Furniture made of cellulose and lignin

Designer Basse Stittgen designed a series of furniture pieces, made of cellulose and lignin, that mimic the look of real wood.

The main ingredients of wood are cellulose and lignin. Cellulose is an important structural component of the cell walls of plants, including trees, while lignin is an oxygen-containing organic polymer. Together, they are the two most abundant organic materials on Earth. However, while cellulose is abundantly used in the paper and textile industry for example, lignin is largely overlooked and burned (though there are projects looking into this material).

In Stittgen’s project Knock on Wood, the designed recombines cellulose and lignin after they have been separated to create ‘a new kind of wood’, using this material to make furniture. The pieces are reminiscent of trees, featuring branch-like extensions or a bark-like structure.

You can find the material, Tree of Culture, in our collection here.

Photos: Basse Stittgen