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From Shipping to Seating: Balzer + Kuwertz's Upcycled Pallet Chairs

By Ray Hu - February 6, 2013

Following yesterday's spelling lesson, here's a quick tip to remember the difference between the three homophonous words that are pronounced "PAL-it": palate, which most closely resembles 'plate,' refers to the sense of taste; palette denotes a mixing board for paints, as in several early 20th-c. French art movements; and a pallet is a portable platform for moving goods, as in "pal, let me move those for you."

As of last May, I happen to be a bit more familiar with pallets than I ever would have anticipated: several members of our NYC team were on build-out duty for last year's "All City All-Stars" exhibition, which incorporated some 300 pallets in Laurence Sazarin's exhibition design. (You can check out the largely unseen raw making-of footage here.) All of those pallets were the standard North American dimensions of 48”×40” (1219mm×1016mm), but we did encounter a EUR-pallet (also known as a "Euro pallet") in the early stages of the build, which is how I learned that they use slightly smaller ones overseas. EPAL—the European Pallet Association, of course—specifies not only its 1200mm×800mm×144mm (47.2”×31.5”×5.7”) dimensions but also the prescribed pattern of 78 special nails that hold them together.

However, EPAL has no jurisdiction over young German designers Yanik Balzer and Max Kuwertz, who recently sent us an upcycling project in which they transformed a Euro pallet into a set of three chairs "with almost no waste of material."

Hit the jump to see results...

No word on the retail availability of the chairs, but considering that it looks easy enough to reverse-engineer them from the process photos, I can't imagine this is a commercial project... maybe Balzer + Kuwertz can follow up their 2012 Core77 Design Awards honor in the DIY category with the Pallet Chairs.

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From Shipping to Seating: Balzer + Kuwertz's Upcycled Pallet Chairs

Palette 3000

7 years ago

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Two years ago almost similar http://theicelandproject.tumblr.com/post/913808193/chair-n-2
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Rik

7 years ago

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I don't understand why up-cycled pallet furniture has to be rough and rickety looking, if you spend some time machining and finishing the wood you can make furniture from pallets, that maybe doesn't look like it still is a pallet. Can we have a little design and creativity?
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noah

7 years ago

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there is lots of wood in the world. much of it is well managed. use the right material for the right application. pallet wood is not furniture grade. re-purposing pallet wood is so old and boring. barf.
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Scott

7 years ago

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I don't understand the appeal of pallet projects, apart from the conceptual aspect. Pallets are reused for shipping over and over, so it's not like you're saving materials from the waste stream. The wood used is low quality, and very rough, necessitating a lot of surfacing and sanding. And as was already alluded to, most pallets in general circulation are soaked in insecticides, fungicides, flame retardants, and who knows what. And then in the end you get a chair that looks like it was made in a shed by some guy who can't afford to buy wood.

Just go buy some decent S4S lumber. It will be cheaper in the end, unless your labor (and health) is worth $0.
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Scott

7 years ago

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I love the aesthetic of the varied wood. Can't believe I never thought of pallets as a raw material, could make a cool DIY project
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Greg

7 years ago

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That must be the cleanest, straightest, unbroken pallet I've ever seen. Show me a few 'real world' photos of pallets being converted AFTER a few years of abuse. Don't mean to hate on the concept...just want to see something real.
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Michael

7 years ago

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Only the chemically treated pallets are dangerous to use- "food grade" pallets are heat-treated and are safe. They are used to transport food items and are becoming more popular as technologies improve.
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ieva

7 years ago

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Designer Shelton Davis has been playing with pallets for a while. http://www.repurposedgoods.com/tagged/pallet-adirondack-chair
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bob

7 years ago

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can someone please confirm or deny this for me:
I keep thinking I heard somewhere that using pallet wood for consumer products is hazardous because of treatments to flame retard and bug repel. Is this true?
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