Crate chair prototype on a street corner

The NM01 Crate Chair lets a dairy crate keep its contents and gain a backrest

The NM01 Crate Chair by Melbourne designer Villo Hietanen turns a standard dairy crate into a seat with a backrest. The crate stays useful underneath, so whatever is stored inside remains there while someone sits on top. Hietanen made the first prototype in November 2024.

The piece is cut from Euro birch plywood. It fits over crates of different colours, and in each case the crate becomes the base of the chair.

NM01 Crate Chair with fold-out table on a red crate

Birch plywood chair and table on a green dairy crate

From Café Seating to a Folding Table

The idea started with café seating. While thinking about different options, Hietanen remembered seeing crates used as seats in Brooklyn. He wanted to keep the crate usable and its contents inside, and simply add a backrest. Soon after, a second idea followed. The backrest could also fold out and work as a small table.

Early NM01 Crate Chair prototype on a black crate in the street

Crate chair prototype with the backrest folded down

Backrest of the NM01 Crate Chair opened out as a table

Prototype crate chair used as a low table

Fold-out table detail on the crate chair prototype

For the second prototype, Hietanen made the backrest detachable from the base. As a result, the parts could come apart and go back together.

Crate chair prototype set on the pavement

NM01 Crate Chair prototype in front of a graffiti wall

Front view of the prototype chair on a black crate

Prototype chair and table on a black dairy crate

Droppers Instead of Hooks

More recently, Hietanen tried to make the NM01 Crate Chair work with every standard-size dairy crate. The early version hung from hooks. He replaced them with droppers, which let the chair fit all standard crate dimensions.

Line drawing of the NM01 Crate Chair on a dairy crate — Drawing

Grey dairy crate used as the base of the chair

NM01 Crate Chair on a blue crate against a white wall

A Chair Without the Crate

The same change had another effect. Thanks to the droppers, the chair can now stand by itself, with no crate at all. Even so, it still fits every standard crate when one is at hand.

NM01 Crate Chair standing alone without a crate

Three-quarter view of the freestanding plywood chair

Freestanding NM01 Crate Chair seen from the front

NM01 Crate Chair folded flat as a low table

Backrest opened out into a table on the freestanding chair

Birch Plywood and a Clear Finish

The NM01 Crate Chair is CNC-cut from Euro birch plywood and finished with clear polyurethane. Hietanen designed it, and Knightscraft Furniture produces it in China.

Flat parts of the NM01 Crate Chair stacked upright

Project Credits

Product: NM01 Crate Chair
Design: Villo Hietanen / @nudemodular
Production: Knightscraft Furniture, China
Material: CNC-cut Euro birch plywood, clear polyurethane finish
First prototype: November 2024
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Photography: Zachery Michaelef