Folding chair

Reflections on recycled plastics and outdoor furniture

The concept is to recycle plastic and apply it to outdoor furniture, using material properties to enhance the versatility of outdoor furniture and enhance the outdoor experience

TOOLS：Rhino, Keyshot

TIME：May 2024

Source：Furniture structural design course

Instructor：Xiaoting Niu

Outdoor furniture due to wind and rain, plastic material life of 5-10 years, metal more than 20 years but easy to rust, wood needs regular maintenance and life of only 3-5 years. The global plastic recovery rate is about 15%, but the cost of choosing a physical way to directly crush waste plastic and convert it into plastic particles through the process can be controlled very low. In addition, the weather resistance of recycled plastics is significantly improved through UV stabilization treatment, forming a closed-loop matching with outdoor high-loss scenes.

So the next part of my design is about how do I make it more useful?

Key process:

The breakthrough solution was when the teacher introduced the "slotted bending process" (slotted bending process: In order to ensure the bending effect while ensuring the structural strength and stability of the sheet through local slotting without changing the overall characteristics of the sheet.)

I express the design concept of the performance diagram

How does it work：

As you can see, the chair has a total of three components, it does not require any key connections, through the plastic toughness and bending structure, in the combined force of gravity and friction to form a stable structure, which means that as you weigh it the more tightly connected the parts. At the same time, it can also be taken apart and used freely.

Thus, it can meet the needs of users for outdoor portability, achieve rapid disassembly without tools, reduce the difficulty of carrying and assembly, and adapt to various scenarios and personalized use.

An outdoor furniture consisting of two bendable plastic sheets made from recycled plastic particles and a polyester fiber covered with a high-resilience sponge pillow

Here are some stacked chairs in different color combinations

(you know I don't miss any exploration of what looks good together)

NEXT 》🗄️💥🔋Thinking about the cabinet：

The cabinet also needs charging