Furniture designer makes furniture from cardboard, and this is the result | Abroad

‘Box’ was designed by British furniture designer Max Lamb and uses cardboard boxes that had piled up in his studio. “I find it very difficult to throw things away,” he said, sitting on one of his creations. He finds beauty, he added, “in trash, or things that already exist and have already been thrown away.”

Despite the perception of the material as weak, the pieces are designed to withstand practical use. Their strength comes from the way Lamb built up layers of corrugated cardboard (the most impact-resistant kind) and used a glue-like mix of wheat and water.

Lamb’s new work fits into an ongoing narrative of cardboard furniture, with an early example being Frank Gehry’s 1972 ‘Wiggle Side Chair’, part of the architect’s ‘Easy Edges’ series that explores the unexpected power and sculptural possibilities of layers of corrugated cardboard embraced. As a student, Lamb was inspired by Gehry’s work in cardboard and subsequently created a cardboard table in 2000 that he says his parents still use today.

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Recently, another famous architect has used the material to make furniture. After using cardboard in innovative architectural projects, Shigeru Ban used it to create his ‘Carta’ collection (1998-2015). Ban designed chairs, a stool, a chaise longue and tables using slender cardboard tubes treated with resin to make them waterproof, but combined them with more traditional materials such as birch plywood and glass.

Since 2020, Berlin-based Ukrainian artist and designer Illya Goldman Gubin has been strengthening deformed cardboard boxes with resin and fiberglass, turning them into unusual chairs, tables and shelves. The ongoing ‘Cardboard’ series began in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic when Gubin began experimenting with creations that blurred the boundaries between art and functional objects. “I wanted to add a new dimension to my art, something more accessible, that people could touch without permission,” he explained in an email to news site, CNN.

Gubin has “fond memories” of playing with cardboard boxes as a child, building imaginary houses and cars. “Cardboard feels simple, but special,” he said. “Everyone has had a cardboard box in their hands at some point. Now I wanted the same box to have a new purpose, to support us.” Gubin likes to describe the idea behind the project as: “what we once carried can now carry us.”

Each of the pieces is unique; he uses the weight of his own body to shape boxes into various crumpled shapes. Although they look like shiny sculptures, the boxes are perfectly functional as chairs or tables. “Although (the pieces) seem delicate, they are strong,” Gubin explained. “I wanted to make something that surprises the viewer.”

From provocative to practical, the Room in a Box brand, founded in 2013, offers simple and modular cardboard furniture for sale, promoted as both affordable and good for the planet. Using high-quality corrugated cardboard, the German brand promises that its pieces (from bed bases to chairs and tables) can last up to 10 years.

Room in a Box attracted attention last year through posts on TikTok, where videos about cardboard furniture have now been viewed more than 2.4 million times. The brand appeals to a young target group that moves often and needs light, easy-to-transport options, but does not like the environmental impact of “fast furniture”.

Co-founder Gerald Dissen told ‘CNN’ via email that Room in a Box’s pieces are much more sustainable than furniture made from traditional materials, with a lower carbon footprint and less energy consumption due to the recycled and recyclable nature of the material, lightweight construction and modular design.

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But such properties have also made cardboard a popular choice for emergency furniture use, especially for refugees. In 2011, French designers NOCC, together with entrepreneur Julien Sylvain, created the ‘Leaf Bed’, a cardboard bed designed for use in refugee camps. Featuring a simple design of pre-cut panels that come with all tools and parts needed for assembly, the camp bed has been deployed by the UN Refugee Agency.

A cardboard manufacturer involved in the production of the ‘Leaf Bed’, Smurfit Kappa, also collaborated with Edinburgh Direct Aid (EDA) in 2017 to send aid to refugee camps on the Lebanon-Syria border in cardboard boxes that could be converted into emergency furniture.

On a daily basis, cardboard is used as emergency shelter wherever you look. “We see cardboard on the street; we see people using it as insulation,” Lamb notes, acknowledging how this use contrasts with his work. “Here I am just making furniture pieces in a gallery.”

While his works may be collectible design pieces (prices are available upon request only), he says the project is a critical reflection on “being a producer of stuff” and hopes to demonstrate “the beauty and durability” of cardboard as a material. “It can be a lasting part of our lives,” he said. “We don’t have to throw away things that are secondary to what we buy or value most.”