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Bodyboards to Furniture: Harry Peck Solves the Environmental Problem of Surfing

07.22.21 | By
Bodyboards to Furniture: Harry Peck Solves the Environmental Problem of Surfing

Surfing is an exciting sport to take up or even just watch from the shorelines, but it comes with an environmental cost. In the UK, according to Keep Britain Tidy, an estimated 16,000+ cheap, polystyrene bodyboards are abandoned on UK beaches, often after just a single use. Not only does this add plastic to our oceans, but it also endangers wildlife who swallow bits and pieces that float in the waters or get tangled up in seaweed. Student designer Harry Peck from Northumbria University wants to minimize this problem by upcycling the foam material into durable furniture. Thus, his final project, Wave Cycle, was created.

By breaking down the polystyrene packaging foam and transforming it into a moldable material, he’s able to create furniture that’s durable and long-lasting. He uses metal molds to form various parts of a stool, which he’s then able to put together using screws. The final result is a piece of furniture that’s reminiscent of the environment it came from, with its wavy curves and blue colorway.

stool on beach with bodyboards

sketch and material palette of stool

stool design

plastic from the ocean

miniature model of a stool

the making of a stool

machine parts of wave cycle project

legs and blue stool

person in wetsuit sitting on a blue stool

hand holding a blue stool

parts of the wave cycle stool

packaged parts of the wave cycle stool

wave cycle stool chair parts

stool with polystyrene foam bits

stool with polystyrene foam bits

underside of the wave cycle stool chair

close up of chair in the sand

wave cycle stool chair on the beach with broken bodyboards

wave cycle furniture

To learn more about Wave Cycle, visit harrywillpeck.wixsite.com.

As the Senior Contributing Editor, Vy Yang is obsessed with discovering ways to live well + with intention through design. She's probably sharing what she finds over on Instagram stories. You can also find her at vytranyang.com.