Stacking chairs have long been a space-saving staple of offices, homes and schools, but getting a complex shape like a desk to stack up is a challenge — one these designers decided to take on for a very specific and practical application.

Studio Nos redesigned the traditional children’s school desk to make it affordable, durable, lightweight and able to be put away when not in use. The result of their efforts is a brightly colorful and interconnected chair-and-desk system with a number of nifty features.

The conical chairs stack for storage while a backrest allows students to hang their bags and backpacks. A slot underneath, meanwhile, provides a place to store books and other school supplies.

The top addition can be taken off, too, not just to store but also to make space and change up seating configurations. All in all, the seat-and-top set gets the job done and looks good while doing it, then comes apart as needed.

In countries where walking barefoot is the norm, these durable shoes that grow with a child’s feet can improve health, confidence, even school attendance, according to The Shoe That Grows project from Because International.

Fast-growing feet have always been a problem for children, and is even more challenging in places where families can’t afford frequently purchasing pairs. A combination of velcro and fasteners helps allow these shoes to expand on demand — each pair can shift between five sizes (with three different starter sizes).

The group works with non-profits, schools, churches and individuals to bring this adaptable footwear to kids in need around the world. So far the organization has distributed 120,000 pairs in 91 countries.

“Without shoes, children are especially vulnerable to soil-transmitted diseases and parasites that can cause illness and even death. Children who get sick miss school, can’t help their families, and suffer needlessly.

“And since children’s feet grow so quickly, they often outgrow donated shoes within a year, leaving them once again exposed to illness and disease.”

These kinds of clothing innovations are also not limited to shoes. Ryan Yasin, at the time a master’s student in London’s Royal College of Art’s Innovation Design Engineering program, was likewise inspired to create outfits that would grow with a child. He started experimenting and realized that by pleating synthetic fabric in a particular pattern, it was possible for a piece of clothing to stretch in both directions. One of his early prototypes was able to be used from the age of 6 months up to 36 months, saving parents the cost and hassle of forever buying new jackets.

Little orphans any? Not so much these days thanks to fostering and improved economies, the result being many former orphanages have been left eerily abandoned.

While many orphanages were built from scratch back in the day, others (mainly in the UK) occupied vacant country homes sold by latter-day aristocrats laid low by falling incomes and rising tax rates. Such was the case of the now-abandoned Bramham Children’s Home in West Yorkshire, England.

Dating from 1806, the building was owned by the Ramsden family until 1947 when they sold the rambling pile to the West Riding County Council Children’s Department for the princely sum of £8,000 (roughly $10,000 at the time)… about £350,000 ($435,000) in today’s money. In its new incarnation as the Bramham Children’s Home, the orphanage only housed 35 children in 1970 cared for by about 16 staff. Not too shabby! By the early 1980s the orphanage had closed yet the building still stands, as photo-documented by Imgur user LeeRielly in August of 2016.

Freinetschool Kasteel De Wip

The Freinetschool Kasteel De Wip, located in Wezemaal, Belgium operated for well over a century: from 1880 through 2008 to be exact. At the time of its closing due to dangerous structural decay, the building housed 54 live-in students divided into 3 preschool classes and 6 primary school classes.

For the past 8-odd years, this exquisite little “castle” has continued to deteriorate with camera-toting explorers such as urbex.nl having to deal with rotten floors, the state of which worsened between visits in 2011 and 2014.

Silverlands

Silverlands, located in Chertsey, Surry, UK can trace its roots back to 1814 when a local brewer invested his prodigious profits in a grand country home. In 1938, The Actor’s Orphanage backed by none other than Noël Coward took over the home but by 1958 the cost of urgent structural repairs had made the orphanage economically non-viable.

In the late 1990s, local governmental authorities floated a proposal to re-establish Silverlands as a live-in clinic for pedophiles. Local residents opposed to the plan mounted a candlelight vigil (presumably they were fresh out of torches and pitchforks) and got the council to change their minds. Photographers Stacey Louise and Tim Barber visited the still-magnificent remains of Silverlands in early 2015, returning with a visual record of its former opulence.

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Kid Stuffed 10 More Eerie Abandoned Orphanages

Bringing a certain subtly and sense of humor back to three-dimensional chalk art, David Zenn creates highly-contextual scenes using an array of animal characters, all interacting with urban environments.

For decades, he has used chalk and charcoal to feature pieces that tie into their surroundings, relating to anything from fallen flowers to cracks in the sidewalk.

Rats, bears, lizards, dogs and other less-identifiable animalian hybrids can be found lounging around, floating balloons or hiding in imagined holes, like refugees from a wild children’s book.

Over time, a cast of regular characters has evolved, appearing in different places, telling a story through each sequential work of art. Some of his archival prints are for sale, as well as his book Temporary Preserves (via Colossal).

There are few things sadder than an abandoned toy, and abandoned toy factories take that sense of lost innocence to dramatically deeper depths of despair.

As if an abandoned doll factory isn’t creepy enough, Flickr user Bousure ramps it up to eleven via some nightmarishly awesome photo-processing techniques. Taken in early September of 2011 at an undisclosed location, Bousure’s haunting imagery will surely disturb all those who enjoyed playing with dolls when they were kids… and, well, everyone else too.

Unmade In China

The pace of change in China is truly startling at times – perfectly good buildings just a few years old are casually knocked down so something bigger and better can be built on the site. Take this sharp-looking toy factory (check out that gnarly gate!) in Zhangmutou, southern China, that had the excavators sicced on it in July of 2013. Flickr user Chris (dcmaster) checked out the factory as the heavy machinery moved in for the kill.

Game, Set & Matchbox

Lesney Products & Co. Ltd was one of Britain’s few postwar economic success stories. Founded in 1947, the company made “Matchbox” brand die-cast miniature vehicles by the millions until labor issues and the side-effects of Thatcherism drove the firm into bankruptcy.

The company’s last and largest factory, set astride the Lee Navigation canal in London’s Hackney Marshes, closed in 1982 and Flickr user Sludge G (sludgegulper) snapped it in April of 2009. The abandoned complex, stripped of its machinery and sullied by vandals, was finally demolished in 2010 with the Matchmakers Wharf retail, commercial and residential complex now occupying the site.

LaLa Land of Toys

Once “The West’s Largest Exclusive Toy Wholesalers”, Pensick & Gordon lorded over the California toy universe from this ominously imposing building in what is now LA’s trendy Arts District. Built in 1907 as a wholesale grocers warehouse, the factory was abandoned by the early Eighties and just recently underwent conversion into condominium lofts. Kudos to Flickr user Kent MacElwee who snapped the building and its faded signage in September of 2013.

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Played Out 10 Cheerless Abandoned Toy Factories