The Cord Connection is made from the rope that is used to bind hay and straw together. The rope, made from polypropylene, is a waste product from, among other things, the horse farming that after use is considered as residual waste. On closer inspection, this apparently small waste stream turns out to be really large: horse farming in the Netherlands uses enough rope to travel around the world 7 times a year.
The waste stream and the material intrigued us. Ruben investigated whether a new product could arise from a single waste product that appears to be meaningless. The result is a chair in which the waste product forms a whole in various forms. With The Cord Connection, we want to draw attention to the fact that plastic is so deeply rooted and connected to our contemporary consumer society. The ropes, which enclose the chair like a tangle, symbolize the roots from which the chair originated. Together with the team of Change hair stylists, Ruben has processed the ropes, being the mane of horses, into a tangle of roots.
The chair consists of two different appearances of the rope: Ruben melted the polypropylene and pressed it into a mold to make the frame of the chair. The original (flexible) rope is used for the seat and the roots. The rope is continuously collected in collaboration with a few large horse farms in the immediate vicinity of the design studio, which also raises awareness.
Chair ‘the Cord Connection’
Design: Ruben van Megen, 2018
Material: black baling twine