singapore exchange. The exhibition was presented in the V&A 'Design 1900 – Now' section in a concept created by Nice Projects.