DDW25 Within Limits

During Dutch Design Week we presented Within Limits, an OFFSITE exhibition built around one simple rule: We start with what is already there, rejected parts, leftover stock and offcuts, and we let those forms steer the outcome.

Working with industrial waste is often framed as a sustainability move. For us it is also a design method. Scarcity forces decisions. It asks for clarity. When the material comes first, you stop trying to impose a shape and you start listening, adjusting and rethinking.

The ambition behind Within Limits is not to make a few heroic objects. It is to prove that waste materials can become the basis for repeatable, manufacturable products, the kind you can actually specify and build into real projects.

One highlight was the Delta Chair. The seat and back are made from 4 mm aluminium plates that once shaped airflow in indoor sports halls. Always stored inside, they arrived in great condition before we laser cut, bent and pressed them into form. The frame is modular, built from reclaimed steel tubes collected across industries, bolted together so it stays fully demountable. It is our take on the classic café chair, simple, elegant and designed to last.

We also showed the Soft Side Up Bench, made from rejected parts from Staco’s stair production. We flipped the galvanised steel so the smooth side faces up. A small decision, but it changes the whole experience of the material.

Aluminium was another strong thread through the exhibition. The Pole Floorlamp began as a streetlight offcut from Hydro Pole Products in Drunen, then got pearl blasted for a soft matte finish and anodised for durability. It still references its industrial origin, but it feels calm and welcoming at home.

And we presented the Pendant, designed by Zowa Rindt. An aluminium tube leftover from Hydro’s streetlight pole production is milled open, then wrapped in laminated washi paper, an offcut from curtain manufacturing. Robust structure, soft light.

Then there is the XYZ Crate Chair, developed together with Structural Aspect. We used leftover 12 mm hardwood plywood sheets sourced from Volta Energy shipping crates for batteries, built to be flame retardant, moisture resistant and highly durable. That original engineering becomes part of the chair’s logic and longevity.

Of course, VASE_01 was there too, made from stainless steel manufacturing waste from Befo Almelo, welded by Tim and engraved in our studio in Eindhoven. Each piece is numbered and part of a limited run.

Within Limits was also a statement about collaboration. This collection was developed in close collaboration with manufacturers who not only shared their waste, but also took part in production. The goal is to build systems where waste does not exit the process, but re enters as material.

Credits matter in a project like this. Product design in the exhibition includes Zowa Rindt, Structural Aspect, Rik Frans Jansen and Joris Wintgens.

Exhibition design was by Rik Frans Jansen,

with a production team of Jorrit Ruijs, Ignacy Klammer, Sophie Goossens, Iiri Repo, Laura Steenmetz and Gijs Wintgens. Poster image by Ollee Means, supported by Cultuur Eindhoven.

If you visited, thanks for taking the time!

Are you a production company with waste streams? We map material flows, design from what is available and explore what can be made. Are you an interior architect or designer with circular ambitions? OFFSITE offers furniture and lighting made from real industrial waste, scalable, traceable and ready to specify, and we are open to custom projects using materials from your client or context.