Dirk van der Kooij was a carpenter: as a young boy, he recalls sitting in church with his attention set on the wooden pews rather than the divine.  At age 12, his father had directed this interest to a local woodworker, who patiently took on her young apprentice.  Dirk would sell his creations to pay for tools, a precedent that continues to this day. 

Amsterdam's beloved Wood & Furniture School further refined his passion, but also introduced an essential conflict.  At the time, commercial woodworking involved a heavy reliance on chipboard and veneer.  A materialist at heart, Dirk was compelled to continue his search for abundant—yet honest—material sources. 

It was during his time at the Design Academy Eindhoven that Dirk first began to interrogate recycled plastic.  Could this waste material fulfil his yearning for a solid, expressive, sustainable alternative for wood?  

"I was hoping to find a material to offset feelings of guilt about making—using waste material felt like a very logical answer."

Six pizza ovens welded together proved that yes, it could. The resulting Elephant Skin series saw recycled plastic wrinkle and contract as it cooled outside of a mould, conjuring a rich, living tactility. The ultimate imitator had finally found an identity of its own. 

 Dirk would go on to follow this thread through a multitude of applications: extruding, pressing, blowing, and milling. 

 Through the A decade since Dirk’s first forays into plastic recycling,

the collection represents ongoing investigations into

value perception, texture, and material integrity. Select

pieces have joined the permanent collections of the

Stedelijk Museum, MoMA New York, Centre Pompidou,

and the Design Museum, London.