As 2025 gets underway, we have some exciting news to share with you to kick off what will be a pinnacle year for us here at Smile.
It’s been 10 years since Rosalie McMillan and Adam Fairweather took the helm at Smile Plastics. During this tenure, they’ve employed new processing techniques and low-energy manufacturing methods to facilitate rapid, high-volume production; the likes of which had, and still has, never been seen before.
This led to our new Swansea factory opening its doors last year with the capability to convert up to 70 tonnes of would-be waste material into 100% recycled/recyclable supersized panels every 7 days. Born of circular economy principles, this expansion has allowed us to produce more of our versatile sheets than ever before, with as little environmental impact as possible.
As our customers, clients, and collaborators, you’ve supported us every step of the way – utilising these sheets for workspaces, retail stores, hospitality venues and commercial builds, as well as furniture, installations and exhibitions. In return, we are dedicated to evolving our offering to sync continuously with your needs.
What does this mean for 2025, you may ask? A new leadership structure, a fervent focus on innovation, and a more global stance. Plus, an exploration into producing materials outside the realm of plastic.
Excited yet? You should be! Read on for more details of what to expect from us this year…
As part of this next phase of our journey, we’ve appointed a new Managing Director, Richard O’Neill, who joins Smile with a wealth of experience gained in senior roles at Tata Steel and Tinmasters.
“Smile Plastics is a fabulous business with a really innovative culture,” comments Richard. “The next phase of the company’s journey involves taking Smile’s unique approach to converting waste into surface products of real quality and beauty, and replicating it on an international scale, while considering new material streams.
“Having worked in the materials sector for some time, it’s a real privilege to be leading such a pioneering team into its next chapter.”
Introducing our Creative Director
Our co-founder, Rosalie McMillan, has long been at the forefront of advancing our product portfolio through innovative methods – so, it seemed only natural to formally appoint her as our Creative Director.
With Richard in the position of MD, Rosalie will embolden both our collection materials and your custom projects with brand new ways of transformation, resulting in arresting colour palettes and sumptuous textures – all underpinned with the quality manufacturing and durable finishing for longevity you’ve come to expect from Smile.
“Materials innovation is the lifeblood of Smile Plastics, and a true passion of mine. Our product is – quite literally – the physical embodiment of the circular economy principles that formed the business in the first place. Taking what would be discarded matter, we pull out the hidden beauty within and present a reimagined surface product to be cherished. If for any reason it falls out of use, we repeat the cycle again. And again.
“Exploring these narratives and presenting them in a format that serves your projects in an unparalleled way requires acute focus. This is something I’m really excited to be prioritising with the appointment of Richard as our new MD. We can’t wait to bring you along on what’s about to unfold.”
A Global outlook from our base in South Wales
While Swansea will always be our home, our focus on the expansion of our international presence with sustainable decentralised manufacturing continues.
For you, the benefits of this are wide spanning and all centre back on an unwavering devotion to making it as simple as possible to work with Smile on a global scale, and providing even more options to support the creation of your projects – wherever they are in the world.
“When we took over the leadership of Smile Plastics back in 2015, our plan was always to roll out decentralised manufacturing on an international scale”, adds Adam Fairweather, Founding Director – Technical and Innovation . “10 years ago, the circular economy didn’t have the backing it thankfully has now, and so, in many ways, as we’ve taken the time to develop our methods and offering, we’ve been preparing for this very moment.
“We’re extremely proud of our Swansea roots and will be championing all that’s been created and crafted here on a larger stage while retaining our core, family-based values.”
A material evolution
The celebration of materiality has always been at the heart of what we do. While plastics have been our primary focus since the beginning, we’re now looking beyond – exploring new materials that align with our ethos.
Soon, there will be even more materials to Smile about.
