Cardboard boxes are associated with moving. And so too is a lack of furniture when moving to a new place. Cardboard as furniture is a material trend that looks to connect the two.
As a material, cardboard has a number of advantages as it is not too expensive, it can be easily recycled and it is lightweight – and therefore easy to move. These qualities have made it a material of choice over a lot of less sustainable material options for the production of moving and transport boxes.
Given its cost, sustainability and lightweight properties, it is not surprising that a number of clever companies such as Chairigami and Foldschool have recently emerged with lines cardboard furniture. One of our favourite cardboard furnishings is the the Freefold Stool by self-declared ‘cardboard architect’ Tobais Horrocks from the Fold Theory.
Horrocks explores in depth the medium of cardboard, looking how cardboard can gain strength through double corrugation and multiple folds. Constructed like a cardboard box with a cutting machine that is able to slice and then fold, each Freefold Stool is made from 100% recycled cardboard that has been reclaimed from post-consumer waste. Based in Australia, he was awarded a 2014 Victoria Fellowship in the physical sciences category for his dynamic use of cardboard.
Freefold stools come as flat-pack of three identical stool and each stool takes less than two minutes to assemble. The finished product can be connected with other FreeFold Stools to create larger pieces of furniture such as couches, nightstands, tables and so on – you might even be able to entirely finish furnishing that new flat.
Some of his other interesting cardboard creations include the Sunraysia Juice Tasting Station. It is a transportable installation that can be easily taken to conference centres, trade shows or shopping centres to promote and market products.