Holiday Cheer From a Shipping Pallet
Dec 13, 2007
We are very excited to launch our brand new pinewood gift boxes. What’s so special about that, you ask? Well, this is not your run-of-the-mill gift box — each one was carefully hand-crafted from discarded shipping pallets.
Our story begins in the port of Calcutta. Heavy cargo, encased in wooden pallets, arrives by the boat-load every single day. While a small number of pallets are re-used, most of them are not. Rather than watching the boxes get unceremoniously dumped, an enterprising young box-maker salvages them, strips them down, and creates beautiful hand made boxes. In the end, an old wooden pallet gets a new lease on life and a Calcutta box-maker helps reduce waste in his own little corner of the world.
The Metamorphosis Of The Shipping Pallet
Wooden shipping pallets arrive in Calcutta.
Loads and loads of them. And they're stacked high!
Here comes our box-maker, ready to begin dismantling them...
...before using a saw to cut them into smaller pieces.
Lots of cutting and sawing to do...
...before the wood gets planed, to ensure an even surface.
The planed pieces of wood are stacked again....
...into many, many stacks.
Now, we're ready for more cutting.
And then we stack again!
The pieces are now beginning to take shape...
...as a box-maker carefully assembles each box.
Once the boxes are assembled, they are sanded down.
...to ensure a smooth finish.
A hard days work ends, and the almost-finished boxes are covered up for the night.
The next day, a few more finishing touches are applied.
And they're almost ready for delivery.
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