Fritz Hansen & nendo Announce Minimalist Chairs Made from Recycled Plastic

Japanese design brand nendo has once again teamed up with Danish furniture design company Fritz Hansen to design the N02 Recycle, a stackable seating system made from recycled household plastic sourced in central Europe. The chair’s form factor is inspired by a sheet of paper folded in the middle, as this action creates a simple shape that offers proper back support.

To produce the N02 Recycle, recyclable household plastics like some food packaging, water bottle lids, and straws are ground into plastic pellets and melted down to assume the shape of the chair’s mold. This process could technically be repeated an infinite amount of times using various different plastic objects. nendo founder and designer Oki Sato notes that the greatest challenge of the design process was handling the recycled plastic material, which is more rigid than the typical plastic used to make stacking chairs.

The chair’s sustainable materials extend beyond the plastic seat, as its steel base is 50 percent recycled and its aluminum stand is 95 percent recycled. “20 years ago, a designer would only think about the head of the product: How do we produce it? How can we sell it, how will people use it?,” Sato tells Wallpaper. “I think more and more designers now look at the tail of the product, how will it be thrown away and what’s going to happen after that.”

The N02 Recycle will release in four-legged, sledge and swivel base versions in multiple colors, ranging from orange to black.

Elsewhere in design, Norlan has launched a room fragrance collaboration with Mark Buxton.