"Re-Furnished" Recycled Cardboard Chairs from University of Idaho Student Designers
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 05. 7.08
TreeHugger loves to see green student design (and we want to see more!); since they'll be designing the next generation of products we use, the greener they can be, the better. These examples are from a project called "Re-Furnished" from the University of Idaho; students were challenged to create functional furniture out of found or used cardboard, and they came up with some pretty compelling final products.
Cardboard, especially when its recycled, can be a very green--and surprisingly versatile and durable--material. Above are two of the student designs from the class; hit the jump for five more student designs and for more of our previous cardboard coverage.
Somewhat reminiscent of Julian Lwin's biodegradable biotube bench, this bench combines a handful of cardboard tubes with a neat, almost braided, design for the seat.
We like this curvy stool, which uses pressed corrugated cardboard to create a solid structure, and hides some storage inside.
Using a similar technique, this geometric, sturdy-looking stool looks like it could take on a number of functions.
This solid lounger looks like it was a labor of love, painstakingly created with hundreds of sandwiched layers.
Lastly, we like the different textures created by the different materials in this chair. Below are lists of some of the other cardboard coverage from TreeHugger.
Cardboard furniture
::Green Furniture Cut from Cardboard: Collection at CNET
::Cardboard Chair Company
::Davidgraas: Furniture from Cardboard
::Bloxes: Modular Cardboard Furnishings for the Office
::Rocking the Cardboard Cradle
::The otto Chair: Cardboard Coming Back
::HauteGREEN Sneak Peek: Cardboard Lamps by G|O|E Designs
::Light Sleeper – It Design’s Cardboard Bed
Cardboard houses
::Cardboard Houses of the Future
::Stutchbury and Pape's House of the future : Cardboard
::"It's Not A Cardboard House, It's A Cardboard Home!"
Cardboard accessories and other fun stuff
::Muji Cardboard Desktop Speakers
::Fully Recyclable Cardboard PC Case by Lupo
::Corrugated Cardboard Laptop Case
::Cardboard Lounger for Cats
::Not a Box Lighting: More Cardboard Design from David Graas
::Cardboard Kids Slow Down Drivers
I like the chairs a lot, but the stools look like if I sat on them they would just collapse.
The only problem with this is that anyone with cats could never by these type of products. Cats LOVE to scratch on cardboard surfaces like these.
But nonetheless, great ideas and designs. Bravo!
If they're recycled and recyclable and not too expensive, I'd rather have my cats scratch on these than the typically ugly scratching posts or "nicer" non-recycled/recyclable fabric furniture. Gives a chance to upgrade every once in a while w/o being destructive.
The design is really beautiful. I have second thoughts about whether these are comfy or not, but the design is clever and practical, to say the least.
This is my architect site!
http://www.sebastianarenram.com
Sebastian Arenram