A world-first, Tasman Eco, a leading Australian nursery furniture brand, has collaborated with Defy, a Sydney-based innovator in sustainable manufacturing, to create the Archie Cot — the first baby cot made entirely from 100% recycled plastic.

Designed and manufactured in Sydney, the Archie Cot is the result of over a year of research, development, and rigorous testing to meet Australia’s strict safety standards. Each cot uses approximately 70kg of recycled plastic which would have previously been destined for landfill. Its design represents a major leap forward for both brands.
Tasman Eco, a family-run business with over 30 years of experience, has long been a leader in high-quality nursery furniture. Owned and operated by Steve Cenatiempo since the early 1990s, growing from a baby department store to a wholesaler on the same property his father ran a fruit shop. In 2020, his children John and Carla joined the business, as well as Carla’s husband, John Zakharia. Since this shift, they have looked for ways to innovate and bring design forward as a priority across their product.
John Zakharia said: “It’s a challenge to constantly be creative in a space that is highly regulated; there isn’t too much movement in what a cot can look like. When we first learnt of Defy, we reached out expecting a no to our brief, but they jumped at the opportunity.”
As a completely new product category for Defy, the Archie Cot came with its own set of challenges: making a product that passes strict Australian Standards, using new manufacturing methods to achieve something that maintained aesthetics while meeting the intricate requirements of safe sleep spaces for children.
A key vision of the brief was that that cot would be able to be used for an extended period of time, so it needed to be designed with multiple conversions to grow with the child.
Head of production, Oliver Kleyn of Defy, said: “The key challenges were certainly building a solid cot frame that could remain solid amongst all of the different conversion capabilities, plus cutting the cot from one sheet of recycled plastic, as a means to keep waste as low as possible. We were all pretty excited about this.”
John Z adds: “We knew it wasn’t going to be a cheap product. We had to ensure that the life of the product could be extended beyond what is currently normal for a cot, hence how important it was for the cot to have its usual, required conversions, plus the capability to be converted as a bed for older kids.”
The Archie Cot is a world first, a cot made completely of 100% recycled plastic in Sydney. Each cot is currently made to order, with an 8-to-12 week lead time. There are currently three colourways: Sage Spray, White Dalmatian and Dusty Rose, with a fourth, Plum, in the works.
The Archie Cot is available to purchase online at Tasman Eco, RRP $1799.
Photography: Dave Wheeler and Elisa Romeo | Styling: Kendra McCarthy