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Hoek Home's Snap-In Approach to Flatpack Furniture

By Rain Noe - May 18, 2021

in Furniture Design

Furniture startup Hoek Home has rolled out a new sort of assemble-it-yourself furniture. The company's approach is to use recycled HDPE sheets that have been CNC-milled into a chassis and a set of four legs that nest within the overall shape. These legs pop out and snap into mortised protrusions at the corners.

The idea is that the furniture is so easy to assemble and break down that end users will perform this regularly, as a space-saving measure. I'm not sure if that would play out in the real world, but that's the company's thought:

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The company says they will help recycle the product, should you choose to get rid of it:

"4 Legs create a table that will last you a lifetime. If you're done with your Hoek then send the HDPE back to us and well insure the process begins again. Your returned legs are then re-shredded into a pulp and compressed again into a substrate that can be milled again."

As for the tabletops, they say they're made from "sustainably sourced plywood," but don't mention if they can recycle those as well.

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Nathan D.

3 years ago

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Nothing sticks to HDPE. Period. It has to be joined with mechanical fasteners or melted into itself--usually via ultrasonic welding.

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Kyle Wolfe

3 years ago

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They appear to be screwed together with plugs hiding the screws. Bonding HDPE with plywood is tough. 3M makes an adhesive but not much works and it is more expensive than screws. I like that their design utilizes most of the sheet of HDPE with little waste. I don't think I'd break them down much but it sure would help when moving.

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Alex Netz

3 years ago

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Seem like a nice company. I don’t see a sustainable issue, technically all HDPE, like all thermoplastics, is recyclable. Given to the right company in can be remelted and reused over and over (unlike thermosets). They could already have a deal with their supplier to buy back all cnc skeletons. So if someone is inclined to ship them back a broken leg they can throw it in the bin

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Conor Coghlan

3 years ago

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Hi Rain,

Conor here from Hoek Home. Thank you for sharing Hoek on Core 77. As your readers have noted it is almost impossible to bond HDPE to anything. All of our products are made to be taken apart and recycled if desired. The tabletops are mechanically fastened to the chassis and can be taken apart with a screwdriver - so none of the recycled HDPE would go into landfill. Thank you for bringing this to our attention - we will clarify this on our website.

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