If Corian has become America’s countertop of choice, it’s also a material aching to escape the kitchen. Students in RISD’s Furniture Design Department discovered just how versatile the stuff is when Dupont sponsored several semester-long studios to explore the design potential of this remarkable substance.

“Corian shapes and machines well,” notes faculty member Alphonse Mattia MFA ’73 FD, who managed the research project. When he and technical coordinator Jeff Webster decided to have students work with the high-end plastic, they did so because it’s “heat-formable, light transluscent in certain colors and thicknesses,” and has “wonderful tactile qualities.” Eager for students to push the bounds of a material with so many natural attributes, Mattia and Webster would lead them through three or four design exercises early in the fall to introduce them to its nuances. They then let students work on investigations of their own — in lighting, furniture and other household objects.

“Our students didn’t need much encouragement to approach Corian with an open and inquisitive attitude,” Mattia says. For instance, one student exploited the translucency of the material for origami-like shaped and folded lighting; another cut and bent it into snake-like lengths to create a whirling dervish of a hanging lamp; and a third played up its clean lines and crisp colors in a contemporary table lamp. For Dupont, the Corian research project clearly showed the potential for pushing the unusual plastic well beyond the countertop.