It’s always nice when something you buy is well-designed, but it’s even better when they’re designed to reduce waste or reuse materials.
The SMĪLE modular shelves by ChopValue is the company’s latest of their homeware and decor designs, this time taking their signature style and material to the walls. Upon gathering used chopsticks from local partners, these pieces of wood are brought to local micro-factories where they are broken down and turned into the shelves you see before you.
When combined, the wooden panels of a single SMĪLE shelf set amount to roughly 4,276 chopsticks.
Once the panels are finished in one of three colors (natural, almond, or walnut), they are coated in a vegetable-based, environment-friendly oil to accentuate their colors and minimalist design. The panels are also carbon negative – meaning the manufacturing process actually balances out the CO2 released by other related activities like packaging and delivery.
You arrange the SMĪLE panels any way you like by placing them on the provided steel frames. The frames are also recycled to keep in line with the goal of turning waste into a resource, plus they are unintrusive and showcase the different panel colors, sizes, and arrangements.
Depending on your preference, you can buy a set of SMĪLE shelves at certain sizes or buy each part separately. If you want to truly want to customize and make your shelves your own, those individual pieces will definitely help add more variety.
The SMĪLE modular shelf is currently live on Kickstarter and has successfully accomplished its $20,000 goal (with over $50,000 raised so far). To find out more about this simple, chopstick-infused shelf, check it out on Kickstarter.
