In an age where humans generate more waste than they know how to dispose of properly, more designers are continuing to make greener choices with their creations. We have kitchen knives made from old skateboard racks, furniture made from bricks made from recycled newspapers, speakers which use plastic bottles as bass boosters, and now… aluminum ladder furniture?
French collective PZZL (not to be confused with ‘pizza’ – your favorite food), has gone the recycling route for one of its projects. ‘The Great Escape’, as it is called, is a collection of three furniture pieces: a stool, a lounge chair, and an ottoman; all of which use aluminum ladders as their frames.
As you can see from the get-go, the metal steps and rubber ends give their nature away. While the frames are made from repurposed ladders, the softer parts of the furniture—where you rest your bum and legs—are made from a combination of plywood, wool felt, and foam.
The Great Escape project is composed of furniture which “maintains an ambiguity between real use and potential use,” according to PZZL. It may not look like the most comfortable set to sit on, but the design choice to craft the frames out of aluminum ladders makes you wonder if you can still use them to reach high places.
Considering the frames aren’t meant to hold a person whose body weight is focused on a single chair leg, I wouldn’t recommend standing on these furniture frames to change the lightbulbs in your house.
You can read more on these ladder loungers on PZZL’s official webpage.
