Waste Plastics, the problems and potentials from the lens of material science, design and craft technologies. Community centered and place-based, functional public art. Design workshops. Art as grief therapy.
Professional Experience
Co-Founder of experimental design practice Thing Thing, specializing in creative re-use of waste plastics. Clients include Lear, Floyd and Today clothing. In 2019 he launched his independent practice Simon Anton Studio. Anton has worked as an designer/fabricator for Gildform, Donut Shop and Newlab amongst others. In 2020 he co-founded Got Grief House a Detroit non-profit supporting those experiencing loss. Educational experience includes developing undergraduate course Radical Materials at LTU, art classes within DPS and a robotics club with Oakland Ave Urban Farms.
Significant Publications, Presentations and Exhibitions
- Full Circle: Waste Plastic Transformations, The Dennos Museum, Traverse City, MI, Aug 26
- Plastic Future, Plastic Past, MContemporary, Ferndale, MI Jun 2025
- Inside/Outside, Mat茅ria, Detroit, MI Sep 2024
- Agglomerations, Cedar North, Cedar, MI Jul 2024
- Everlasting Plastics, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, PA Mar 2023
- In Depth, MContemporary, Ferndale, MI Dec 2023
- Everlasting Plastics, US Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy May 2023
- Here x Now, Detroit Month of Design, Detroit, MI Sep 2021
- Never Normal, Detroit Month of Design, Detroit, MI Sep 2020
- Kindred Spirits, East Hawaii Cultural Center, Hilo, Hawaii Nov 2019
- Substance, Detroit Month of Design, Detroit, MI Aug 2019
- Form & Seek, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy Mar 2019
- Works in Progress, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI Dec 2018
- In Good Company, Fernando Mastrangelo Gallery, New York, New York Sep 2018
- PLASTICSCENE, London Design Festival, London, England Sep 2018
- Factory Floor, Dundee Design Festival, Dundee, Scotland May 2017
- Footwork, Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne, France Mar 2017
- Nuclear Family, 1.5 Rooms (with the Graham Foundation) Brooklyn, New York Oct 2016
- Maker Maker, Shenzhen Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale Of UrbanismArch Dec 2015
- Green Space, Culture Lab Detroit, Detroit, MI Oct 2015
- READY-TO-HAND, PRESENT- AT-HAND, CVA Gallery, University of Toledo Aug 2015
- Mobile Homestead Artist in Residence, MOCAD, Detroit May 2015 Detroit Creative Ventures Exhibition, College of Creative Studies, Detroit May 2014
- CHICAGOLAND, Wanted Design, ICFF New York, NY Apr 2014 /DIALOGUES, Collectors Xchange, Expo ChicagoChicago, IL Sep 2012
- Common Ground: 13178 Moran Street, Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy Aug 2012