Paper Furniture – Green and Functional Home Solutions
It hard to imagine furniture can be made of paper. As a matter of fact, we don’t remember having seen anything like it in our virtual search for eccentric stories. Well, in a world showing more care for the human besieged environment, with attempts to recycle anything that we lay our hands on, a Canadian company headquartered in Vancouver comes to break some patterns by building furniture out of paper.
More precisely, the furniture is made from 100% recyclable natural kraft paper with 50% recycled fiber and all these foldable and modular furnishings are constructed with a tight honeycomb form that gives the structures high stiffness and compression strength to withstand heavy weights, according to website Inhabitat.com. The Canadian company exhibited its innovative products at the Greenbuild 2015 fair hosted by Washington DC, in a stand which drew all the curious eyes.
The so-called “soft collection” features flat-pack structures expand like an accordion and flex to create sculptural partition walls, seating, tables, lighting, and even storage units. Made mostly of air, the honeycomb geometry allows the space-saving lightweight units to expand from a thickness of less than two inches to over 15 feet in length. Magnetic end panels snap together to connect multiple elements or to hold together a circular form. When not in use, the furnishings fold away into a compact unit that’s no wider than the thickness of a textbook, which make them very practical to use indoors.
Most of soft collection’s adaptable furnishings are made from 100% recyclable, fire-retardant kraft paper, half of which is made from post-consumer recycled fiber. For a waterproof and UV-resistant option, the designers crafted furnishings from 100% recyclable polyethylene non-woven textiles that can be cleaned with a rag and soap. All other added materials, such as fire retardant, adhesive, and ink, are non-toxic.
Before showcasing the products at the green fair in Washington, the Canadian company tested them in restaurants, shops, homes, offices, and have even been tested as indoor emergency shelters. We’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves about the expandable paper furniture which may become a routine presence in our homes in the future.
