The promotion of mask wearing as a way to slow the spread of COVID -19 has led to an extraordinary increase in the production of disposable masks . If historical data is a reliable indicator, it can be expected that around 75 per cent of the used masks, as well as other pandemic -related waste, will end up in landfills, or floating in the seas .

However this state of affairs can be changed for the better. As a result, we came upon the idea of making use of this pandemic related waste by designing a functional and comfy seating pad in the form of knots.

We began planning the structure using a 40 x40 cm medium -density fibreboard (MDF) which is made by breaking down hard -wood or soft -wood residuals into wood fibres. Then we cut holes 4cm in diameter each on either side of the board, as well as half holes on the opposite edges.

For the legs, we used 41 cm long cylindrical European beech -wood columns. We then stitched the collected masks together and stuffed them with residual cotton and knotted them together into the wooden structure to form a stool with a comfortable seating pad.