Making something useful with discarded plastic drinking bottles is one thing. Reusing them to make something useful AND aesthetically gratifying, is a whole other (much more difficult) ball game. These little stools don’t just look effortlessly cool however, they pioneer a brilliant discovery by Royal College of Art graduate Micaella Pedros. Her method involves heat-shrinking discarded plastic bottles directly onto the joins of wooden offcuts. She then pieces the bits together like a jigsaw puzzle to make strong and durable seating.
Micaella was inspired to create something from an accessible material – plastic bottles that were simply picked up from the streets of London. The project is aptly named ‘Joining Bottles’ and was exhibited at London Design Fair last month with the young collective Form & Seek.
The heat gun warms up the plastic which at 300 degrees Celsius, starts to shrink. The strength of the join is dependent on the grooves in the wood, which creates a more secure hold. Micaella tells Dezeen “When I discovered its potential to form a join, I was amazed by the fact that anyone can do it, embracing its democratic value and contributing to the growing do-it-yourself culture.”
Want to see Micaella’s method in action? Check out this video:
Images courtesy of Form & Seek
