Plastic domestica

Artist Janet de Wagt holds salt and pepper shakers that are part of her Pioneering Plastic exhibition at the Otago Pioneer Women's Memorial Hall in Moray Pl, Dunedin.

When the ``bright shiny'' plastic items became common in New Zealand homes in the 1960s, they were a big contrast in the ``dull kitchens'' of the time, de Wagt said.

New Zealand had a rich history of plastic-making but it was not talked about much now.

``Plastic nowadays is seen as so awful but its beginnings were so amazing.''

The exhibition opened last week and would be open weekends and at selected other times in the next three months.

All of the pieces are from de Wagt's personal collection.