Cardboard Table Final

Building the Cube

Update on the process of turning trash to treasure. Officially the table we designed will stay in it's cube shape just for the sake of size and stability, but my partner Martha and I have decided to tweak the design some more after my research on building with cardboard in order to make it aesthetically pleasing and stable enough to hold books and glasses atop it. Original design post can be found here.
Rather than construct it with several diferent types of pieces, we have decided to go for a more accordion look to the table where it will be the same square frame layered into an extruded cube. We hope this will provide more stability while also showing more interest with the corrugation texture along the outer edges.

Cardboard Furniture Exploration

Just alittle exploration into the world of cardboard furniture:

Trash to Furniture

First project for the first half of the semester, pick a recyclable material (plastic, aluminum, carboard, etc.) that you can find being recycled in Florence and honor that material by creating it into something else. For this project I and my partner Martha are choosing to use carboard boxes and other packaging material in order to create a cube table.

At first Martha had the idea to use fruit crates thrown out by vendors in order to construct our base and surface of our table, but after additional thinking and sketching above we decided it might be hard to incorporate such a study material with cardboard so the idea of creating something strictly out of cardboard came about. That way the material can shine on its own and the furniture piece will be light weight to carry to class through the city. Also the original design had used CDs on the surface to add aesthetic, but instead we decided to substitute that for packaging box strips and squares which we will puzzle piece together on the surface of the table and stippling down the sides. I feel that this method will be very rewarding having something entirely out of cardboard material rather than mixing materials.

Cardboard and other recyclable materials.

Boxes I collected from trash and recycling around Florence, it is just like dumpster diving for a studio in Greensboro only the tourists look at you funny and the polizia just shake their heads.

Final Submission Boards

These are the final displays that I sent in for the International Design Award 2011. They were due on January 31st and I sent them in on January 28th.




Thank goodness it is finished!

Polished Podium Shots with Figures

These renderings are meant to highlight the furniture system, the figures help the viewer see the scale of these seating arrangements and the other components of the room (flooring, walls, & windows) just bring a sense of light, shadow, and material being portrayed.

Details of Furniture Componets

Back View of Base and Seats

Front View of Base with Seats

Side View of Base and Seat

Front Base View

Connector Table

Podium Process II

The podium renderings I did in order to visualize the furniture system in a space rather than on a platform or on it's own. Process entails color change, creation of connecting end table, and possible combination of the base, end table, & seat.

Sketch-Up & Podium Process

At this point the chair style itself has taken on a change in appearance while the overall concept of sliding modular seats and cantilever base are constant.