How 3D printing is turning yoghurt pots in furniture

St Petersburg-based design brand Delo is producing curving, minimalist chairs from 3D printed yoghurt pots.

The design is part of the 2020-founded company’s Rechair series, along with EBURET studio, a company specialising in recycling and reusing plastic. Together with the Krishechki Dobroty project, a charity supporting people with special needs, the team began to collect offcuts from factories producing yoghurt pots for Russian supermarkets. The material was formed into plastic sheets, before finally being printed into a lightly formed and folded shape.

While the initial design features a grey seat and metal frames, the brand plans to branch out into an array of colours.

“What we want to emphasise is that the objects made from recycled plastic are not an abstract or distant idea, but a new part of the reality we live in,” say the team. “For this reason, we’re introducing new technologies to the mechanics of mass production. We believe that in the foreseeable future, objects made from secondary raw materials will be common and widespread.”