The Queue: Ian Alistair Cochran

Ian Alistair Cochran tames mercurial resin into bold, shiny, gem-hued furniture.

Often associated with disposability, kitsch, overconsumption, and negative environmental impact, plastic is an unlikely material for fine craft. But Ian Alistair Cochran, who lives and works in Chicago, transforms synthetic resins into slick, transparent furniture and decorative objects that cast strange shadows and light, elevating the medium into something sublime. Trained as a sculptor in a variety of traditional craft mediums, he found himself drawn to resin for its endless possibilities and its translucent properties. Colorless resin can be dyed any hue, and after being cast into molds, resin can be planed, shaved, and carved into form. Cochran embraces these material possibilities, crafting resin furniture that appears different from every angle. “I want to highlight the ways resin can bend light and alter the surroundings, kind of be there and not there,” he says. Claire Voon wrote about his work and process in “Like Candy” in the Winter 2024 issue of American Craft.

How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?

My current work, like my previous work in fine art, is about perception. My design work is specifically about material perception and getting the viewer to see material differently because of how I have transformed it.