A harbour rope gets a seat on land
A rope made to work on water comes back to Rotterdam as a seat that rocks. Buoy links the material to the movement. The harbour supplies the discarded ropes, and the finished furniture brings a small sensation of the water onto dry ground.
NL NetherlandsIn practice. The New Raw used discarded Rotterdam harbour ropes to make a series of rocking public seats.
What to keep in view
The project documents the source material and production method. Environmental comparisons depend on what the seats replace and the boundaries of the assessment.
The rope shapes the seat
The New Raw describes a production chain that includes mechanical recycling in the Netherlands and robotic printing. The ropes supply the colour as well as the feedstock. That makes collection a design decision. Which ropes come in affects how the finished seats look.
The city gains something people can try directly. The material story remains visible in an object with a use of its own. Any estimate of emissions avoided depends on what the new seat replaces and how both production chains are counted.
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