haneul kim upcycles discarded face masks into stool collection

south korean furniture designer haneul kim introduces ‘stack and stack (in pandemic, 2020)’ a colorful stool collection made from 100% recycled face-masks. thousands of disposable masks were melted and stacked to create the chairs, available in white, black, blue, pink, and multicolored versions. 

all images courtesy of haneul kim

since the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of discarded masks has been accumulating explosively. ‘in just one month, 129 billion disposable masks have been dumped around the world’ haneul kim explains. in addition, when worn and weathered, face masks eventually become microplastics, threatening marine, or even human life.

the disposable face masks melt, before cooling and hardening into a chair-shaped module. thousands of thin lightweight masks are combined together, finally gaining the durability of a hard, tough plastic that can function as a stool. ‘I hope that the curiosity of recycling masks will not stop at the object of chairs, but will evoke the seriousness of environmental pollution and become an important possibility to solve the problem’ haneul kim shares. 

project info:

name: stack and stack (in pandemic, 2020)
designer: haneul kim

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom