‘Letters To The Future’ Book Is Built To Last 1,000 Years For Your Descendants

By Mikelle Leow, 06 Aug 2021

Image via Letters to the Future

What would you write to a member in your lineage a millennium from now? Would your thoughts perish along with the frail clutch of time? This book, Letters to the Future, is designed to reach generations far into the future and overcome destruction through the very culprits that could lead to it: single-use plastics.

The deeply stirring initiative by Vietnamese creative agency Ki Saigon gathers personal letters from around the world—327 notes spanning 22 countries, to be exact—penned by people of the present day for their “great, great, great-grandchildren” and beyond. Based on the notion that plastic bags and the such can stay intact for 1,000 years before breaking down in a landfill, the project is both hopeful and cautious; there’s optimism for the future and fear for its stability.

Image via Letters to the Future

This duality was printed, to be reflected on now and 1,000 years on, across plastics collected from local recyclers. Obtained materials—including styrofoam boxes, bubble wrap, and plastic sheets—were ironed under baking paper and waterproof polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating, which you would better recognize by the name Teflon.

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Letters were then scanned, converted into silkscreens, and painstakingly hand-printed on each page, retaining the handwriting of the writer. Finally, the pages were handbound in between recycled plastic sheets, “creating a book that would now last 1,000 years.”

The book is sponsored by local pizza brand 4P’s to commemorate its 10th anniversary, and supports its promise to work with greener alternatives and processes.