Relf

Fresh things happening behind the scenes at Relf

How much weight can a shelf made from old bike shipping boxes actually hold?

I loaded a single CUBBY S1.22 shelf with 44kg of weight plates — held it easily, with only slight flex that fully recovered once the weights came off.

So I went further. I stood on it. Then I started bouncing. At 65kg of dynamic bodyweight load, the joint between the upright and the shelf gave way.

For context — this is a shelf, not a trampoline. But I wanted to find the real limit, and I did.

Made from reclaimed bike shipping cardboard. Stress-tested to failure.

We did a little experiment to see how much weight the CUBBY could take. We found out.
44kg of weight plates? No problem — barely flexed, bounced straight back.
65kg of me jumping on it? That’s where it finally gave — right at the joint.
Not bad for a shelf made out of old bike boxes.

70 bicycle boxes. 1 saw and a couple of hours.

346kg of cardboard that was headed for recycling — 179kg of that is now panel stock.

This is what the shelves are made of. Not reclaimed timber, not new ply — boxes that had already done a job and were on their way out.

Try to greenwash that. Just boxes. Boxes, boxes, boxes.

relf.au

 

Four more units available — two single width, two double.

These came from the same batch of bicycle boxes. Same story, more storage. If you buy one, I’ll ask for your observations — that’s part of the deal.

All units from batch 1 are now live.

Each unit ships with a card: which bike shop the boxes came from, when they were made, and how much material you’re keeping in use.

Link in bio.

relf.au

To get a consistent product out of inconsistent material, the process has to be flexible.

Each batch of cardboard reclaimed from bicycle boxes comes in different sizes and thicknesses — so before anything gets cut, I model everything parametrically in Rhino and Grasshopper.

Change one dimension, the whole pattern updates. Then I lay the parts out against my actual stock in Illustrator to make sure it all fits.

This is the process running ahead of the next production batch. If you’ve been waiting on a configuration that’s been out of stock, it’s coming.

Products at relf.au — mailing list signup there too if you want to know when new stock lands.

Small batch furniture manufacturing with upcycled materials. Never a dull moment. This board starts life out as bicycle boxes (after its first life as a 🌲 ), soon to become flat packed shelving units.

interiordesign shelfie