Cardboard Furniture, A Not-So-New Concept
Written by Euphrasia Carroll
Cardboard furniture seems like a very new and innovative concept for greening the globe. But the idea has been around -- perhaps largely unknown -- since the early 1970s. Frank Gehry, world-renowned architect, is known as the pioneer of cardboard furniture. In a feature on CNET, Gehry is said to have introduced his table and chair designs made of corrugated cardboard between 1969 and 1973. Design schools teach his concepts to this day.
Gehry’s furniture designs were exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His fundamental concern, according the Museum’s exhibition notes, was to manipulate basic materials in unconventional ways to produce objects that are functional yet also visually striking.
“Cardboard as a building block is slowly gaining in appeal around the world. The 2000 Olympics in Sydney featured cardboard furniture, and in Hong Kong, cardboard is used for coffins,” writes CNET’s Elsa Wenzel, who also talked about Gehry’s innovative work with the material.
Cardboard furniture is a timely topic, and many of the green blogs around the world are talking about it. You can also learn to make your own cardboard furniture by following the steps laid out at eHow and Instructables.
Here are 3 sources for cardboard furniture that feature designs from the pragmatic to the serious, with lots of variations in between:
Innovative Cardboard makes custom chairs, shelves, tables, and more -- all out of cardboard. In many instances, the products are built for use at trade shows, where they work effectively in a company’s booth set-up and are simply left behind for disposal at tear-down time.
Leo Kempf is a designer who lives in the Arkansas mountains. He creates functional art, including furniture made of cardboard. Some of these pieces are on display at 360SEE, a Chicago gallery that exhibits fine art, functional art, furniture, and design objects that address issues of sustainability through concept and material construction.
Giles Miller features some stylish home furnishings made of corrugated cardboard, his signature material. Giles studied furniture design at Loughborough University in the UK, continuing his studies at London’s Royal College of Art. Some of his designs are produced by the Italian brand Dovetusai.
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