STORY / PUBLIC SOURCE RECORD
From old aquaculture nets to iconic designer chairs that last a lifetime
- Published 24 March 2023; updated 21 September 2026; estimated reading time 5 minutes. The article traces Snøhetta’s S-1500 chair to a two-year plastic research project presented in 2019, which studied plastic’s properties and environmental footprint and sought productive uses for waste. Architect Stian Alessandro Ekkernes Rossi says public innovation funding helped enable the work. Snøhetta’s Plastic Lab tests recycled plastics, including fishing nets, agricultural film, office supplies and expanded polystyrene.
- Snøhetta designed the S-1500 and New Comfort Products (NCP, formerly Nordic Comfort Products) manufactures it. NCP, based in Nordland, worked with SINTEF on reusing aquaculture plastic and invested in injection-moulding equipment. It uses discarded nets, pipes and ropes from local fish farmers Kvarøy Fiskeoppdrett and Nova Sea. The waste is processed into granules and moulded into the chair.
- The article says each chair uses 1,500 grams of recycled plastic, with no extra colouring needed because the source plastics produce a dark green marbled appearance. It says the moulding process uses the required material without excess waste or finishing and that the additive-free material can be remelted. The chair’s subframe uses 20% recycled steel. The page gives a cradle-to-grave footprint of 5–8 kg CO₂ and describes this as among the lowest in its market segment; this is the article’s product claim.
- The S-1500 reworks Norwegian designer Bendt Winge’s R-48 chair from the late 1960s. The article says more than five million chairs from the R-series were sold in Norway. S-1500 was shown at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair in February 2019. NCP reports most demand comes from abroad and says it ships by sea.
- Snøhetta presents the chair as an example of turning plastic waste into durable products and challenging the idea that recycled feedstock is scarce. Rossi says the studio is also investigating reuse of clay, including surplus blue clay from the Oslofjord seabed and construction industry. Related industries: Manufacturing and design; Circular economy. No direct contact block is shown.