BASF at K 2022: One for all – Concept shelf “OTTO” pioneers sustainable furniture design with plastics

• BASF and Studio Inma Bermúdez jointly develop innovative heavy-duty shelf made of plastics
• Easy assembly, expansion and repair thanks to a novel modular design
• Recycling made easy: All plastic elements are made of just one material

Ludwigshafen/Valencia. Sustainable furniture is a growing business area with great potential. Customers and companies around the world are looking for products with a low environmental impact for their homes or work environments. Similar to other industries, the focus here is on reducing the carbon footprint, on durability and on recyclability.

High-performance plastics meet sustainable design                                               

High-performance plastics offer enormous advantages in this area: they combine strength and durability with low weight, can be used in a variety of ways and, thanks to alternative raw materials, can contribute significantly to reducing the carbon footprint. “We are now demonstrating all this together with the award-winning Spanish design studio Inma Bermúdez in a surprising application: the OTTO concept shelf, which we are presenting for the first time at K 2022,” says Albert Camp, Marketing Manager Furniture & Packaging at BASF.

“Sustainability starts right at the beginning of a new product - with the design,” adds Spanish designer Inma Bermúdez, this year’s winner of the Spanish design award Premio Nacional de Diseño. “Sustainable design enables an efficient production process with minimal use of raw materials, which reduces the product’s carbon footprint. By using materials that can be reused, repaired, and easily recycled, we have created a truly sustainable product.”

BASF and Studio Inma Bermúdez succeed in doing just that with the OTTO modular concept shelf. All plastic elements are expandable and interchangeable. The shelf can carry a load of up to 100 kg per shelf. Moreover, in addition to the wooden shelves, the plastics parts of OTTO are made of only one thermoplastic. Both the load-bearing outer structure and all connecting elements are made of a single polyamide, which guarantees optimal recycling of the plastic elements at the end of their life cycle. In series production, OTTO’s carbon footprint could be further reduced using the biomass balance approach. Here, renewable raw materials replace fossil raw materials in BASF’s production Verbund, which significantly reduces CO₂ emissions.

BASF Creation Center takes OTTO from inspiration to prototype

Bermúdez and her partner Moritz Krefter drew their inspiration for the design of OTTO from architecture, specifically bridge construction. To turn this inspiration into reality, they found support from the team at the BASF Creation Center in Ludwigshafen. The Creation Center is staffed by industrial designers, material and simulation experts who accompany customers on the path from design inspiration to design solution.

This was also the case here: “At the beginning, the main idea was to create a sustainable heavy-duty shelf that makes the most of the advantages of high-performance plastics,” says Eva Höfli, industrial designer at the Creation Center Ludwigshafen. “When talking to Studio Inma Bermúdez, it quickly became clear that they not only shared our vision of sustainable furniture design but were also striving for a sophisticated design. To achieve this, we worked closely with our simulation colleagues, material experts and 3D printing colleagues. That’s how we were able to unite everything in OTTO: functionality, sustainability, and design.” 

Discover OTTO’s full story: Concept shelf OTTO

BASF at K 2022: Welcome to #ourplasticsjourney!

Go!Create! At K 2022, we invite everyone to join #ourplasticsjourney! At our booth in hall 5, C21/D21, we will explore new ways in which sustainable action is possible in all phases of the lifecycle of plastics: from how we can produce plastics more sustainably, to how we can use them better, to how we can discover new solutions to close the loop. Solving these challenges is a journey that we are all on together. At K 2022, we want to make that journey go faster. K is the #1 trade fair for plastics and rubber and will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from October 19 – 26, 2022. Visit www.plastics.basf.com/K2022.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Around 111,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio comprises six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €78.6 billion in 2021. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.

P-22-376