Dutch designers Studio Makkink & Bey present furniture and household appliances combined with packing crates at Spring Projects in London.

Called the Crate Series, the designs were inspired by mobile shops and workspaces made from crates in India.

Every model has a specific function combined with objects like a vacuum cleaner, cabinets and sink, bath or bed.

The show will run from 5 November until 16 December.

Here’s more information from Spring Projects:

Spring Projects presents The Crate Series by Studio Makkink & Bey

5 November to 16 December 2010.

The Crate Series re-defines functional, ordinary objects by infusing them with new narratives.

Shipping crates usually used for temporary storage and freight are transformed into containers for living, domestic cabinets rich in detail.

The result plays with our ideas of value; the container becomes the content, a by-product is metamorphosed into the product.

Re-interpreting the container, Studio Makkink & Bey engage our perceptions of what a product’s purpose is. These shipping crates, normally used to temporarily house goods, take on a more solitary role as sized down household units.

The Crate Series was inspired by a trip to India, where Rianne Makkink noticed how people used crates to make mobile shops and workspaces.

At that time Studio Makkink & Bey were housed in an enormous industrial warehouse, the seemingly endless space in the high-ceilinged hall was the incentive to create workspaces on a more human scale.

The first crate dwelling was conceived. A crate cupboard placed on an old desk, its doors shielding the user from sights and sounds, allowing greater concentration, in a space solely providing room for the absolute essentials.

In its original guise as freight packaging, the crate protects its contents, but as furniture it also becomes a means of personal autonomy. These wooden retreats can be used to seclude oneself from the outside world, but when unfolded they can become furnishings inside an already furnished room.

Whilst travelling, they form familiar spaces within unknown spaces. The various models encompass a specific function, concentrated inside the crate and in the material finish.

The leather wrapping of the Bed Crate can be folded up as a wall panel or a headboard making it possible to adjust the furniture to varying personal needs for privacy.

The Bath Crate transforms into a sauna or dry cleaning room when closed off.

The Sink Crate is a wash unit for personal hygiene for enormous spaces, when bathing facilities are not close at hand.

The crates change in status from commercial to domestic is further emphasized by the striking decorative motifs on their exteriors.

The Vacuum Cleaner Crate wears its dusty content seemingly on the outside.

This crate is covered with a layer of grey fibres flocked onto the surface of the crate.

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