Obsessing over cardboard... furniture... LOL
Okay, several years back (oh gosh, I think 11 years ago?) I saw an episode of the Carol Duvall Show where she made a cardboard table. Back then, not much of anything useful to me was on the internet, so I bought the only two books I could find on the subject on Amazon.com. One was a little handbook-style book with some practical and very "saved from the trash" looking pieces. Meh, not too impressed with it. The second was one which had some very artsy looking items, which were still obviously made from cardboard. They celebrated how the cardboard looked.
I just never thought that either of the books could teach me how to make anything that wowed anyone, and that's what I would want to do, if I go so far as to make something useful out of cardboard. Practical, yet beautiful, so that the building materials' humble origins would either go unnoticed or be forgiven.
So... last night I stumbled through Etsy and then into Apartment Therapy, where lo and behold, I found the work of some actual "carton artists" in France. Their work is truly beautiful and inspiring. You really wouldn't think it's cardboard, unless you know a lot about woodworking and realize that most of those flowing designs with all the gorgeous curves are very difficult for a woodworker to achieve. And yet, they are finished and beautiful pieces. Yes, some are a little tacky for my own tastes, but they are so inventive!!
This is another one of those obsessions that caused me to lose a great amount of sleep last night, and even after I went to bed at about 2, I stayed awake for about an hour, drawing out some ideas that were tormenting me to let them out of my head. After I purged my brain, I could finally go to sleep. I guess I will have to start keeping a sketch book and pencil by my bed from now on just to have some peace.
http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/22/7-creative-approaches-to-building-big-with-paper-adaptive-reuses-of-an-everyday-material/
I'm pretty amused by the guy who did his entire apartment's furniture out of FedEx boxes - I do have to wonder why they got so hot about the whole thing and tried to sue him for copyright infringement though. He wasn't selling anything... Just putting the boxes to good use. I guess they were mad because they presume he didn't actually use their shipping service, and just used the boxes for free. Still, they got some free advertising on his website. LOL
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/diy/cartonnistes-diy-cardboard-furniture--050820
Now this one - look at the top picture if you will - I consider those pieces unfinshed, though the shapes are whimsical and give you a simple idea of what could be done. The bottom picture shows the projects that made me gasp. That desk!!! It's VERY nicely done!!!
Don't get me wrong -I do NOT ***NOT!!!*** want to start storing cardboard in anticipation of a bunch of future projects. But so much of it comes through my hands all of the time anyway... I feel guilty throwing it all away. We have no recycling facilities and I already know that recycling cardboard, though a good idea, still takes a ton of energy and resources. I'd rather just repurpose the stuff in another way.
One year I used old pizza boxes to smother a bunch of cruddy weeds beside my patio, and they worked beautifully. (I piled fallen leaves on top to hide them.) They biodegraded in a couple of years and now an absolutely gorgeous crop of healthy weeds is growing there. LOL I really just need to toss down some pavers there since it's hard to mow, hard to pick up pecans from there, and otherwise a useless spot of ground. At least I could put some flowerpots there if the crap wasn't growing there. But I digress...
It seems that there are a bunch of French people who have turned cardboard furniture making into pretty much an art form. The only drawback to me browsing their websites was that they were, of course, in French. I think I picked up a few French words figuring out how to get to the pictures I wanted, and I even found an instructional video. Some of the designs are really "out there" for me, but I still like looking at them. Ecologically friendly eye-candy.
http://www.envisiongallery.net/artist/Carton/MesC-401.htm
I found an instructable with some basic pointers for construction here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-shelf-for-groceries/
http://www.vinestreetworks.com/cartons.html I couldn't get the trailer to actually show for me, but from the pictures I did see and the audio I heard, I decided to buy the instructional video. Oh, and there was also that little matter of still not being able to find any instructional books on making pretty furniture. *sigh* It was that old, familiar feeling of "Ooooh! Pretty!! I wanna do that! I know I CAN do that!!!" For some reason, I thought about set pieces for plays, too. Look at the links to the left as well, on this one.
http://www.compagnie-bleuzen.com/ More cool stuff from the creators in this group. You have to admit, they're very inspiring to look at!!
http://www.curbly.com/Sijbrich/posts/876-Cardboard-Furniture
http://www.valcartonne.com/VALDESIGN.html (coincidence about the name, BTW)
http://www.instructables.com/tag/keyword:cartonnistes/
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/creative-cartons-environmentally-friendly-french-furniture-with-flair
Oooh... I just had an idea for a project I want to do like this for winter.... :) I think it will turn out VERY well if I execute it properly. It's now in my sketchbook. Look for the snowman. *wink*
I just never thought that either of the books could teach me how to make anything that wowed anyone, and that's what I would want to do, if I go so far as to make something useful out of cardboard. Practical, yet beautiful, so that the building materials' humble origins would either go unnoticed or be forgiven.
So... last night I stumbled through Etsy and then into Apartment Therapy, where lo and behold, I found the work of some actual "carton artists" in France. Their work is truly beautiful and inspiring. You really wouldn't think it's cardboard, unless you know a lot about woodworking and realize that most of those flowing designs with all the gorgeous curves are very difficult for a woodworker to achieve. And yet, they are finished and beautiful pieces. Yes, some are a little tacky for my own tastes, but they are so inventive!!
This is another one of those obsessions that caused me to lose a great amount of sleep last night, and even after I went to bed at about 2, I stayed awake for about an hour, drawing out some ideas that were tormenting me to let them out of my head. After I purged my brain, I could finally go to sleep. I guess I will have to start keeping a sketch book and pencil by my bed from now on just to have some peace.
http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/22/7-creative-approaches-to-building-big-with-paper-adaptive-reuses-of-an-everyday-material/
I'm pretty amused by the guy who did his entire apartment's furniture out of FedEx boxes - I do have to wonder why they got so hot about the whole thing and tried to sue him for copyright infringement though. He wasn't selling anything... Just putting the boxes to good use. I guess they were mad because they presume he didn't actually use their shipping service, and just used the boxes for free. Still, they got some free advertising on his website. LOL
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/diy/cartonnistes-diy-cardboard-furniture--050820
Now this one - look at the top picture if you will - I consider those pieces unfinshed, though the shapes are whimsical and give you a simple idea of what could be done. The bottom picture shows the projects that made me gasp. That desk!!! It's VERY nicely done!!!
Don't get me wrong -I do NOT ***NOT!!!*** want to start storing cardboard in anticipation of a bunch of future projects. But so much of it comes through my hands all of the time anyway... I feel guilty throwing it all away. We have no recycling facilities and I already know that recycling cardboard, though a good idea, still takes a ton of energy and resources. I'd rather just repurpose the stuff in another way.
One year I used old pizza boxes to smother a bunch of cruddy weeds beside my patio, and they worked beautifully. (I piled fallen leaves on top to hide them.) They biodegraded in a couple of years and now an absolutely gorgeous crop of healthy weeds is growing there. LOL I really just need to toss down some pavers there since it's hard to mow, hard to pick up pecans from there, and otherwise a useless spot of ground. At least I could put some flowerpots there if the crap wasn't growing there. But I digress...
It seems that there are a bunch of French people who have turned cardboard furniture making into pretty much an art form. The only drawback to me browsing their websites was that they were, of course, in French. I think I picked up a few French words figuring out how to get to the pictures I wanted, and I even found an instructional video. Some of the designs are really "out there" for me, but I still like looking at them. Ecologically friendly eye-candy.
http://www.envisiongallery.net/artist/Carton/MesC-401.htm
I found an instructable with some basic pointers for construction here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-shelf-for-groceries/
http://www.vinestreetworks.com/cartons.html I couldn't get the trailer to actually show for me, but from the pictures I did see and the audio I heard, I decided to buy the instructional video. Oh, and there was also that little matter of still not being able to find any instructional books on making pretty furniture. *sigh* It was that old, familiar feeling of "Ooooh! Pretty!! I wanna do that! I know I CAN do that!!!" For some reason, I thought about set pieces for plays, too. Look at the links to the left as well, on this one.
http://www.compagnie-bleuzen.com/ More cool stuff from the creators in this group. You have to admit, they're very inspiring to look at!!
http://www.curbly.com/Sijbrich/posts/876-Cardboard-Furniture
http://www.valcartonne.com/VALDESIGN.html (coincidence about the name, BTW)
http://www.instructables.com/tag/keyword:cartonnistes/
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/creative-cartons-environmentally-friendly-french-furniture-with-flair
Oooh... I just had an idea for a project I want to do like this for winter.... :) I think it will turn out VERY well if I execute it properly. It's now in my sketchbook. Look for the snowman. *wink*
posted by Me at 10:46 AM
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