We have all used ratchet straps for something – but most of us think of them as an industrial invention, something to tighten an object to the top of your car or hold together a stack of shipping crates, not furniture. One designer has rethought their use, making them into a set of remarkably elegant do-it-yourself domestic design accessories.

Tension is the only thing holding these finished plywood panels by designer Harry Hasson together – the pressure from the straps that are wrapped around them are enough to keep them from falling apart, thus eliminating the need for other permanent fasteners, small accessory pieces or complex metal hardware.

Of course, besides being a clever alternative use for an inexpensive everyday object, these furniture designs have other clear advantages such as their modularity (with one set of parts one could imagine a number of different possible furniture pieces) and the ease of constructing, deconstructing and rebuilding each design.