Chair made from 1739 Aluminum Can Tabs
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 8.07
They still have pull tabs in Colombia, so designer Carlos Alberto Montana Hoyos got all of his friends to collect them and he created this chair, using zip ties to hold it all together. According to Inhabitat, "Hoyos’ unique lounge chair incorporates traditional handicraft techniques with cutting-edge contemporary design"
In a comment to Inhabitat, the artist says that it is a lot of work to put it together, but "In some countries in Latin America or Asia, much of the waste recycling is actually done by hand. This kind of project gives work to the poeple who classify the wastes, and also give jobs to urban handcrafters..We should as designers try to follow BiIl Mc Donoughs Cradle to Cradle approach and think in the life cycle since conception of the product. But there is so much waste around already, that why not give it a try to use it in other ways?" ::Inhabitat
all images from Inhabitat
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But does it pinch you on the skin?
That's a lot of zip ties.
You've got to be kidding me! He might as well have made a chair out of zip ties! If it was me, I'd take down this article due to the wastefulness that's being described as "art". When this chair gets broken and thrown out into the landfill, all that plastic will still be there 100 years from now. Why not just make it out of bamboo and twine? That would seem to be more comfortable.
And you want to talk cost efficiency?? Zip ties cost ~$5-10 for a pack of 100! It's an interesting idea, but it is in no way environmental or economical. He might as well have made a footstool out of recycled toothpicks that are stuck together with asphalt.
Is it that hard to spell Colombia correctly?
LA: Yes. Thanks and I have fixed it.
"That's a lot of zip ties."
yeah really, with that many zip ties they probably could have made the chair out of JUST the zip ties and ignore the can tabs.
The idea of the chair seems to be that you are recycling the tabs but with the other invested materials the tabs are redundant. So really it is just another plastic chair.
What plastic are Zip ties made of? Even if they are recylable, of course, no one is going to separate this chair for recycling at end of life.
This should be in the "Nice try. Miserable failure." category.
Cable or zip ties (for general use) are made from nylon 6/6 (a.k.a. polyamide). A plastic for which municipal recycling is almost non-existent. PA doesn't even rate its own recycling number, being lumped into the catch-all '7' - meaning 'all other plastics.' Interface have been working on in-house recycling of nylon carpets, and Patagonia also want to find a way to recycle their nylon apparel.
But either way, as other commentors have observed, to call this chair a reuse of waste is laughable. Unless someone plans to one day painstakingly release 2,000 cable ties from their ratchet, so they can be redeployed.
If recycling just one aluminium can is supposed to save enough energy to power a TV for 3-4 hrs, then these ring pulls would've been better utilised at a smelter.
i agree, use bamboo or rattan or reeds or something instead of those zip ties.
neat idea, useful for reconfiguring for your available recyclables
I agree that this does seem like a waste of plastic. I think the suggestion to use twine instead is a great one. I always keep twine around as one of the most useful and versatile supplies in my craft box. I occasionally buy (and recycle) soda and beer cans. I think it would be a really great product to try and recreate this chair using more acceptable materials. My only real concern would be finding a similar frame without purchasing new metal.
(Oh, and that brings the question to mind, did the artist find the frame or purchase it second-hand or did he buy it new? I definitely think that if reuse is the ultimate goal, purchasing a frame new would defeat the purpose almost as much as the zip ties.)
All those zip ties are made from petroleum products.
replace the zip ties with aluminum wire. it would take longer, but the final product could be 100% aluminum
GOOD JOB this is good art dont let thoughs ass hole tell that it isnt
Its, how they say in Colombia: Loco!