Cologne 2013: despite its name, this chair by Dutch designer Reinier de Jong is made from old wooden broom handles.
STEEL, which Reinier de Jong will launch at trade fair imm cologne next week, is made from the reclaimed handles of brooms, rakes, shovels and other tools.
The handles have acquired a darkened patina from years of use, but clean wood is visible where they've been cut.
The designer is also asking people to donate their old brooms to be made into chairs, and for each usable metre of wood donated he'll give one euro to charity.
A second version of the chair has also been produced from new white handles.
We've featured a few projects by the same designer, including a yellow table with angular legs and a chair that can be used any way up.
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Photographs are by Peter van Dijk.
Here's some more information from the designer:
Dutch designer Reinier de Jong presents a new chair named STEEL, surprisingly made of... wooden handles.
The chair will be on show together with a new version of the acclaimed REK bookcase and REK coffee table from January 14 to 20, 2013 in the stand of Reinier de Jong at the IMM Cologne.
Soil, rain, hands, air, sunlight. Used broom handles show traces of their former use by their patina. STEEL chair is made from handles of brooms, rakes, shovels etc. The chair gives the wood a third life after it has been taken from its original tree and turned into a tool handle. Another version of the chair is made from new, white handles.
The patina has formed itself around the handle like a new bark, as it were. Colour and texture depend on how and where the tool was used. Craftsmen in the Netherlands work the collected handles to turn them into a folding chair. New, clean wood becomes visible at the places where the wood is cut.
The cut-outs form a natural, concave shape where one gets in contact with the chair: the seat and the back rest. The chair has a simple and modest yet refined shape which reflects the everyday nature of its original components.
The STEEL chair is made of different types of wood (ramin, beech, ash), depending on the supply. You can also contribute to this chair. Donate your old wooden handles from brooms, rakes, shovels, flagpoles, banisters etc, as long as they are 28 or 29 mm in diameter.
For each usable metre of old handles, 1 euro will be donated to charity. Or you can donate your handles to have them turned into a chair for yourself. One chair contains approximately 10 metres of handles.
Along with the new STEEL chair, Reinier de Jong will also present both REK bookcase and REK coffee table at the IMM furniture fair in Cologne from January 14 to 20, 2013. A brand new version of the bookcase with recycled HPL will be on show. The Dewar Glassware and the Copper Lights by designer David Derksen will also be exhibited in the stand.