RATIONALE:

Human job creation is a monumental issue and if using wood crates creates jobs, then companies like Coca Cola need to give it a second look. 

My design has gone back to the golden age of the wooden crate. Oil based plastic crates essentially took away the market for wood crates. When plastic crates hit the marketplace, few if any considered the cost of their ultimate disposal - especially in landfills or the cost of melting them down to make new products. Smash a plastic crate, you will need a lot of manpower and industrial costs to recycle it. Separate a wood crate into pieces and you get material to build other things of value such as shelves, bookcases, kids tables etc. The best thing about wood is it can easily decompose organically in a landfill. It is cheaper to create plastic crates but at what cost?

MATERIAL:

My crate, during its lifetime, will create jobs and joy to its users. The wood used is birch plywood.  Plywood has excellent surface hardness, and damage- and wear-resistance. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured. It  is used instead of plain wood because of its resistance to cracking, shrinkage, and twisting/warping, and its general high degree of strength.

Birch plywood is characterized by its excellent strength, stiffness and resistance to creep. It has a high planar shear strength and impact resistance, which make it especially suitable for heavy-duty uses. It has excellent surface hardness, and damage- and wear-resistance.

I know most of you are asking; is the crate washable? Yes it is. With good quality acrylic paints and selected film forming stains, the surface coating provides a film on the plywood and mould or surface deposits can be washed off easily. Good quality paints and film forming stains should also contain a moldicide that can inhibit mould growth. These systems generally require recoating at five to ten year periods, with more expensive paints lasting around ten years between coats. On plywood, acrylic paints are the best. Paint should normally be washed and checked annually or as per coating manufacturing specifications.

DESIGN:

The design is inspired by the vintage Coca Cola crate with its iconic "dynamic ribbon device" signature. The red wooden cases were used after 1970 with a white wave, before that were the yellow ones and Coca Cola lettering in red. I think the yellow is pretty cool! I also got inspiration from different natural shapes especially the tulip flower.

The crate is quite a piece of art and can be used as a decorative item in living spaces. The beauty of the wood needs no additional adornment.  

CRATE DETAILS:

The crate is designed to carry four 1 litre bottles. Why only four you ask? This is to make it lighter and appealing to single people. The idea of having a few bottles of soda in a crate is ideal for a person living on their own, a person who works out of home, who lives in tight quarters, travels a lot  and entertains friends rarely. The crate is also a great gift when going for parties. By buying a few bottles of soda also creates space in the pantry and refrigerator. It can be used in living spaces as a magazine rack, storage for toys, in the kitchen (for the liberated) as a vegetable/fruit platter, home office storage for this and that and can be used in gardening/furniture when it�s lifeline has expired: it�s use is endless.

The issue of deforestation, global warming, going green etc feature a lot in our daily lives. Big companies like Coca Cola can contribute by going back to the wooden crate. Coca Cola can have it�s own birch tree farms that will both supply it�s demand and employ people to care for the trees. People who care greatly for earth will gladly pay more for this crate that has been created straight from the ground and molded with man�s hands.

My design is simple and as basic as ideas can allow.

 The idea is endless.