Yesterday Joseph Starr showed us the Cadillac of refrigerators by True Refrigerator. The refrigerator is an ingrained part of our daily lives to the extent that we don’t notice the refrigerator until its empty or has a ghastly smell coming from it. Refrigerators have the worst environmental impacts of any appliance in our home. Current models that are Energy Star qualified use 50 percent less energy than the average models made in 1974. Upgrading to a new, energy efficient fridge is important to cost savings and the environment, but what happens to the old refrigerators when their thrown out?

Fridgecouch. Designed by Adrian Johnson.

The Fridgecouch, created by Canadian designer Adrian Johnson, takes unwanted refrigerators and turns them into customized ultra-retro seats. Johnson takes vintage refrigerators and salvaged car seats that he rescues from local junkyards to source his designs. Johnson’s goal is, “To go where recycling hasn’t gone before.” A quote from an interview with South Coast Today “I was at a scrap yard in Freetown, and I saw this really nice BMW seat, the most beautiful cherry red interior… almost new. That intrigued me. I went to a dump in Mattapoisett and found a green fridge form the 1970s that fit the leather seat exactly, within a half an inch.”

Fridgecouch began as an attempt to assemble some affordable outdoor seating for his outdoor wedding. Adrian noticed that all the high-end cars in the junkyard had pristine backseats in-spite of the wrecks. Honestly, people rarely sit in the backseat of a high end vehicle. What would be the perfect frame for a loose car seat? A refrigerator of course. Each Fridgecouch is a unique item, which makes them numbered, single-issue designs. You can commission a Fridgecouch to be made, starting at about $3,500.

About the Designer: Adrian Johnson is a Canadian artist and design professional with a unique background in professional sports and design. He holds an Associates Degree in Computer Integrated Design from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Calgary Canada, which he earned shortly after completing a ten-year career in alpine snowboard racing, where he represented Canada on the National Team for five years. He now makes his home in Massachusetts, splitting his time working between Martha’s Vineyard and New Bedford as an design associate with Sullivan O’Connor Architects.

via Treehugger