Dezeen Magazine

Daniel Becker Design Studio creates furniture from transportation pallets

Berlin-based Daniel Becker has designed this wooden cabinet for new German startup Kimidori, which makes products exclusively from used industrial pallets (+ slideshow).

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

Daniel Becker's 45 Series collection includes a stool and a cabinet, both made from the flat wooden structures used to support goods moved with a forklift truck.

Aiming to move away from the up-cycled aesthetic, he decided not to use the pallets whole and instead work with wooden boards taken from the disassembled transport structures to achieve more conventional forms.

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

"This is a fairly different approach to what is available on the market so far," said Daniel Becker. "We wanted to offer an alternative for people who are open to the concept of recycling but do not want the distinctive, rough look such products often have."

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

The pallets are taken apart, planed and sanded. The resulting planks are then glued together to make boards, which are arranged into geometric patterns and cut to shape.

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

"This is all traditional carpentry, so the idea is to use simple, inexpensive technology and craftsmanship and a simple material to create interesting, sustainable pieces with a unique character that are affordable for everybody," Becker told Dezeen.

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

Despite Becker's approach, the boards do show signs of wear due to the way pallets are handled during their first incarnation. Marks are often deeply ingrained into the wood and are therefore still visible after grinding.

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

"We decided to emphasise and present these signs of use and the characteristic grain of the pine wood by arranging the boards in geometric patterns of 45 and 90 degrees to each other," said the designer.

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

"The inspiration for these patterns originated in the observation of how wooden houses, doors and panelling have been decorated in northern and eastern Europe for centuries. These elements are exposed to the elements outdoors and become more vivid over time, which seemed to us a warm and positive example of the ageing process of timber."

45 Series for Kimidori by Daniel Becker Design Studio

Daniel Becker's previous projects include a collection of wall lamps based on the patterns of crystalline structures and a set of ceramic tiles that enable stoves to give off more heat.