Waste Waste Different Chess Set

Custom-made chess table with two chairs.

Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek has created a collection of furniture made by meticulously gluing together tiny squares of wood, which are cut from the waste material of his famous scrap wood furniture.

Piet Hein Eek made his name in the 1990s for his Waste furniture assembled by stacking up pieces of scrap material that would otherwise be discarded, and the new Waste Waste 40×40 collection takes the process a step further. Small pieces of timber that can’t be used in the Waste series are cut down into identical squares of 40 by 40 millimetres. These are then glued together to cover the surface of chairs, tables and benches.

The pieces are made from a mixture of timbers and retain traces of different lacquers and paints on the surface, meaning no piece is ever identical. 

The original Waste series is made by gluing up scraps of wood in layers, carefully aligning all the irregular pieces and trimming them individually to fit where needed. This process leaves behind waste material in smaller quantities and even more awkward shapes that are more difficult to use, though, so Piet Hein Eek reduced the labour required to convert them into the new collection by imposing the fixed shape and size of the squares and using them only as a skin rather than stacking them up to make a structure.

Customizable on request

Price on request