Cardboard Bench by Jason Iftakhar
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.10.06
Jason Iftakhar was struck by how much waste packaging supermarkets generated. ‘My idea is about getting a big result without wasting a lot of energy,’ he says. ‘The materials and the machinery were already there, it just needed to be harnessed. It’s the perfect environment to take advantage of a system that’s already established.’ He developed a cutting tool that uses the standard supermarket packing machines to turn old boxes into simple furniture. This upcycling turns a low value item into a neat new product for the store. ::Time Out via tipster Bonnie
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You want to see cardboard furniture by a visionary architect? Check out what Frank Gehry did 3 decades ago. Here's one example: http://www.plushpod.com/item_48.php
I prefer the vision of Jason Iftakhar. Looks less uncomfortable, more austure, and the price point is more appropriate.
What's in a name? About $1100.
Pure genius Jason! Well done and congratulations (if you’re reading this?). I’m interested to know if you’ve also looked at making them into shipping pallets? I imagine that the strength offered by the corrugations is great enough to withstand folk lifts, but that remains to be seen. Plus pallets, though perhaps not as appealing as your benches, remain within the distribution loop, that is, from ‘containing’ goods in the form of the box to ‘supporting’ goods in the form of the pallet.
The benches are beautiful. I love the remade-aesthetic being established here and by the likes of, for example, the Freitag bag. Everything old is new again.
Gehry's design is about forming something new out of virgin-cardboard, not USED cardboard... there is the fundamental difference here, hence why the recycled ones make this website!
I'd like to see outdoor furniture made from those old USPS mail bins (their plastic, i.e. waterproof).
Hello everyone, thank you Jacque le Mans, Anthony and Jessica for your kind comments. Jessica got it totally right, this project is about utilizing a system that was already in place. There are thousands of cardboard bailing machines around the UK tucked away in the back of grubby supermarkets compressing cardboard into bails which are then sent away to be recycled. The machines produce a reasonable 18 tones of compression to do this, compression is one of the key elements of manufacture therefore it was interesting to see what else this machine could do.
The RAW BENCH is produced onsite, utilizing its raw material/waste, infrastructure, staff (to operate and produce the product) and energy. I haven’t worked it out, but I would bet the carbon footprint of this product is incredibly low when compared to other furniture especially Gerry’s.