PARAPU CHAIR: Paper Composite Seats

A super-colorful children’s chair made from DuraPulp, a fully compostable new paper product created in the PulpLab (a research laboratory based in Sweden). Swedish architecture studio Claesson Koivisto Rune presented the Parapu chair at Zona Tortona 2009. The KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the companies STFI-packforsk and Södra have been collaborating since 2003 to create DuraPulp, which combines paper pulp and PLA (a biodegradable plastic) to create an incredibly resistant paper. Only two millimeters thick, DuraPulp can bear weight, tension, and humidity, as well as temperature changes. This extremely clever invention benefits from the inherent qualities of paper: it’s cheap, it’s light, and it’s organic. The fundamental fragility and short-life of paper are offset by the addition of plastic, which in turn makes DuraPulp an incredibly durable building material for furniture. The secret is in the recipe: Mix paper pulp and polylactic acid together, then heat to precisely 167 degrees Celsius. The plastic encapsulates the paper fibers to create a material as strong as wood, steel or hard plastic! The most interesting aspect of this composite is that it challenges the usual boundaries of paper and reveals its unlimited potential as a green material, an unlikely yet successful innovation summed up by PulpLab’s slogan: The world will be a better place with a little more paper./via: inhabitots

paper

Paper furniture at the Nissan auto show in Yokohama/via: tokyobling

SNOW BLOSSOM

SNOW BLOSSOM is a set of two vases inspired by traditional East Asian flower arrangements. Material: ceramic, white glaze/Andreas Saxer

CHOP STICK- WARDROBE

CHOP STICK is a wardrobe inspired by traditional Japanese wood joinery methods and the daily used chop sticks. Four wooden sticks are loosely connected with an aluminum profile. The loose system gets very stable by the weight of the clothes/Andreas Saxer

plymet stool

A stool or side table easily folded into shape from a flat form. The cut form, with holes at the ends of the slits, allows it to be bent in a controlled manner. The trianular shape of the stool gives it its stabilty. When folded, he narrow slits act as handles/postfossilslits act as handles/postfossil

Sabooh & Mitsu

Inspired by oriental lanterns, the translucent porcelain shades give off a warm, indirect light. The golden decoration on the inside of the shade serves as a reflector, as well as a conductor from cable to bulb. The shades Sabooh and Mitsu are hung over the stand and the boom like lanterns and can be easily exchanged with each other and hung or lay in any other position/postfossil

Loppa (envelope)

The material (paper) is folded into a robust structure. The flaps are folded upwards, one side moistened before both are joined together. These connecting ribs give the filigree lampshade its stability. Paper reflects the light, but also allows it to shines through slightly/postfossil

tealight

The material – paper – is folded to a stable structure. The buttstraps connect together by folding up and dampening. A simple creative process we all know from daily life.
Thus the formed ripped surface lends the tealight structure and stability. The paper gives harmony and power to the candlelight and protects it from the wind/postfossil

Airside

Airside

RAR = Rocking Armchair Rod Base

Plastic Armchairs were first presented as part of the famed New York Museum of Modern Art competition, "Low Cost Furniture Design". Their organically shaped seat shells made of fibreglass-reinforced plastic were later combined with various different bases, such as RAR's rockers and manufactured in their millions. In their latest version made of polypropylene the Armchairs now offer even greater sitting comfort/Charles & Ray Eames, 1950/vitra

SCHOOL#1 identity

Alex Mikhaylov

daj mi to

Rafał Szczepaniak

just simple

The standard electric parts used for construction are clearly visible. It gives the lamp raw but very sophisticated character/Stanisław Płoski

MAYDAY

I designed the MAYDAY lamp to be a tool. It has a practical handle which incorportates the ON/OFF switch and two spikes to wind up the 5 meter long cable. A big hook on the end of the handle comes in helpful to install the lamp wherever needed. The big white funnel is at the same time reflector and protector. Its smooth polypropylen plastic gives off a warmly diffused light and is strong enough to absorbe any bashing. MAYDAY is not designed for anywhere in specific. It rather comes in handy in all sorts of expected/unexpected situations: Taking it to the garage for work underneath the old Mercedes Benz. Taking it to the garden where it can hang from a tree. Using it on top of a ladder or lying on the floor trying to get the cat from behind the cupboard. Kids love MAYDAY inside their self-made cardboard house. I have one next to my bed for late night reading. Another one sits by the front door of my apartment ... just in case/Konstantin Grcic

COUP

The entire Coup series is based on two elements: flat plates and bowls. We took great care to evaluate the proportions of each item according to its use. The second step was to link every plate size to a certain bowl type, creating a family of correlating pieces. Even the teapot was derived from a bowl, and its lid has the shape of a small plate/Konstantin Grcic

MONZA

After the projects Miura and Myto the MONZA chair embodies the further development and deepening of my collaboration with PLANK. The project connects the materials wood and plastic injection moulding and hence the artisan roots of PLANK with the characteristics of modern industrial design.
The MONZA armchair is conceived as a simple wood-construction which formally refers to a typology of chairs originating in Scandinavia. The chair’s main character is defined by a back-/armrest in plastic moulding, which on the one hand serves the chair’s structure and on the other provides comfort and colour/Konstantin Grcic