I guess shopping carts are more versatile than we give them credit for. We’ve already seen one turned into a motorized transporter and we’ve seen the nasty stunts those Jackass guys can do with one. Now, somebody has gone ahead and turned an erstwhile regular shopping cart into a portable outdoor lounge chair with his collection of Shopping Cart Sun Loungers.
Made by artist Mike Boucher, the recycled furnishing pieces don’t just look like shopping carts. They literally used to be shopping carts. That is, until Mike started chopping and bending the parts to turn them into reclining lawn chairs you can commission for your backyard sunbathing.
All of the Shopping Cart Sun Loungers use a standard frame design that involves  cutting off the sides of the container area and bending the various metal parts to conform to standard lounger shapes. The child seats are repositioned to serve as adjustable headrests, with reinforcements placed along stress points to ensure structural integrity over time.
The wheels and the pushing handles of the carts have been retained, which makes it easy to move around from one spot to the next. Each one is outfitted with a variety of foam cushions for comfortable use (you didn’t think you’d have to lie on the zinc bars, did you?), along with added trimmings like armrests, parasols, reading lights and even an iPod speaker.
From what we can tell, Cumulus Studios probably intends to sell these Shopping Cart Loungers, although the specifics aren’t clear. A five-piece collection of the loungers, however, will be on exhibit at the Design Miami/Basel event.
[DesignMiami via DesignBoom]