The aptly named “111 Navy Chair” debuts this week at the 2010 Salone Internazionale del Mobile, one of the top furniture trade shows in the world held here on April 14-19.
Modeled after the original aluminium Emeco Navy Chair (#1006) designed in 1944 for the U.S. Navy, each 111 Navy Chair contains a mix of 60 percent rPET plastic (recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastic) and a special combination of other materials including pigment and glass fiber for strength. It is estimated that more than three million PET plastic bottles will be repurposed annually for the production of 111 Navy Chairs.
"The 111 Navy Chair is a reflection of our commitment to sustainability, constant innovation and originality in design," said Kate Dwyer, group director, Worldwide Licensing, The Coca-Cola Company.
"This latest addition to our line of rPET licensed merchandise underscores the fact that Coca-Cola bottles are valuable recyclables. It is another step in our vision to recover and reuse all of our bottles and cans."
The rPET content in each chair is sourced from the world’s largest plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling plant that began operation in 2009 in Spartanburg, South Carolina in the United States through a partnership between The Coca-Cola Company and United Resource Recovery Corp.
The chairs will be available for sale in June 2010 in select retail locations worldwide and online. 111 Navy Chairs are available in six colors: Coca-Cola Red, Snow, Flint, Grass, Persimmon and Charcoal.
"When Coca-Cola approached me with this project I jumped on it," said Gregg Buchbinder, chairman of Emeco.
"Although reengineering a core product is a significant investment for us, I was excited about the impact of reusing the PET from about three million plastic bottles a year. That's a lot of bottles and a lot of chairs. The new chair is the strongest, and most beautiful we can make. We’ve turned something many people throw away into something you want and can keep for a long, long time."
Coca-Cola first launched rPET merchandise in 2007 as a way to inspire people to recycle by showing them how PET bottles can be transformed into products for everyday use. rPET merchandise includes fashionable t-shirts, bags, caps, notebooks and now a chair made of recycled plastic bottles. Each item indicates the number of plastic bottles used to create it. The rPET merchandise line is just one of many sustainability initiatives by The Coca-Cola Company and is a testament of the Company’s long history in innovation.
Want to see what 24 hours of creative awesomeness look like? Click here.
This news message is supported by The Creative Finder, an online platform for photographers, illustrators, designers, and art directors to promote their portfolios towards new clients and collaborators. Creatives who wish to sign up for an account can save 10% off annual fees with promo code 'designtaxi'.
