By 
September 1st, 2025
Image credit: &SPACE PROJECT
Using scrap materials from rockets to create furniture, from a space tank bench and a space parasol table to hi-fi speakers made out of discarded booster fuel tanks.
That’s the “upcycling” output by the &SPACE PROJECT, a Japanese undertaking that aims to make the space industry accessible to everyone.
The &SPACE PROJECT has been collaborating with furniture manufacturers and factories in Hokkaido to fashion unique offerings.
Kazunori Toshinai’s &SPACE PROJECT.
Image credit: Osaka-Kansai Expo Co-Design Challenge program/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Space industry boost
Interior designer Kazunori Toshinai’s at 11 Co., Ltd explains that the &SPACE PROJECT creates an opportunity to incorporate space into daily life, and by doing so will boost the industry as a whole. In his warehouse, a variety of unusually shaped furniture pieces are made from rocket manufacturing leftovers.
For example, a bench is a remodeled version of a rocket test fuel tank. Then there’s a chair made from rocket parts. It uses the outer fuselage walls used in a helium tank, made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic.
&SPACE PROJECT collects scrap materials and jigs generated during rocket development and the manufacturing process. Furniture craftsmen from Hokkaido visit the site, sort them by shape and condition, and then bring them back to the workshop.
Image credit: Osaka-Kansai Expo Co-Design Challenge program
Future life experience
The space furniture is created by combining various materials. Scratches and stains on the scrap materials were intentionally left in order to give a sense of the time of rocket development, explains the &SPACE PROJECT website.
The group’s “Space Tank Bench,” made from rocket waste, was selected for the Osaka-Kansai Expo Co-Design Challenge program.
During the expo, running from April 13 to October 13, 2025, the bench has been installed at the Future Life Experience venue within the expo site.
Image credit: &SPACE PROJECT/noon by material record
Speaker system
Yet another development is the rocket tank speaker system called “DEBRIS.”
DEBRIS is a speaker born from the meeting of &SPACE PROJECT and the organization, noon by material record. The two parties created the acoustic device using rocket fuel tanks.
Image credit: &SPACE PROJECT/noon by material record
“The name DEBRIS embodies the idea of taking on various undefined fragments, such as fragments of sound, fragments of memory, and feelings that spilled out during the process of creation. DEBRIS is not limited to a single product; it serves as a starting point that connects fragments, and will continue to chart various creative trajectories,” reports &SPACE PROJECT.
For detailed information regarding these special and spacey furniture styles, go to:
Posted in Space News
