Wooden Pallet Design

Forklift Furniture: 10 DIY Projects for Used Wooden Pallets Small, mobile and wooden sibling to large steel cargo containers, pallets are the modular currency of export and import shipping companies around the world. The recycling of used ones is increasing, too, as manufacturers are shifting to sell more and more plastic ones (or high-end metal ones that are both rust-resistant and fireproof). While a wooden pallet manufacturer might disagree, this is good news for DIY tinkerers can get treated wood ones for sale or even free at times and the one-size-fits all approach means that in many cases you can plan a design and reuse that schematic over multiple furniture pieces from different pallets. Since they are built for stacking, the ‘raw material’ of the pallet itself is easy to store. And thus we come to the work of studiomama, one such designer looking to make the most of this ever-more-abundant source of construction parts – and explore the different ways the constituent boards can be broken apart and put back together. The end products are not the most minimalist or fashionable works, but they show the marks of their origins and are certainly eye-catching in that raw and honest way. The best part, though, is that you cannot buy their designs – these are not for sale. What is for sale, instead, are a series of instruction manuals, photo books and other related merchandise. This is not only a clever way to tap into a market of do-it-yourself customers who would rather be giving plans than a finished product, but also more sustainable (and perhaps less ironic) than simply boxing and shipping reconstituted containers that you could just as easily get locally. The tables, chairs and lamps themselves are both playful and pragmatic. They use existing colors as accents rather than relying on addition paint or stain. Some use blocks while other employ slats, depending on the need. Straight lines and right angles make them look minimalist at a glance, but really just functional and easy to build on closer inspection. World’s Greenest? Cargo Container + Wood Pallet Homes So many architects have begun converting cargo shipping containers into houses, apartments, offices and more – so how could you pack any more sustainability into an entirely recycled building? By adding wooden pallet walls to the exterior, of course! Container homes are more than just eco-friendly – they are cheap, quick and easy to build and transport. Likewise, recycled wood pallets are a ready source of reused material but they also provide essential shade while letting natural ventilation via the existing overlaps in their stepped wooden slats. Since both shipping containers and their smaller recycled-pallet counterparts and standardized, they work well for modular construction – predictability in size, shape and structural capacity  makes these materials to built with. With pallets on the outside to filter light and air and containers on the inside to provide a weather-tight space for permanent occupation, these designs by Infiniski may look somewhat strange but they are fully-functional, relatively inexpensive and extremely green accommodations.