Seven Stages of Degradation is a unique art glass installation of seven components by the British artist Louise Thompson and the British designer Sophie Thomas. Each piece is solid glass with internal colored detail and trapped bubbles. Each topped with a found beach plastic cap. An ongoing body of work with the first set exhibited as part of the Summer Exhibition 2018, at the Royal Academy London. The artwork's aim is to highlight the current serious issue of ocean plastic. Although not essentially about it’s dramatic harmful effect on the sea’s inhabitants and environment, this artwork focuses on the prolonged duration for which it can exist within these vital waters.

About the collaborating artists;

Louis Thompson

With a professional career spanning over 25 years, Thompson has taught in the UK and abroad. He has exhibited extensively in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan. In 2012 Thompson received two prestigious awards in the UK: British Glass Biennale Winner and the Jerwood Foundation Makers Commission. He has been invited to create installations for various museums and international exhibitions and his work is held in permanent museum collections in Belgium, Germany, Japan, Czech Republic and the V&A Museum in London. Thompson has completed International residencies at the prestigious Museum of Glass in Tacoma, The Glazenhuis Museum in Belgium and most recently at Soneva Art Glass in the Maldives.

Sophie Thomas

A highly respected and established leader in creative campaigning and communication design, Thomas’ long-term interest in sustainability and materials has led to her sharing her experience of closed-loop thinking with other designers. In 2012 she founded The Great Recovery, a programme to highlight understanding of circular design in the materials supply chain, through practical exploration, i.e. tearing things apart and re-designing them. This programme is now running through the RSA.

Constantly questioning the role and influence of design, Thomas is a prominent voice in the promotion of sustainable thinking through design education and business. Alongside her own investigations to highlight the plight of ocean pollution, she works with the charity Common Seas to encourage the design community to find design solutions that work towards eliminating plastic from the seas.

Thomas is the founding director of 'Thomas.Matthews', an award-winning communication design agency creating work that has sustainability at its heart.